1847 Walker Just Arrived
Regarding the tight wedge issue [again]---I double checked that I was inserting the wedge from the right side, which I was, and I also did some minimal lubing to the wedge to ease the fit. Bottom line, it was still tough to insert.
I then fully removed the wedge and looked into the arbor---again remembering I am new to black powder guns, I noticed that there appeared to be two protrusions into the rectangular arbor: they are likely circular in cross section, and looking in from the right side of the Walker, the closer one is on the right, the one on the far side is on the left.
My suspicion (please correct me if you know) is, if these are not flaws, that these help to align the wedge when reinserted. However, I watched a "YouTube" video of cleaning/reassembling the Walker and the young man in the video reinserted the wedge with thumb, not plastic hammer, pressure.
I have e-mailed Cabelas on this but would like you input---perhaps time, and wear will make insertion easier but I just want to insure this is not a flaw.
Thanks much and I have really appreciated the help.