HisSoldier wrote:
What do Walker owners do to solve the apparent design fault of inadequate latching of the loading lever, is there a latch farther back that I can't see?
The loading lever latch is a thin spring that is dovetailed and projects down from the barrel and engages and holds in the section of the loading lever that has the screw in it to hold the actual ramming part. As in this below photo. Look carefully at the thin spring piece projecting from the bottom of the barrel. It snaps into the middle of the loading lever
and is the only catch, and that is why even with the loading lever snapped in place, sometimes you see the long end of the lever droop a bit. That's because the lever is not latched at it far end, but in its middle so when the spring gets weak,the lever droops down a bit even when it is latched (poorly latched).
and in this picture as well....
It is a poor retention system and under recoil the spring will "jump out" of the recess in the loading lever and your lever will drop.
There have been several ways shooters have adapted to keep the lever from falling under recoil. As in this description from Wikipedia....
"Period-correct fixes for this often included placing a rawhide loop around both the barrel and loading lever, to prevent the loading lever from dropping under recoil and locking the action."
Then there is this link where it shows a cut down barrel and lever Walker with an unusual modified toggled rammer and also an interesting dovetail retainer for the loading lever. Obviously whoever did it dovetailed a latch into the bottom of the barrel and then spring loaded a piece inside the loading lever to engage the latch. Look at it carefully in the 2nd photo down on the left side at this link. Click on the pictures of this link to enlarge....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctarchives/4522700447/
Then there's this link where the shooter simple modified his rammer by slotting it and spring loading a latch and then dovetailing a latch retainer into the bottom of his barrel on his Walker....
http://blog.did-art.fr/3_5_Fixing-the-Colt-Walker-Loading-Lever.html
And a couple of pics of that modified Walker loading lever from that above link....
Now the above shooter has two lever latches, one in the middle and one at the far end of the loading lever (the most secure one). It won't drop under recoil now.
Hope this helped you understand and answered your questions HisSoldier.
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