1851 Pietta Revolver

Lo Key, It will have the patina look when I'm done with it.It's tuned just about perfectly now .It took me a little bit to get the trigger pull just where I wanted it but now it's just right.
This gun is a lot of fun to shoot and a little lighter to cary around the yard.
 
Mike,

Do you chew your nails? If not, all you gotta do is squeeze the spring hook down and push to get the wedge out.

The hook ain't really supposed to go out the other side, by some sites, IS supposed to hook to the off side of the frame, on others.

WE ain't gonna whack the wedge with the reload to get it out. If you had a hundred Injuns attacking you, you would whack it with anything you had, no plastics or rubber hammers to not mar the frame. Or plastic drift punch, that you have to grind to fit.

My '60, you wanna pull the wedge, smack the muzzle with the palm of your hand, breaks it loose enough to thumb it out. That hurts too much, take a rawhide mallet.

You ain't supposed to hammer the wedge in. If the arbor is bottomed out properly, you can't draw the barrel back any further. You just deform the slot in either the arbor or the barrel extension, or the wedge itself.

I don't know, is there any of you who are driving the wedge in with a hammer?

STOP RIGHT NOW!!!When it stops moving, slip the wedge in, the best check is if the mating parts, frame extension and barrel extension, where the locating pins are , are kissing, the wedge is home. AND, everything is in line. Smack 'er harder, with arbor clearance, shoot high. Loose, pressure from the charge will push the barrel downwards, shoot low. Got to lock everything up mechanically to shoot straight.

If you have a deep hole under the arbor, and you hammer the wedge in, you just made a Howitzer of your .36, at least until you jack the barrel high enough to bind the cylinder. You will NEVER hit at POA, unless you aim a foot low, or more.

Ah, well, I forget what the hell the topic was. Does this help?

Cheers,

George
 
Kevin, One of my favorite western movie's is "Quigly down under" mostly because all the Revolvers are C&B. In one scene the girl is protecting the baby from wild dogs by shooting at them with a walker. It looks like a cannon in her little hands and kicks like a mule. They even show her reloading it. In just about all the gun fights all you see is C&B revolvers. My wife bought me the movie on DVD for Christmas and it's really great because you can stop it and look at the guns anytime you want up close. A walker is on my list also but not for a while at the price there going for now.


George, The plastic wedge drifter I use is nice when your thumb wont take it out . You just hit it with the back of your hand to drift out the wedge.
 
Danged wedge

I bought a new 1851 Pietta for several reasons and one was to see about the dreaded stuck wedge. I'm convinced that pietta uses a bit of "wack it in to form fit it" with the wedge seating. Too bad they don't loosen it up after that for the customers. I ended up breaking the tips off my composite wedge drifts made for me by the imfamous Smokin-Gun and had to reshape them. I finally used my little gunsmith hammer with the flat of it and just hit the wedge out with it. The spring does get in the way and I say to put a bevel on the springs tip sos it can move down out of the way when it's hit. After the initial wacking it out the wedge was easier to remove after that. Pietta wedges do fit nice and tight and that's good when firing the gun.
 
The idea of just shoving in the wedge and saying that's good enough would be fine but it doesn't work that way for all of us.
A good test to see if the wedge is to tight or not tight enough is the following...After the gun is togeather and you just pushed in the wedge place it on half cock, hold the grip in your right hand and the barrel in your left and try to break the gun in the middle like you would a stick...feel any movement? If you do then it's not tight enough at all and the first shot or two will really make it loose and your accuracy will go to hell quickly.
Now tap the wedge in gently with anything that won't mar the finish, try to break it again and see if the movement is gone and it should be. Now move the cylider towards the rear and slide in a piece of tablet paper and let go of the cylinder. Now pull the paper out slowly, If it comes out smoothly without tearing you are good to go.
Got this from an old timer yesterday and it works! :)
 
Mike,

If the arbor is fitted to the barrel assembly, properly, you are a little wrong.

The arbor should be bottomed out and the wedge should be drove home. If the arbor is fitted properly, you can smack that wedge with a 3 lb. sledge, and it wont draw it up to sieze the cylinder, nor tip the barrel up.

To make it fit properly, the arbor should bottom out at about .0005 to .001 clearance at the barrel assembly mating point with the frame at the locating pins, and that clearance is just for wear.

Force of firing will "push" the barrel forward a skosh, it hits the front end of the frame extension, stops. Period.

If you are able to drive the wedge in enough to bind the cylinder, you got a bad gun.

IF you can pull the barrel off the pins, twist 'er enough to clear the flats and push the barrel assembly back past the mating points, you got a bad gun.

If the arbor don't bottom out, period, when the mating surfaces are all but dead nuts, bad gun, period.

What, do you want to adjust your POI POA everytime you clean the thing? Tap the wedge a leetle bit to get just the right cyl gap each time? Try to do the same thing tomorrow? "Damn, the thing shot right where I aimed, yesterday, today it's a foot high!"

I gotta admit, when I turn mine to the side to clear the mating surfaces, it's a bitch to get it to go home. Like the arbor or the hole is oval. Use a leather mallet to bottom it out. Spacer and loading lever to jack it back off.

That's the '51 Navy. The '60 Army bottoms out and just kisses the frame extension. That one's good. It's also an ASM. Can drive that wedge tight, doesn't draw up the barrel to point at the sky.

Cheers,

George
 
Just because the arbor doesn't "bottom out" does not mean it's a bad gun- that can be fixed with a weld or a shim. Just because you can drive the wedge in far enough to bind the cylinder does not mean it's a bad gun. If you're looking for a "perfect" gun, one that needs no work, you're in the wrong sport.
 
hey mike,thats one of my favorates as well cause of all the c&b pistols.i think josey wells is my all time favorate though.
 
Man,

Where the hell you buying these wedges? I have NO wedges with springs with a square hook on them, they all have a bevel on the back side, just as on the front side.

Ramped, they will push out, just as they push in. Again, I use my thumbnail to push the hook down. If you can't, use a tool such as a small screwdriver to push the hook down, a light tap should do it. If it takes more, you have other problems.

Cheers,

George
 
pohill,

If you bought a new Pietta that has an 1/8 inch clearance under the arbor, you have bought a "BAD GUN".



You can go to Chicoines book and learn how to fix it, but it is still a fact you bought a BAD GUN. You should not HAVE to fix it. I don't know, will you agree to that? You bought a new gun, it should be right?

Anything can be made right, if you have the time and the expertise to do it. If you say, "Well, I might get a piece of junk if I go to the Auction sites, I think I will just buy new, not have to worry about anything, it will be perfect."

You think so? Remington Kid seems to be saying differently. He's not familiar with these open framed revolvers, has done great, so far as he knows, aligning the barrel with the cylinders, but doesn't know that the wedge should lock the barrel assembly to the frame assembly without drawing the barrel too far back. The wedge should not be ABLE to draw it too far back. If they make the gun with a properly bottomed arbor, it CAN'T be drawn too far back.

Saying, a competent gunsmith can fix it is not the same as saying it should be shootable out of the box. It should not require a competent gunsmith, for a new gun.

Cheers,

George
 
The bottom line is every gun is differant, any gun outta the box only needs a competant shooter to recognise from expiriance if a gun should be kept or sent back. Not from here say but expiriance or knowledgable expirianced shooters recomendations. "life if like a box a chocolates, ya never know what you're gonna get till ya bite into one" guote from Forest Gump and sooo true.
So when in doubt ask, but ask the right person...that's the key. And I said that.
 
Smoke,

I bought a new 1851 Pietta revolver, and when I drive the wedge in, the cylinder won't turn. What does that mean?

When I remove the cylinder ane drive the wedge in the barrel points up 10 degrees. What does that mean?

Should I learn from you oldtimers just how far to drive in the wedge? The reason I ask is that unless I bend the barrel up , I can't get the wedge to even start.

Do you think I might have a BAD GUN?

I've been lurking here a long time, do you think it would help to put a shim on top of the arbor pin? I mean, it doesn't really matter how much clearance there is at the bottom of the arbor hole, does it? You told me that 40 11 times.

Ah, poop, gonna have to figure this stuff out my own self, no help here, just your own prejudices.

Cheers,

George

Why did I miss your last post? Every gun is different. That is only true to an extent. They are all supposed to be made to a tolerance. A thou here and there is to be expected. An 1/8 inch is not.

2 feet on the wingspan of a B-51 might be allowed, then again, maybe not.
 
No you don't have a bad gun if the wedge don't go all the way in, if the bbl was pointing 10 degrees up you would have never recieved it...if ya read what I typed I said every gun is differant.... if you see half a chamber lookin down the barrel that's a bad gun. You have a bad gun if it's pointing 10 degrees upword...send it back.

Your a moody ol fart some days you fine others you are like this...did your beer freeze or sumthin? :D
 
Oh, hell no, now, for some reason, you are thinking like I am.

On a new gun, the wedge should just go in till it hits the other side of the wedge slot in the barrel housing, just sticking out, you know it's there, not cocked and trying to drive it into the wall of the barrel assembly.

And, if it's tight, and that is up to you, what tight is, and you have cyl gap clearance, great Shoot the sonomagun, Have a blast.

Cheers,

George
 
If you mean the arbor forward of the barrel assy. nothing frong with that better tight than loose. That's if you mean forward to back and not up and down or sise to side. If I am following you...not a thing wrong with a tight wedge that will be fire form fitted anyway. That's the reason they make the wedges out of a softer material. The wedge will deform more than the barrel slot and arbor will. Tha't the main reason I like Rems over Colts...all that BS...ya know? Colts are damn pretty and fun ta shoot but the upkeep can be time consuming not over all but sometimes.
 
Wow guy's! Let me restate this because it seems that some of you have the wrong idea as to what I was saying.
Someone stated that you should be able to just push the wedge in with your thumb and it will be tight enough. If I push as hard as I can with just thumb preasure mine will not be tight enough and there is still a very little bit of play between where the barrel locks up to the pins.You can only feel this by trying to break the gun as discribed above. If I shoot the gun while it's a little bit loose it will only become looser as I shoot.
If I place the wedge in the gun and shove it on in with my thumb and then give it a slight rap with a small piece of wood or plastic handle it sets the barrel solid and everything runs smoothly. Taking out the wedge is no problem. It will come out most of the time with just thumb preasure.
Nothing is misaligned or needs any shims or anything like that.
I was simply stateing that I could not set this wedge as it should be with thumb preasure alone, it needs a little (Very little) rap.
This Navy could not shoot any better than it does and I'm not about to send it back and tell the people that I can't make the wedge tight enough with thumb preasure so I want it replaced:)
 
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