I’ve shot some hot loads through my Walker on a few different occasions and now my arbor has a very slight wiggle. I’m not sure if it was like this before or not. I was actually trying to fix the short arbor issue when I discovered the wiggle.
I was previously aware of the Uberti arbor issues, and when I checked mine it seemed to be fit correctly. To my surprise the frame/barrel matched perfect, so I kept on shooting.
I later learned that although the frame/barrel fit up nicely the arbor was still short. This is because the Uberti arbor is slightly tapered, and as you slide the arbor into the hole it stops as the taper gets too big. This makes you think the arbor is bottomed out when in reality it’s too thick and stops before it goes all the way to the bottom of the arbor hole, thus still leaving a gap. This allows the stretching motion on the arbor and will ruin them eventually.
To find out how short the arbor was I got close by measuring the depth of the arbor hole and then measuring how far the barrel slides onto the arbor and subtracting. Then I installed my shim.
Thickness at the end of the arbor—.500
Thickness where the barrel stops—.528
More pictures showing how the tapered arbor increases in thickness causing a false “bottoming out”
Anyways, I hope this revolver isn’t ruined and I’ll continue to shoot and monitor the arbor for stretch/looseness. If you have an Uberti walker I suggest checking the arbor via measurements and not the frame/barrel fit up method as that may be deceiving.
I was previously aware of the Uberti arbor issues, and when I checked mine it seemed to be fit correctly. To my surprise the frame/barrel matched perfect, so I kept on shooting.
I later learned that although the frame/barrel fit up nicely the arbor was still short. This is because the Uberti arbor is slightly tapered, and as you slide the arbor into the hole it stops as the taper gets too big. This makes you think the arbor is bottomed out when in reality it’s too thick and stops before it goes all the way to the bottom of the arbor hole, thus still leaving a gap. This allows the stretching motion on the arbor and will ruin them eventually.
To find out how short the arbor was I got close by measuring the depth of the arbor hole and then measuring how far the barrel slides onto the arbor and subtracting. Then I installed my shim.
Thickness at the end of the arbor—.500
![IMG_3419.jpeg IMG_3419.jpeg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/muzzleloadingforum/data/attach/324/324941-IMG-3419.jpeg)
Thickness where the barrel stops—.528
![IMG_3420.jpeg IMG_3420.jpeg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/muzzleloadingforum/data/attach/324/324942-IMG-3420.jpeg)
More pictures showing how the tapered arbor increases in thickness causing a false “bottoming out”
![IMG_3421.jpeg IMG_3421.jpeg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/muzzleloadingforum/data/attach/324/324943-IMG-3421.jpeg)
![IMG_3423.jpeg IMG_3423.jpeg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/muzzleloadingforum/data/attach/324/324944-IMG-3423.jpeg)
Anyways, I hope this revolver isn’t ruined and I’ll continue to shoot and monitor the arbor for stretch/looseness. If you have an Uberti walker I suggest checking the arbor via measurements and not the frame/barrel fit up method as that may be deceiving.
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