Permanent fix to a pair of Pietta 51's

[Gabriel Law]

This thread is to acknowledge Larsen E. Pettigooger who has posted a great and permanent fix to an issue inherent in cap and ball revolvers.  The issue:  the hand spring.  On both my Pietta 1851's this little spring collasped and broke.  I followed the directions freely given by Mr. P. first in the pages of the Cowboy Chronicle, and then in a thread on the website "The Open Range".  The fix is easy and works a charm.
Also thanks to Colorado Coffinmaker for steering me back onto this information.  Now that my pistols are running smoothly again, I have rekindled my love affair with them...the pistols, I mean.

[Coffinmaker]

Aw Shucks.  And I thought I was gonna get lucky 

[Gabriel Law]

I'm not crazy enough to go up against a cowboy who shoots clean matches with very short cap and ball revolvers.
But I seriously appreciate his help.

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[Galen]

Just throwing a muffin in the fire. What is the best 1851 right out of the box?

[Coffinmaker]

Galen,
Your answer requires a CAVEAT.  If you are talking about closest to the original Sample Example in appearance, a little nod will go to Uberti.

If you are talking mechanically with the thought of using the gun for CAS, PIETTA hands down.  Pietta is much easier to set up for the CAS game.  You also get a very wide selection of Barrels and build materials.  Many more options.

Now for the other CAVEAT.  Which ever you select, to be even remotely useable for CAS, your going to have to do some serious work to make the gun reliable enough to play the game.  There are NO Cap Guns ready for CAS right out of the box.

PS:  Forgot important point.  You even get to choose CALIBER with Pietta.

[treebeard]

After reading all the threads in response to my original and subsequent posts i did the following to my Uberti 1851:

1. the barrel was extremely hard to remove so i deburred the Arbor hole using 320 grit wet/dry sand paper and deburred the arbor
as it had a few burrs. This freed up the barrel so i could do the test of twisting the barrel around to see where it mated up to the frame. It was so close that i decided to leave well enough alone. The barrel still takes some effort to remove but you do not need guriila arms.

2. the bolt head was a little too long and a little to wide so some light filing took care of that so now the bolt actually enters locking slots on the cylinder.

3. I am decent with the file so i took slight strokes on the barrel breech to where I could see a sliver of light when holding the cylinder in rear position. The cylinder now revolves with out contacting breech. The gap is really small but hopefully enough.

After the holidays are over i will go to the range and see how it operates. I also replaced the nipples with the Slix Type. I only use BP.
so I am looking forward and hope it works well enough for casual shooting.

Thanks again for all the advice--hopefully I understood enough of what Rifle, Coffinmaker and Pettifogger said that i did not ruin this revolver.