navy '51 left or right twist

[psaux]

Last month I have bought Uberti Navy '51. It is a new revolver. It has right, very slow twist. Is it ok?. Uberti's catalog says that this gun has left twist. What is rate of twist i yours gun? Thanks.

Piter

[Greg Nelson]

My Uberti '51 Navy has 7-grooves in a 1:32" left twist. I slugged the bore with a 0.390" lead ball, and came up with a groove of around 0.379", and a bore of around 0.360" (those odd-numbered lands and grooves are hard to measure!). The chamber diameter is 0.372". The chamber slightly smaller than groove diameter has been normal for C&B revolvers since the days of the original Colts, and I assume that was to aid in fouling control. Pure lead balls or bullets and blackpowder work just fine with that arrangement anyway.

I use a 0.380 ball with 25 grains of FFFg. But I have had excellent accuracy with the conical cast from a Lee 375-130-1R mould, pre-lubed by dipping in melted beeswax. The conical has worked VERY well with charges of 15, 17 and 20 grains of FFFg, and prints much tighter groups for me than the round ball, especially at 50 yards.

The only complaint with the conical is that it prints much higher on the target than the ball. But the conical shoots so well, that I think I'll dovetail in a taller blade front sight, similar to what I've seen done in some original Colt 1851's.