Round Ball Sticking to Ram in Uberti Dragoon & Walker

[Studit]

I have a Uberti 2nd Model Dragoon & a Uberti Walker. When loading both these revolvers I find that the ball often sticks to the ram and lifts to the top of the chamber before releasing from the ram. It happens reandomly and not in any particular chamber.

Both revolvers are 44 cal. I am using a synthetic felt lubed wad under a .454 pure lead ball. I am getting a nice ring cut from the ball when I press it into the chamber each time. I can easily push a raised ball back into the chamber with a dowell (fingers don't work). Its like the chamber is conical.

Does anyone else have this problem? What did you do to fix it?

 

[Calum]

'evening,

Had my wife's .36 Colt (forget the make) out this past weekend and experienced the same thing. I can't remember if this pistol has ever been live fired since we got it. None of my other pistols have done this.

I think it was just one chamber, but I didn't have anything to mark it with. I will next time.

But exactly as you described.

Calum

 

[nkbj]

From what I've seen the chambers on percussion revolvers are frequently tapered. And that makes a lot of sense if the goal is to create a seal between the ball and the wall.
Now, I got a question for you. Are you having to really get down on that lever? If the ball is swaging itself to the ram enough to make it want to cling to the ram and get pulled back out of the chamber... then the ball is too big and also the tip of the ram might need some polishing to get rid of machining marks that are giving the ball something to hold on to.

 

[azmntman]

Also wipe it good with a rag before you load after firing each cylinder. Could be a greasy lube is causing a "suction" effect?

 

[hawkeye2]

I just grabbed my brand new Uberti Walker and pulled the barrel off. The end of the rammer has a very deep cone rather than a nice radius that would come close to matching that of a ball. The shape of the rammer end and the sharp edges would cause it to dig into a ball and hang on to it. Uberti Remingtons have (or had) a strange shape to the rammer end and I always took a round stone somewhere near the ball diameter and reshaped the end. The actual diameter wasn't as important as the shape. I may do the same with the Walker though I can't get all the way to the bottom of the cone in the rammer because of its shape and depth. I'm assuming the rammer is copied from an original and that was shaped to fit the nose of a conical rather than a ball. I do hope I can take enough off to kill the sharp edges so it won't dig into a ball. Though I always load the cylinder off the gun in a press it would be nice to be able to load with the rammer when necessary.

I have only seen one revolver with tapered chambers and the taper in those was very slight. I have since had that cylinder reamed. I always suspected it was from worn reamers being used after they should have been replaced. I can tell you from my experience that a ball will not swage tight in a tapered chamber but will work forward under recoil sometimes to the point where it will hang up the revolver.

 

[curator]

Studit,
Your round balls are too small to provide the amount of friction needed to stay in place when you withdraw the ram. If you are using .454" round balls switch to .457. That way the balls will stay put where you load them. Most modern Dragoon or Walker pistols need ,.457+ round balls to properly seal their chambers. If the balls do not seal the chambers, chain fires are a distinct possibility. Both of my Uberti Walker and 1849 Army revolvers require .457 round balls to properly seal their chambers and cut a nice ring of lead.

 

[smoothshooter]

For starters, remove the rammer from the gun.
Thoroughly degrease the interior of the rammer cup. Pinch off a small piece of metal filled epoxy putty as found in car parts stores that comes in a 4" long plastic tube, and looks like a large gray Tootsi Roll.
After kneading the putty material until it is warm to the touch per instructions, push it into the rammer cavity. If done properly, you will have just a little more than it takes to fill the cavity.
Take one of the balls and press it firmly into the now-filled cavity. You should get some squeezeout of epoxy around the edges. Remove ball, and carefully clean up the squeezed out adhesive.After waiting a few hours for the adhesive to harden, you are done.
I have found that putting a good coat of saliva on the ball immediately prior to pressing it into the cavity against the adhesive acts as a release agent so that the adhesive does not stick to the ball as it is removed.
Also, rotating the ball with your fingers as it is pressed in gives a smooth finish to the surface of the epoxy when done in conjunction with using saliva on the ball as the release agent.

Works like a charm every time I have done it.

I was using properly oversized balls and still had the occasional ball follow the rammer back out of the chamber initially. After doing the epoxy putty thing, no more problem.

 

[hawkeye2]

Duh! Smoothshooter, why didn't I think of that?

 

[Calum]

'evening,

I just pulled my wife's .36 out and it is as Hawkeye said - the ram looks to be designed for conicals rather than ball. My other ones, the ram has the nice radius for ball.

I told her of Smoothshooter's fix. We may go that route.

Thanks,
Calum

 

[Studit]

Thanks guys. The ram is definitely made conicals.

I've got some things to try. I'll report back soon.

 

[M. De Land]

I learned a little trick that has worked very well for me.
I pull the rammers out of my revolvers and seat them into the three jaw universal chuck of my lathe and then put a half inch ball mill in the lathe tail stock.
I then proceed to cut a .500 round ball seat in the rammer which being a good bit bigger in diameter seats the smaller balls perfectly without them sticking in the rammer face.