Drag marks on cylinder,timing issue?

G

GolfGuy

New member
I've noticed on the cylinder of my 1858 Rem that there are small dents just in front of the cylinder bolt notch. It's not dragging very far just a small dent right on the leading edge of the notch.

I just got a conversion cylinder and its also showing drag marks for about 1/8-3/16 inch in front of the notch. I'm not sure if this is something I should be concerned about or even if there is anything I can do about it, or if its no big deal.

Any thoughts?
 
The conversion cylinder is showing the better marks.

That bolt pops up with a good bit of foce, and the steel of the cylinders isn't all that hard, so by hitting repeatly in the same place, it makes a kind of lite dent. IF that dent forms on the leading edge of the cylinder notch, can peen it so that the bolt doesn't fit it so well...leading to trouble with cylinder lock.

As much as some don't like the drag-line of the bolt popping up a bit early and then being rotated into the notch, it's proably the better of the two choices as it keeps the peening away from the cylinder's notch.
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Had an 1851 that showed that peen mark right on the edge of the cylinder notch. Wasn't too long before it raised a burr that interfeared with the bolt's fit nto the notch...everything was timed right and in place, but the bolt had no room to snap up into the notch.

A litttle work with timeing got the bolt poping up a bit earlier (on the start of that inclined ramp leading to the notch).
 
You can always go in with a dremel tool and relieve the area where it is peening too(like the relief in the colt cylinders. This alieviates the peening and lockup is not affected.
 
Ribbonstone- That sounds exactly like what is happening. Tweaking the timing is not something that I think I should do, I'm sure to screw it up and make it worse, I think I can live with it the way it is. Thanks for the info!


Dragoon- Yes, I have a dremel but not much skill with it, I'm okay grinding in areas that don't show, but that sounds like a precision job that would also affect the appearance and knowing me I would botch the H**l out of it. I might just wait for the peening to mush a burr into the notch and then just grind the burr away as needed, but thanks for the advice!
 
Golf Guy,..... ribbonstone and Old Dragoon offer some good observations & advice worth takin into account. One thing I try to do with any new Remington when I first get it , is to take the bolt out and stone the top of it with a hard smooth stone to kinda polish away any fine roughness or burrs out of it,.....very slightly smoothing the sharp edges, too. A smooth bolt head will tend to glide across the cylinder without diggin in,....IF....the pressure on it from the trigger/bolt spring isn't excessive, or more than what's required to push it up into the cylinder notch at the moment of battery. So what else I do is back off on the screw holding the trigger/bolt spring (just under the trigger guard) a tad,..about a half turn, so the bolt won't be snappin up against the cylinder that hard. You kinda have to find that sweet spot of backin it off enough to relieve some spring tension, but not so much that the bolt won't deftly go up into the notch when it should,...and the screw is too loose. After initially doing this I watch closely as to how & where the bolt is touching down on the cyl.going into battery, and how it feels while cycling it from chamber to chamber,and then make changes on the trigger/bolt spring tension accordingly. You can take the cylinder out while adjusting this spring,...which will more easily let you clearly see , while backing off on the screw,...the point at which the bolt doesn't go up as high from the bolt window. Then you have to re-tighten it a tad ,...so the bolt goes up ALL the way. It's that sweet spot with the least amount of tension, but enough to do the job. A new trigger bolt spring, when screwed down tight, can really put alot of pressure on that bolt to cause it to go snapping up hard on the cylinder,.....often too hard I think.
Anyway,...just some more thoughts to further amuse your passion to understand the workings of these great 'ole guns we all enjoy shooting.:)
 
Thanks Oldelm-

That is helpful advice and makes a lot of sense. you may have read in my other post, I'm having trouble with the hammer resetting with the conversion cylinder in so the hammer can be cocked again. And understanding what is goin on inside this darn thing is very helpful in troubleshooting that problem too and a good place to start is with what you described, adjusting the trigger/bolt spring tension I think. no need for the bolt to slam into the cylinder harder than necessary.

One thing I do need to get is a hard smooth stone. What type do you recommend?

Thanks!
 
R&D bolt notches on Remmie revolver

Golfguy,

Here's something you might check. I have an R&D cylinder in my 1858 Remmie
and was having some Cylinder lock-up issues. Check the WIDTH of the notches on your conversion cylinder. The bolt on my Remmie was WIDER than the notches on the conversion cylinder. This didn't allow the bolt to pop up all the way into the locking notch. This caused a number of problems. It's easy to check even without a caliper. Remove the triggerguard, back out the cross screw and remove the trigger/bolt spring. You can then lift out the bolt.
Note how it fits into the locking notch in the percussion cylinder and how much clearence there is on either side. Then try the same thing with the R&D unit. My conversion cylinder's notches were too narrow to allow my bolt to fit.
I'll be sending the cylinder back to R&D for one with the correct size locking notches.

There's some batch to batch variation in these Italian revolvers. Replacement parts almost always require some fitting of some sort.:(

Hope this helps.

Brent
 
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