Tiffiny 1860 Army Blackhawk

Yep.....I'm gonna do it.

Following. I love watching your projects.

Cant decide on long or short barrel.....leaning toward a true 4" though.

4 inch barrel would be cool. Would you shorten a 4 5/8 ejector rod and housing to make it full length with the barrel? Or would you use a sheriffs model 3 1/2 inch ejector rod and housing?

true 4" using an old army san marco 4" housing from when they made a true 4" gun. so not so much work and housing just shy of flush with end of barrel.

Sweet!!

What is the history of these grips? I'm sure they have a name , or type. I have an old Colt brochure and history of cap and ball revolvers. There is a Colt pictured with this type of grips.

Unfinished brass casting grip and cast Eagle grip cap for the Uberti 1860 Tiffany Army Colt 44.......found on Ebay for less than similar from VTI Gun Parts. I checked it against the uberti steel trigger guard I fittet to the other project on here and it should bolt right up on this OM 357 with out too much effort beyond the typical coil spring conversion.

I guess "Tiffany" is the name of these grips. Style.

Yes. On the original presentation guns Tiffiny Jewelers made the grips in gold amd silver plate, etc. Tiffany has done up numerous presentation guns through the years.

Can't wait to see this project.

First step is to drill and tap the grip for the grip cap screw and then to machine the recess in the grip cap for an 8x40 screw.

Next step is to loose a bunch of unnecessary barrel length that makes these guns cumbersome to carry, here trimmed to a true 4" length. Added is a NOS Steel cam cut ejector rod housing from the old true 4" army san-marco revolvers and a colt style crescent ejector rod button.

Then comes a front sight. 1/16" brass bead for fine shooting.

The part was inexpensive because the upper left screw hole was drilled twice. Crooked once and then oversize and crooked again leaving a figure 8 hole. Drilled it out on the press with the smallest bit that would clean up most of the hole, fitted a brass pin and tinned and soldered with Hi Force 44 silver solder. Strong enough. Incidentally, I found water base flux and a low flame works best with Hi Force. Much better and easier to solder the strongest joints with good old water base plumbers pipe flux. Later, I'll measure, mark and drill and countersink a new hole for the upper left grip screw.

First fitting going well. New left upper grip hole drilled and countersunk at .619" CTC. Pretty close bolt up of Italian grip to American frame. I'm pleased, only minor fitting at the aft end of the frame and the width is at least a good as a Ruger factory grip frame.

Factory blue on this one is so good I'm moving slow as I'd like to preserve the blue throughout the fitting process. First fit of the Uberti brass triggerguard to the frame and grip. Will have to get the trigger guard exactly where i want it and then bring the grip evenly into the strap and back of the ruger frame. Just try and try again till it slides right into place.

Getting back to sparkly goodness. Here the lower tang has been heated dull red in a dark room and bent forward 3/16" to line up with the curvature of the cast grip. Front screw hole in the trigger guard is plugged with brass and moved back 2/3 hole to line up with the factory hole in the frame. Counter bored, a ruger back strap screw is a perfect fit for a new front trigger guard screw. Also, the two rear trigger guard screws were replaced with back strap screws for a perfect clamp on the Uberti trigger guard. Finally, the grip is drilled and counter bored under its eagle cap in order to fit a screw which secures the tail of the trigger guard to the grip itself. Rock solid. Started some of the grinding of casting flash. Next step is to outfit the trigger guard to function with the old model trigger return spring and plunger.

Next step is making up a simple jig to copy the Ruger Trigger Plunger hole over to the Uberti Brass Trigger guard. The hole is .170 diameter and .650 deep. When looking at the bottom of the trigger guard, the hole is 10 degrees to one side and 15 degrees down from the frame base line as measured from the proper sized drill bit, these angles repeat pretty well on several surfaces of both trigger guards. (important as they are slightly different shapes and its good to have common reference points to align the brass guard to be drilled). I used the original XR3RED grip frame to establish the angles. When mounted on the leveled drill press pad, the drill bit will be perfectly vertical. After some additional work on the grip frames trigger slot, I'll be ready to step drill the trigger plunger hole in stages on the drill press. Every Italian part is slightly different throughout the years, so each modification may require a new jig, easy enough from scrap wood and a few minutes work to establish the angles.

Drill out the hole for the trigger plunger, polish the hole and the plunger and check fit. Drill all the way out the back, the trigger guard is thinner than the aluminum factory housing and a capture pin/screw will be installed to retain the spring from the backside. Some more fitting of the trigger, it rubs on one side of the slot and is a bit long, rubbing the edge of the trigger on the inside of the guard.