Mostly for Mykeal's interest.
Couple of days ago I was whining about a cylinder gap in an ASM 1860 Army. Perhaps y'all remember that I had just bought the pistol on GB. Pistol is in great shape accept for the cylinder gap which was at .018 with the wedge firmly set.
In that thread I was considering the action to close up the gap and I had resolved to knock a couple thousanths off the surface of the barrel where it meets the frame.
This I did with great success. I used a milling vice to hold the barrel. I made a couple of vice pads so as not to mark up the barrel. These pads were made from some 1/2 inch thick polyethylene plastic. I got this plastic from my last employer. It was a construction company and we used this plastic in four by twelve sheets to line the beds of dump trucks. I brought home about a dozen snubbles about two feet by four feet. I put a sheet on the top of the work bench I use for my pistols. It treats my pistols like velvet.
I took a little off of the locating pins with fast wheel and then beveled them with a file. The gap closed up to about .004 to .006. The wedge fits into the pistol a whole lot better now too.
Heeding Mykeal's advice to work judiciously lest the job get crooked and ruin the accuracy, in the first pass that touched metal, I think all I did was take off the bluing. Three passes is all it took to get the pistol right. (At least I hope it is right. I haven't shot it yet.) The mating of the barrel to the frame looks every bit as good as it did before I started, and as I said the cylinder gap is looking a lot better.
Couple of days ago I was whining about a cylinder gap in an ASM 1860 Army. Perhaps y'all remember that I had just bought the pistol on GB. Pistol is in great shape accept for the cylinder gap which was at .018 with the wedge firmly set.
In that thread I was considering the action to close up the gap and I had resolved to knock a couple thousanths off the surface of the barrel where it meets the frame.
This I did with great success. I used a milling vice to hold the barrel. I made a couple of vice pads so as not to mark up the barrel. These pads were made from some 1/2 inch thick polyethylene plastic. I got this plastic from my last employer. It was a construction company and we used this plastic in four by twelve sheets to line the beds of dump trucks. I brought home about a dozen snubbles about two feet by four feet. I put a sheet on the top of the work bench I use for my pistols. It treats my pistols like velvet.
I took a little off of the locating pins with fast wheel and then beveled them with a file. The gap closed up to about .004 to .006. The wedge fits into the pistol a whole lot better now too.
Heeding Mykeal's advice to work judiciously lest the job get crooked and ruin the accuracy, in the first pass that touched metal, I think all I did was take off the bluing. Three passes is all it took to get the pistol right. (At least I hope it is right. I haven't shot it yet.) The mating of the barrel to the frame looks every bit as good as it did before I started, and as I said the cylinder gap is looking a lot better.
It was worth chewing through the restraints this morning. Took me almost an hour.