Is this a serious sign of wear?

S

skeeter

New member
I was looking at a Colt Diamondback 22 that looked very clean except that on the recoil shield area the bluing was worn away to bear shiney metal from the star (six sided racket wheel that the hand moves to turn the cylinder). The dealer said that this $440 used gun was hardly shot.
Does the price seem right and is this a sign I should be concerned about.Hope I am clear about this- not sure what the parts are called.The slight peening of the frame is caused by the recoiling cylinder hitting the rear of the frame. Seems it would take a lot of shooting to get a 22 to do this.Otherwise the timing was good and what a beautiful action!!
 
Could have been that a slightly thick extractor star or slightly tight gap at the rear of the cylinder allowed light contact between the shell cases and the recoil shield?
 
I don't think that is it Tamara because the wear pattern is not a round circle but rather the exact star shape pattern of the rachet wheel.
 
Well, if the timing is good

that would tend to indicate it was not shot much. How is the headspace and the lock-up? I don't have an idea regarding the wear. If there was contact between the star and the recoil shield when firing, I would imagine that it would be in a true cicular pattern, not one with each 'arm' distinct.
 
"D" frame Colt's often show this. In a .38 Special gun it can be a sign of over pressure ammo being fired, especially if the marks are deep. This is called Ratchet Peening.
Check cylinder end shake by trying to move the cylinder back and forth in the frame. If there is a noticable amount of movement, the gun may need repair. Too much endshake will allow the cylinder to "bounce" back and forth during firing, and this will make the ratchet marks in the frame.

In a .22 this is often just a normal sign of use, although if it's "hardly shot" it probably shouldn't be worn that much. Hard to tell without seeing it. A good indication of wear is how much bluing on the outside of the gun is worn, and if it's in time. If the blue isn't worn much, and the timing is Ok, it's probably not been used much.

The Diamondback has a reputation of being VERY accurate, and one of the finest quality .22's ever made.
 
If it is a star and not a circle, it may be just from being carried and bounced around.
 
I agree with Dfariswheel

This COULD be a result of end shake.

I've owned a 38 Diamondback for over 25 years; I shot it so much I had to send it back to factory for a tune up (well, I'm sure my +P reloads had somethong to do with it).
I've also owned and shot a Python for just as long (same mechanism); never had a problem with it.
In checking them just now, the Python shows no wear on the recoil plate. The D'back shows irregular wear as though there were a high spot on the recoil plate; other than that, nothing.

If the gun has excessive endshake, I would say there's a problem.
As Dfaris stated, it's peening the recoil plate.

OR

Another thing to double check is the lockup. This style colt locks the cylinder tight on the last fractional inch of trigger travel. If it were not locking up (basically, out of time) the recoil on firing could cause it to 'lock in' which would be a small amount of travel scraping the rachet stars against the plate; not much, but if all the other tolerances were tight, it would show up.
The way I see it, it's either peening hard into the plate or something is causing a bit of scraping. Endshake should be easy to check but the lockup may not. My D'back only indicated a problem when I slowly SA cocked it. It wouldn't fully index. Quickly cocking SA or normal DA use showed no problems!

The price looks pretty good but I have no idea what a qualified gunsmith would charge to check it and/or repair it IF needed.

Good luck (they're FINE guns, if you decide to buy it)
 
now you guys have me worried...i'll have to check as soon as i get home

i thought that both my python and .22 d'back have the wear from the ejector star on the recoil plate.

the python has been shot extensively with +p+ (different agency prior to my ownership), 140gr mag duty loads and finally 1K's of rounds of wadcuters in practice for PPC. i had the action tuned when i first got it and it never lost accuracy or spit excessively. had the cylinder gap tightened during barrel switch (4" to 6"). not much blue left but still very tight.

the d'back was my teaching DA wheelgun for years. timming is tight and accuracy outstanding so i've never worried about the wear on the recoil shield.

i've always had used guns checked by a gunsmith and would recommend it to everyone...look for a pistolsmith who undestands colts, they are quite a bit different from the smiths
 
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