Advise on Navy Arms 51 Navy.

[madcratebuilder]

Another new to me revolver followed me home today. A Navy Arms, what appears to be a 1851 Navy, 36 cal. 7 1/2 octagon barrel, round brass trigger guard and back strap. Under the loading ram it's marked A Uberti & C Gardone VT Italy. No roll engraving on the cylinder. Stamped XX that should be 1964. A few dings under the back strap from a ring I imagine. Other than that almost new, tightest locking BP I have.

Any chance this could be a Leech & Rigdon model?

One problem it does have is the front sight is loose. It's brass bead style and it moves a bit in it's mounting hole. I'm thinking about striking the top of the bead with a rawhide mallet, maybe that well expand the brass in the mounting hole. Some other opinions would be great.

I'm surprised at the quality of the fit and finish, a LOT better than what I would expect from a Italian pistol from 1964.

[Fingers McGee]

If it's a full length octagonal barrel, it's a 51 Navy. The Leech and Rigdon model had a half octagonal half round barrel.

[Guardian Angel Mors]

There should be no surprise about the quality of an Uberti's replica also if produced in 1964... In fact they were made to fit US market requests.
U just think that until early 90's Uberti was one of the producers of the parts you usually did find in "original" Colt revolvers as re-edition of 51 Navy, 60 Army and SAA.
The same happens today: several brands use parts made in other countries to save $$ and still offer a good quality product. I own a really excellent Springfield Armory 1911 A1, but the parts made by fusion come from Brazil...

P.S.
A.Uberti , Gardone VT (Italy) still produces excellent guns also if the brand is now owned by Beretta.

Ciao!

[Hawg]

Fingers is kinda right, it wasn't exactly half round half octagon. It was octagon up to where the barrel left the wide flat where the loading lever was mounted and was round from there to the muzzle. Here's an original L&R.

[madcratebuilder]

There should be no surprise about the quality of an Uberti's replica also if produced in 1964... In fact they were made to fit US market requests.
U just think that until early 90's Uberti was one of the producers of the parts you usually did find in "original" Colt revolvers as re-edition of 51 Navy, 60 Army and SAA.

I have two 2nd series Colts, 61 Navy, Walker, and was aware that they are built with Uberti forgings. My first BP back in early seventies was a ROA. I recall looking at the Italian imports then and they sure did not look like this one.

It's a full octagon barrel, so that makes it a Navy model, just lacking the roll engraving on the cylinder.

[sundance44s]

I`ve used a little 5 min epoxy for a fix on loose front bead sights ...it holds well even under heavy use .....if you ever have to take it off again ...it`s tough but will break free ....tightening those brass post sights uasually strip the threads if you use anything other than your fingers .

[madcratebuilder]

I`ve used a little 5 min epoxy for a fix on loose front bead sights ...it holds well even under heavy use .....if you ever have to take it off again ...it`s tough but will break free ....tightening those brass post sights uasually strip the threads if you use anything other than your fingers .

I wasn't sure if it was thread originally or not. It just spins now, about .020 movement up and down and a very slight bend to it. I'll get it squeaky clean and glue that sucker.

On second thought I may try to remove it, the treads in the barrel should be good, I'll just machine up a new one.
Glue would be a lot easier.