This is worth reading
The Open Tops can have the arbor hole in the barrel too deep and that can exasberate attempts to hold a proper constant cylinder gap/wedge position. The cylinder gap can be in the range of .006-.010 and even a little more if a person is comfortble with that. I like .006 inch myself.
A Pietta 1860 coming from thr box should have an arbor fit snug enough in the barrels arbor hole and have an arbor that bottoms in the hole as the cylinder gap is set at proper. That seems to be what the Pietta machinists strive for. I've seen it enough to assume that. All the guns aren't that close in machine tolerance though and a check is easy enough to do when the gun is new.
Stick the barrel on the arbor at a 90 degree from where it should be....press the barrel till you feel/hear the arbor hit the bottom of the barrels hole......carefully turn the barrel gently till the barrels bottomlug either slides past the frame and hits a pin or hits the frame edge. Take into account the fact the barrel isn't a perfect fit to the arbor and there's some play involved. Anywhoooooo......doing this a person can "see" if the barrel lug meets the front face of the frame and shows the arbor is bottomed properly(and hits a frame pin),if there's a small space between the frame and barrel lug, or if the barrel lug hits the frame (as if the barrel goes on a little too far and shows the end of the arbor is a little too short).
Naturally if the barrel goes on too far the arbor is short and if there's a space of more than a couple .001's inch between frame and barrel the arbor is too long.
Arbor too long......hone the end of it till the barrels bottom lug is within a couple .001's inch of the frame.
Arbor too short.....build the end of it up to be longer by welding,screwing on a cap or.....the easiest way.....
put a shim the right thickness in the barrels arbor hole and seat it to the bottom of the hole. Make the shim from a small steel fender washer from the hardware store if you like. File it to fit the barrels hole in such a way as it is tamped in and will stay but......if need be a dental pick or shomething akin to that can get to the hole in the shim and get it out of the hole. So you don't always loose a shim you painstakingly stoned to be exactly the right thickness within a .001 or .002 inch.
The arbor bottoming in the barrels hole with the barrel lug within a coupla .001's in. of the frame is optimum I'd say. It's imperative to having a consistant wedge position-cylinder gap.
If you bottom the arbor and the cylinder gap is too wide or too tight then.....adjust something till things are put right. Either take a little off the breech end of the barrel if the gap is too tight or set the barrel back by taking some off the barrels lug and shortening the arbor till the gap is proper. That takes a little doing and taking anything off the barrels bottom lug means leaving the plane you take some off of exactly the same and the plane on the end of the arbor exactly the same in regards to how they were.
The arbors end face needs be a flush flat 360 degree fit to the bottom of the barrels hole and the barrels lug face exactly parallel with the frames front face. Doing a good job on that ensures the gun fires straight if the barrel is a good one. You can slant the barrels lug face a coupla degrees one way or the other and get the gun to shoot straight, usually, if the barrels lug face makes full contact with the frame(the .002 inch space is closed up). That's within the parameters of the "loose" the arbor has in the barrels hole. The barrel can't seat a little different from changing the plane of it's front lug face if the arbor is too tight in the barrels hole.
Rule of thumb.....fit the barrel to the frame of the Colt without the cylinder on the gun.....then once the barrel is fit properly fit the cylinder.
Anywhooooo.....you need a bottomed arbor to set a good consistant cylinder gap/wedge position. The wedge should be inserted and gently tapped into place with a very small ball peen hammer using the flat end to hit with. Hits that are very gentle. Listening to the sound of the little hammer hitting the wedge you can tell by the tone of the hits.....as they get higher pitched as the barrel gets closer and closer to bottoming on the arbor......when the tone is highest pitched and makes that solid sound metal makes when it's immoveable you can hear that the arbor is on the bottom of the hole and the wedge can't go in any further and the cylinder gap is set proper. Just very light taps to the wedge with the tiny hammer ends up making that satisfying sound as the wedge is set,the barrel gap set, the arbor is on the bottom of the hole.
If things are "a-right" then you can't really get the wedge in with just a thumb.You can get it close but not right at that special place. You can get it close enough to fire the gun but the barrel will be seated a little loose. Not much but a little. That would be of little concern(the barrel a bit loose) if an Apache Indian was bearing down on you with a sharp knife as you finish re-loading a spare cylinder. ha ha ha
Having the wedge set right with the arbor bottomed makes it easier to thumb press a wedge in and out I guess but.....I suspect ,as I read somewhere, that the troopers of yesteryear used the spare cylinder to wack the wedge loose enough to pull it with the fingers to change cylinders. Wacked it loose and wacked it a little to seat it with the used empty cylinder. Makes sense to me. Anywhoooooo.....you can't really seat a wedge properly with thumb pressure. You can get it close but not quite tight as it should be to be perfectly seated.
Also.....a wedge can be damaged easily by hitting it too hard at the end of it's "seat-in".
Well the cylinder gap thing is tended to except for one little thing.........
The hands spring has to be adjusted ,at times,so it doesn't push the cylinder forward too hard and make the cylinder rub the barrels breech end too hard. That exasperates the cylinder turning once the guns been fired some.
Keeping the front of the cylinders center hole and the arbors surface free of fouling is a prime importance to having the gun function correctly for many shots.
The Colt can be serviced properly to keep it functioning withougt fouling drag for at least 100 shots if not 200 shots. Maybe on certain days when the air is dry or too humid the fouling needs a coupla drops of a blackpowder solvent dropped on the area where the cylinders front center hole and arbor get fouled. A Visine bottle works great for that. Turn the gun pointing skyward after the chambers are loaded but....not capped......and drop a coupla drops of solvent or water on the front of the cylinders center hole and turn the cylinder till it spins freely. That's the back-up plan.
The MAIN plan to avoid fouling drag of the cylinder starts with good lubrication. In this plan a good grease of any kind liberally spread on the arbor and in the frames hole where the ratchets for indexing are at the backof the cylinder(powder fouling comes out the nipples and fouls the back of the cylinders center hole too). Doesn't havre to be organic type grease either. That scenario with only organics grease is for the chambers and barrel where the heat is very hot. If you liberally grease the innards of the gun and the front and rear of the cylinder and arbor with any type grease the gun functions properly thru-out a long run of shots.That makes things easier since a good grease on the parts is what guns love more than organics that don't lubricate as well as petroleum grease and are stored with a good grease on them. This petroleum grease thing is part of the MAIN plan though. The rest of the plan is........
Make a good lube pill from wax/lube and insert the lube pill(of the correct solidity) right on top the powder and under the ball. That seals the chamber but......puts the lube pill right where it needs to be to work properly. Right on top the powder. Not toosoft or too hard the pillon the powder will keepaColt functioning all day. I regularly fire 200 balls from my cap&ballers without cleaning the cylinder or arbor. Sometimes I drop a drop of water or solvent on the arbor/cylinders front center hole to keep some fouling drag minimized. Not always though. That's it.....MAIN PLAN....put a lube pill on top the powder in the chamber. That's where the wax/lube does the most good and actually keeps the barrel clean enough to retain accuracy.
The lube pills about an eighth inch thick wook well for me.
Made from equal parts bees wax,paraffin wax, and lube(as in mutton tallow,olive oil,canola oil,crisco,lard, Pam, corn oil ect.ect.ect.) the lube pills work great placed on top the powder in the chambers. That is where they do the most good. From the lube pill in the chamber forward the gun stays clean enough to function and be accurate for many shots fired. I've discovered this and purported the use of lube pills/grease cookies placed on the powder in the chambers ofcap&ballers for probably close to ten years here on the internet. I've read about grease cookies in cartridges smokeless and blackpowder., I've read in Elmer Kieths good book Six Guns about him using old CowBoy hats made of wool to punch wads to be saturated with a lube and placed "ON" the powder in the chambers of his "51" Navy Colt that he said would put them in the same hole all day.
Fouling is kept from the front center hole of the cylinder and the arbor at that point by wax/lube splashing down when melted by the heat of combustion and guarding that area from fouling getting there to drag the cylinders turning. Simple. Make lube pills or saturate wool wads with lube/wax and put them on the powder in the chambers. Make sure they aren't too soft. The wax content regulates the hardness of the lube pill. Too soft and accuracy is hampered. Too hard and they don't lubricate well. In warm weather the paraffin content is upped to up the hardness of the lube pills.
If I'm not mistaken the recipie of equal parts bees wax ,paraffin wax ,and lube stuff is an old one. It can be adjusted as you see fit to work for you. Even toilet bowl seals made of synthetics can be added to the recipie. It's just a good lube "suspended in wax" that does the trick.
I guess I stumbled onto a good recipie as I later learned it was used for decades before I thunked it up. ha ha ha ha Good for smokeless powder too.
That is it Hombres.
Regards,
Wayne(aka Rifle,Enyaw,Wayner,Blue Tick,Red Bone,Waynerinskistiener
Sorry, couldn't resist.
