Pietta 1851 Navy... wedge slots out of alignment

S

sir_n0thing

New member
So after years of saying I was going to pick up a BP revolver, I finally did. A Pietta 1851 Navy, steel framed, .36 cal. Got a nice sale price on it.
I will say that I really like the gun, it's a purdy piece, and feels good. The only issue I found is that the slots that the wedge fits into do not seem perfectly aligned. Google reveals that others have also experienced this.
The question then is... do I return this and get another, or do I take a verrrry careful file to the slots? It would appear that if I took off about 1mm from the forward surface of the inner slot everything would align properly.

Opinions welcome!

Thanks!
 
If I understand the front and rear part of the slot is correct. The slot is tight in the up and down opening.
If it is the wedge is too tight in the front , better taper the wedge, as it is easily replaced.
You could be getting in to accidentally changing cylinder gap.
I have done "adjustment" on several open tops, I bough a small file then ground one edge smooth, safe edge, so you can open the slot all the way to the end with out screwing up the length.
If every thing else is right on this is an easier adjustment than you might get with another gun.
I make my wedges fit so as not to use a hammer.
There are threads on arbor length cylinder gap and more.
 
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's one of the right side. You can see the slots don't align, the lower arrow indicates the forward edge of the inner slot and the upper arrow the outer slot.
The position the wedge is in there is as far as it will go, it does not protrude from the slot at all, it's barely flush.

So I should maybe file the wedge a bit and not worry about the fact the slots don't align? Sounds like this isn't a particularly rare occurrence with Pietta...
 

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I've not had one like that. All of my Pietta's have been pretty decent. I'd probably file it. Pietta's usually have the arbor hole drilled to the correct depth. If it is you won't change the cylinder gap. The wedge shouldn't be much past flush anyway.

 
Thanks! I'll try taking half a hair off the wedge and see how that goes. And a new wedge is easily obtainable in case I do something wrong. I just don't want to leave it as is... it takes a hammer/punch to get the thing out right now. I also don't want to change the spacing between the cylinder and cone...
 
There's an article floating around somewhere about how to make the gap permanent.

Basically, install the barrel on the arbor at 90 degrees and swing it down towards the frame. It should line up perfectly with the frame where it bottoms out on the pins. If it is too long, file the end of the arbor until you get the correct fit. If it is too short, you make a shim for the end of the arbor that you can then file until you get the perfect fit. In this way the arbor and arbor bore bottom determine the gap, and nothing else.

I've not actually done this procedure.

Steve
 
There's an article floating around somewhere about how to make the gap permanent.

Basically, install the barrel on the arbor at 90 degrees and swing it down towards the frame. It should line up perfectly with the frame where it bottoms out on the pins. If it is too long, file the end of the arbor until you get the correct fit. If it is too short, you make a shim for the end of the arbor that you can then file until you get the perfect fit. In this way the arbor and arbor bore bottom determine the gap, and nothing else.

I've not actually done this procedure.
Click to expand...

That's true but Pietta's usually don't have the problem, its mostly Uberti's.

.
 
Everybody needs a Remington just so they can say they have one but Colt's are better all the way around.:p
 
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