I am going to take a chance....

D

Doc Hoy

New member
....posting a question about black powder revolvers in this essentially cartridge domain.

Experts, I am requesting your advice.

I have a Leech and Rigdon clone which I am working on. The barrel to cylinder gap was way wide at about .008 to .009. Seating the wedge tightly did little to correct the problem. I turned the barrel on the arbor and found that there was plenty of room for the barrel to move closer to the cylinder.

So I took the milling machine to the barrel lug as shown below.

Barrellug.jpg


I felt like the only alternative was to go to work on the frame itself. As the frame is tapered, I knew it would be very difficult holding it in place for the miling operation. Also, I can get a barrel cheap. That frame is hard to come by at any price approaching a completely new pistol.

This operation closed the gap down to about .004 - .005 which I am very pleased with.

Is there another way to do this operation?
 
The barrel-cylinder gap is generous on BP pistols so that they will continue to operate as they get fouled. .008" does not seem excessive to me. .005" seems a bit close to reliably rotate after firing several rounds, but only testing it will show for sure.
 
My replica Remington 1858 does that. About 2 or 3 cylinder loadings and it starts to stiffen up. I've never tried using a BP substitute to see if that improved it any? I guess I like the smell of BP too much.
 
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Scorch and Unc,

Thanks for the wink back. I load out of the pistol so I can keep the fouling from gumming up the works too much. How about some suggestions on alternative ways to lessen the gap? In your opinion, am I doing it right?
 
No, you did it the only way you could, but of course you now may have to get or make a new wedge to keep the barrel in the right position. You might have had to drill the holes for the pins deeper, but that seems to have worked OK.

I will join those who saw nothing wrong with the original gap; I consider .007" about ideal in a modern revolver but the factories usually consider .010" to be within spec.

Another issue, though. In discussing a tight b/c gap in revolvers (old or new), most people focus on fouling. But another problem is heat. After firing rapidly, a cylinder heats up and expands lengthwise. If the b/c gap is too tight, the gun will bind up until the cylinder cools down. And yes, even a fast six shots from a c&b revolver can do that if the gap is too tight.

Jim
 
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