I took my 1860 CVA .44 cal to the range for the first time yesterday. I am shooting 30 grns of FFF Goex with a round ball. After 8 shots the cylinder jammed.I think the problem is with the wedge. It seems that it gets tighter after shooting for a while. Anyone got a solution for this.
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1860 Army Cylinder Jamming
- Thread starter gradog
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Try more lube on the balls or changing powder granulation to keep the fouling soft and under control to start with. It can be a couple of mechanical problems but I would start with more lube as all of them will plug up after fouling accumulates.
Another thing that helps is to tooth brush the chamber mouths off after each cylinder full. Mike D.
Another thing that helps is to tooth brush the chamber mouths off after each cylinder full. Mike D.
Could be a lot of things, blown back caps can jam a cylinder. 8 shots seems pretty low for fouling to be causing any trouble. When it jams, that could be the cylinder or lockwork, this jam, can you wiggle the cylinder at all? Wiggle the trigger?
Marc got it, it's the fouling building up around the forcing cone that's causing it to get tighter.gradog said:
A little more space there before you begin shooting, as in don't drive the wedge in so far from the start will help and add more lube not only at the chambers but to the arbor too, :wink:
Grease it up good,
I agree.
A lot companies that make Colt style C&B revolvers do a poor job of setting up the barrel stop so if the wedge is driven in too far the cylinder has little to no clearance to the barrel.
Many modern shooters have the mistaken idea that having very little clearance between the rear of the barrel and the front of the cylinder is a good idea. After all, they think, a big gap would let all of the fire and flame escape instead of pushing the ball down the bore.
With modern smokeless powder pistols there is some merit to this logic but with a 160 year old design that is meant to shoot black powder, a small gap will cause nothing but trouble.
IMO, a clean Colt pistol should have a visible gap between the rear of the barrel and the face of the cylinder when the cylinder is pushed to the rear. A .008-.016 gap won't noticeably reduce the guns power and it will keep fouling from locking the gun up.
A lot companies that make Colt style C&B revolvers do a poor job of setting up the barrel stop so if the wedge is driven in too far the cylinder has little to no clearance to the barrel.
Many modern shooters have the mistaken idea that having very little clearance between the rear of the barrel and the front of the cylinder is a good idea. After all, they think, a big gap would let all of the fire and flame escape instead of pushing the ball down the bore.
With modern smokeless powder pistols there is some merit to this logic but with a 160 year old design that is meant to shoot black powder, a small gap will cause nothing but trouble.
IMO, a clean Colt pistol should have a visible gap between the rear of the barrel and the face of the cylinder when the cylinder is pushed to the rear. A .008-.016 gap won't noticeably reduce the guns power and it will keep fouling from locking the gun up.
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I note it was the first time shooting that revolver. I had that also. As I dont know what your technique is like, please forgive if you did everything I say already.
1) Make sure you butter the front of the chambers with a good amount of lube, it softens the fouling and helps the thing keep going almost indefinitely.
2) Before you shoot at all, take the cylinder off and butter the arbor pin (is that the right name for the pin the cylinder rotates around?) with lube. If you have it clean, and dont use a lot of lube on the chambers, the fouling gets in there and binds the cylinder.
3) As above, don't set the chamber to barrel gap tight.
1) Make sure you butter the front of the chambers with a good amount of lube, it softens the fouling and helps the thing keep going almost indefinitely.
2) Before you shoot at all, take the cylinder off and butter the arbor pin (is that the right name for the pin the cylinder rotates around?) with lube. If you have it clean, and dont use a lot of lube on the chambers, the fouling gets in there and binds the cylinder.
3) As above, don't set the chamber to barrel gap tight.
I was using Bore Butter in the cylinders and the gun was fairly clean. There were no cap pieces in any of the working parts. When I took it home,took it apart and cleaned it I found the wedge was causing the problem.The screw is not long enough to stop the wedge from going in too far. Actually maybe the cylinder is the problem.Would a gun smith know how to fix this or is there A gun smith that works on these guns that can fix the problem.
gradog said:
Wipe the cylinder face clean.
Wedges don't get tighter in my experience.
BP builds up, it needs to be cleaned away. This is why most "non-adjustable" cyl gap BP revolvers like the Remington and other solid frame revolvers have a greater cylinder gap than a modern grey powder revolver would have.
Dan
Yes it can be set with a feeler gauge, Zonie gave you this info earlier;gradog said:
Zonie said:
Ya see, that wedge doesn't just get pushed in until it stops going in. It's a variable adjustment that each shooter needs to make to suit his needs.
Proper wedge adjustment with colts is just part of the design, :wink:
And you need a lot of grease on the arbor or cylinder pin for the cylinder to turn smoothly.
t.l.a.r. eng
40 Cal.
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gradog, if you can push the wedge in and lock the cylinder when the gun is clean, the arbor is too short and needs a spacer of some sort to get the clearance Zonie suggested when the wedge is tight.
A wedge is a wedge when it is pushing against something solid, that is why it is called a wedge otherwise it would just be a tapered "key".
The original Colts I have handled over the years all have wedges driven in tight and cylinder clearance.
Imagine if your "wedge" was pushed in finger tight and you rode all day with your pistol moving about in a holster, would you pull out the whole revolver when you needed it? :idunno:
A wedge is a wedge when it is pushing against something solid, that is why it is called a wedge otherwise it would just be a tapered "key".
The original Colts I have handled over the years all have wedges driven in tight and cylinder clearance.
Imagine if your "wedge" was pushed in finger tight and you rode all day with your pistol moving about in a holster, would you pull out the whole revolver when you needed it? :idunno:
OK! Now I see.
As the old saying goes light shines on Marble Head. I thought the wedge had to go in far enough for the L spring on the wedge to go past the right side of the frame. When I pushed it back to the left the cylinder has the clearance needed. Thanks for all the help from everyone. Now back to the range.
As the old saying goes light shines on Marble Head. I thought the wedge had to go in far enough for the L spring on the wedge to go past the right side of the frame. When I pushed it back to the left the cylinder has the clearance needed. Thanks for all the help from everyone. Now back to the range.Gradog: you're getting some good advice but don't fix what ain't broke. Sometimes a cylinder will jam and folks jump to a lot of conclusions. You might have a rachet problem of some sort. Next time the gun jams make a note of the position of the cylinder. Use a pen or see if there are any stamp marks or pins on the cylinder to identify what chamber is in battery(lined up with the barrel). Clean everything up and start shooting again. If the next time it jams you are on the SAME chamber in battery- there is a good chance there might be a bur, etc on one of the rachet teeth, BUT there's a 1 in 6 chance here so repeat, clean it up and shoot again and if it is still jamming on a particular chamber- at that point I'd strongly suspect a bur on a rachet tooth- easy enough to stone down.
If the gun seems to jam without any tie to a particular chamber in battery, then start looking at how tight things are, etc.
You said the gun jammed after only 8 shots. Never say never but off hand that is awfully fast for it to be a fouling problem.
Since there are a lot of potential causes of the jam, try out the chamber thing and tell us what happened. Eventually you get the thing up and running.
If the gun seems to jam without any tie to a particular chamber in battery, then start looking at how tight things are, etc.
You said the gun jammed after only 8 shots. Never say never but off hand that is awfully fast for it to be a fouling problem.
Since there are a lot of potential causes of the jam, try out the chamber thing and tell us what happened. Eventually you get the thing up and running.
AZbpBurner
54 Cal.
Try cutting back on gooping up the cylinder face with all that ball lube - it just coats all surfaces & helps trap more powder fouling. Lightly lubed paper or felt wads work fine and you will not have all that build-up that quickly.
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