Man With No Name Revolvers

[Fingers McGee]

YEE HAW!!!!!!!!

Received a phone call from Chris at Buffalo Arms this afternoon. Seems the pair of Man With No Name revolvers I ordered back in February were now in stock & would be shipped out TODAY!!!!!! :D

Should be in hand by the weekend. :D

Can't wait to try out my somewhat belated B-day present :p.

Guess now I need to find some bullets for em :confused:.

Anyone know where a body can acquire some .38s????? :confused::confused:

[ClemBert]

Did ya go fer da snake grips or not?

http://www.buffaloarms.com/graphics/CA9081SSI01.jpg

[Fingers McGee]

Nope. No snake grips. Couldn't see the added expense, and didn't like the way they felt.

[arcticap]

Go to "reloading" on Gunbroker and type ".357" in the search box and there's nearly 3 pages of various bullets & quantities. Some are buy it now, there's Berry's plated bullets and even some from the Missouri Bullet Co., although their website lists many more types of .38 lead bullets.

Check it all out because bullet auctions are ending all of the time.

http://www.missouribullet.com/index.php

Lots & lots of wadcutters available on Gunbroker right now:

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=136853068

[Fingers McGee]

Thanks Steve. Hadn't really thought of that for bullets. I ordered three sample packs from Desperado - 105, 125, and 158 grainers to load w/BP and subs to see how thay work. If I'm gonna use them for SASS competition - and I will - it'll be in the Frontier Cartridge Duelist category, so I need to work up a good BP loading.

[madcratebuilder]

Congrats on the new pistols Fingers, nice looking set. I keep seeing these conversions and it makes my want a Richards-Mason conversion even more. This one would do.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=136478425

[Noz]

Tis a shame to see one fall so far so fast :(

Seduced by the lure of the brass cases.

Wait a minute, that's get you out of my category. I just moved up a place.

[Fingers McGee]

Congrats on the new pistols Fingers, nice looking set. I keep seeing these conversions and it makes my want a Richards-Mason conversion even more. This one would do.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=136478425

I'd absolutely love to have one of those too MCB. Or,.........better yet, a pair. :D

Tis a shame to see one fall so far so fast

Seduced by the lure of the brass cases.

Wait a minute, that's get you out of my category. I just moved up a place.

Hey, even WBH used them newfangled cahtridge revolvers on occasion. Only gonna use em when in search of FCD style points. When a title is on the line, the C&Bs will be in use.

Also figured I could load em up with snap caps and use them for dry fire practice since they have the same heft & feel as the C&Bs.

[RustyNut]

I have to say, the snake does add to the charm.

[4V50 Gary]

You getting a serape to go with those pisols?

[Fingers McGee]

You getting a serape to go with those pisols?

Have had one of those for years. Will take some pictures & post.

[Noz]

Fingers has a Confederate Great Coat that if it were a little larger, they'd find his broken body beside the road without the coat and a pair of holsters I covet.

[Fingers McGee]

Here's a picof my new toys:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/fingersmcgee/DSCN0066.jpg

Tore em down today to smooth them out some. One smoothed up real nice with just a little filing & stoning. The second is a different story. The hand is a mess. Stone the sharp edges & tried to get rid of the machine marks - to no avail. Put it back together & it still has a hitch in the cocking. Gonna have to take it apart agian tomorrow & try to fix it.

[Fingers McGee]

Tore both pistols down earlier this week. Gun #1 was fairly smooth out of the box and teardown didnt reveal anything out of the ordinary. The frame was remarkably clean, no grit or big burrs. There was a seam on the hand channel that needed to be filed and stoned off, and there were a couple sharp edges in the hammer channel that were scratching the hammer. Again,a little filing and stoning took care of it. I stoned/polished the hand and bolt as well as some crocus cloth and file to the hand channel - I really need to buy some hand channel stones to do it right though. Cleaned the gun thoroughly - which was a real chore. Thought I'd never get the rust out of the barrel . I must of scrubbed it for 30 min before it was even close to clean. Reassembled the pistol and cycled the action. It was improved; but some Wolfe springs would have really made it nice.

Gun # 2 is a wholly different story. It really needed some work on the frame as well as the hand (as it turned out, I didn't do enough). Like gun#1, I filed and polished the hand channel and hammer channel, and polished the bolt. THe hand, now, was a different animal. It looked like someone took a piece of slag & tried to make a hand out of it. One side was fairly smooth, but the other had a rough gouge taken out of it between the pivot & tooth. The front face was almost straight with some rough rasp tracks across it. I did some work to it, trying to smooth out the rasp tracks & contour it like the other one, polished the sides and hoped it would take the hitch out of the action. The bore on this one was just as rusty as gun #1 and took 30 min or so to clean. Then, as with #1, I reassembled it an cycled the action. The hitch was still there; but not as bad. Again, Wolfe spring should improve it like gun #1


Loaded up a variety of BP loads; 105gr Desperado rnfp w/20 gr Goex Cartridge; 125 Desperado rnfp w/20 gr Goex Cartridge; 158 gr Desperado rnfp w/18 gr Goex Cartridge; and a few 158 gr Desperado rnfp w/18 gr Kik fffg. Also picked up a box of Magtech 158 gr rnfb smokeless loads and a couple boxes of Great Basin Cart Co. 125 gr rnfp smokeless loads.

Took the guns out Thursday for a test firing. Set up some targets at about 12 yards & proceeded to test fire off of a pistol rest. Now, I've never been able to shoot worth a darn off of a rest - everything wants to go high. Starting with the 158 gr Magtech rounds, the first five rounds out of pistol #1 were in the center of the target l to r; but were about 8 inches above the bullseye. Group was about 1.5 to 2". next five did about the same thing. Then moved to the 125gr Great Basin rounds. The groups came down some; but were still high, centered & about 2".

Moving on to the BP rounds, I started with the 105gr Desperados. Was not happy with these at all. They were all over the paper and some keyholed. The 125 gr Desperados and 158 grain Desperados performed about like the smokeless loads.


Did the same testing with gun #2 using same loads and having about the same results. Although it keyholed the 105s and 125 gr BP loads. This pistol also locked up a few times. This is the one that had the hitch in it when dry firing. Only now, with cases in it, it deided to lock up every few rounds.

All together, I put 70 rounds through each gun - 50 BP rounds and 20 smokeless rounds - without doing any cleaning . Neither gun showed any signs of binding up.

Brought the guns home and pumpd some bore cleaning foam down the barrels & in the chambers. When I took them down, I realized that I had not oiled or used any bore butter on the arbors when I reassembled them after the initial teardown & cleaning. Amazing that there was no binding from fouling. The bushing that extends from the cylinder face to the barrel sure does it's job keeping the fouling out.

Tore pistol #2 down again to determine what was causing the lock-up and hitch. Turns out that the hitch was the bolt not retracting all the way before the hand started to turn the cylinder. A little more filing/polishing on the hand (ok, a lot - about 30 min more or so) solved the problem. Gun #2 is now about as smooth as #1. Gonna still have to replace the springs.

Oh, yeah. All of the groups from each gun off the pistol rest were high. With the height of the front sight, ther is no way this should have been - As I said, whenever I use a rest, I tend to shoot high. So,.......... I ran a couple cylinders full through each gun off hand. While the groups were larger than 2", they were all in the POA vicinity. Some more practice, once I settle on a BP loading, should make them more than adequate for SASS competitions

[ClemBert]

Your report sounds a big discouraging. It took six months to get in your new toys just to find out you had to do work on them. I wonder what the deal is with rust in the barrels. Are you sure it just isn't a factory preservative grease that is a reddish-brown color? Also, what's up with parts that have a pitted look as you described as "slag" in appearance. Very disappointing to hear all this. I would have expected better out of your new Uberti's. I would have thought these were Pietta made as you describe. Hows that fit and finish of the exterior components. Is there any reason to give hope that a fella could order a couple of new ones and be 100% satisfied. Those are not cheap firearms from what I recall.

[Noz]

Fingers' experience with the one Uberti is equal to my experience with a pair of 1860 Army Ubertis. One was returned because of open casting voids in the cylinder. Many hours of internal work and was still unsatisfied. Sent them to a gunsmith and he did a good job. they are still not as nice as my Piettas.

Yes, Fingers, you had to add the holsters and the great coat to the picture didn't you?

[Fingers McGee]

Your report sounds a big discouraging. It took six months to get in your new toys just to find out you had to do work on them. I wonder what the deal is with rust in the barrels. Are you sure it just isn't a factory preservative grease that is a reddish-brown color? Also, what's up with parts that have a pitted look as you described as "slag" in appearance. Very disappointing to hear all this. I would have expected better out of your new Uberti's. I would have thought these were Pietta made as you describe. Hows that fit and finish of the exterior components. Is there any reason to give hope that a fella could order a couple of new ones and be 100% satisfied. Those are not cheap firearms from what I recall.

Sorry to make it sound discouraging. I was excited to receive both guns and would do it again in a heartbeat. I haven't bought a C&B from any manufacturer (ASM, Colt, CVA, Euroarms, Pietta, Uberti, etc.) that was competition ready out of the box. Even the pair of Navy Arms Frontiersmen needed a little 'cleaning up' to make them more reliable. I expected to do some work on them. It's just that gun #2 was a little worse that I expected. The fit and finish of both is good. The frames have the usual washed out gray case colors, and the blue of the barrels and cylinders is bright smooth and shiney. Cylinder gap - while not measured - seems good, at least the cylinders turned freely, even after 70 rounds.

The rust in the bores was rust - not some reddish brown preservative.

Yes, Fingers, you had to add the holsters and the great coat to the picture didn't you?

Of course, you brought em up, so I had to show what you were talking about..

[madcratebuilder]

Your report sounds a big discouraging. It took six months to get in your new toys just to find out you had to do work on them.

You have to look at these C&B guns as uncompleted kits. All well need some work to get really nice. Some may be OK out of the box, but OK is not always good enough for me. This is not like buying a S&W or Ruger revolver.

The best I have seen out of the box are 2nd gen Colts, and even they need smoothing if not more.

I really need to buy some hand channel stones to do it right though

I just got a pair from midway, they work really nice.

[Darteres]

Probably off-topic, but what are the odds that these guns would handle .357 rounds? They look amazing and I've been thinking about getting one to pair with a .357/.38 Rossi model 92, but would prefer to be able to use both .357 and .38.

[azredhawk44]

Don't try it, Darteres.

These .36 cap and ball revolvers are actually .375-ish in diameter and are fed .375-.380 balls.

The arbor (I think that's the term for the rod thru the cylinder) is not strong enough even for .38special pressures and the gun would stretch and eventually break from such abuse. I would imagine it would snap in less than a full cylinder of .357magnum.

I think the cartridges used in these when converted to fire brass cases is .38 Long Colt. Very low pressure.

To fire .38sp or .357mag, you need the cylinder surrounded top and bottom to stop the frame from stretching.

[Darteres]

Good information to know! Thanks for the quick reply. I'd like to repeat that those are some beautiful pistols.

[Deadguy]

Not entirely true azredhawk. Many people have shot these guns with .38 special conversions many times, with no detrimental effects. Yes, they have to use hollow-based wadcutters pushed all the way into the case, but it works just fine at regular .38 special pressure (which is actually pretty close to normal black powder pressures). Would they work with .357 magnums? Absolutely not. No one makes a conversion for that cartridge, so you don't even have to worry about that happening. Agin, .38 special, and .38 long colt, conversions work just fine, as long as pressure are kept to SAAMI spec.

[Fingers McGee]

Don't try it, Darteres.

These .36 cap and ball revolvers are actually .375-ish in diameter and are fed .375-.380 balls.

The arbor (I think that's the term for the rod thru the cylinder) is not strong enough even for .38special pressures and the gun would stretch and eventually break from such abuse. I would imagine it would snap in less than a full cylinder of .357magnum.

I think the cartridges used in these when converted to fire brass cases is .38 Long Colt. Very low pressure.

To fire .38sp or .357mag, you need the cylinder surrounded top and bottom to stop the frame from stretching.

Wrongo.

The Man With No Name pistols are manufactured as 38 Special Cartridge revolvers and are chambered for 38 special and 38 Colt designed for Cowboy smokeless and BP rounds. They will accurately shoot any .358 lead bullet. The MWNN is not a conversions of existing .36 C&B revolvers. Barrels are .357, NOT .375.

Probably off-topic, but what are the odds that these guns would handle .357 rounds? They look amazing and I've been thinking about getting one to pair with a .357/.38 Rossi model 92, but would prefer to be able to use both .357 and .38.

Since you asked, I just checked. They will not chamber a .357 Mag round.

[azredhawk44]

Well, there ya go. I sit corrected.

Sounds like these are built differently than your typical 1851 Navy clone, though.

[Darteres]

Wow, great replies! I don't believe this is what I'm looking for in a combo for a pistol/lever gun for 38/357, but I can still watch Clint and dream!

[SigP6Carry]

just want to say to Fingers: them're some mighty fine looking pistols. One question: how do you get the spent cartridges out? Dowels?

[Fingers McGee]

If you look at the picture close, you'll see that the loading lever on the left pistol is two different colors. The loading lever is made in two pieces. Drop the latch and the front half of the lever comes off so you can use it to punch out the cases.

However, almost without exception, the spent cases just fell out of the cylinders. Some I had to bump the butt of the pistol on the table to get started; but I didn't have to punch any of them out.

FM