Tuning Open Top Replicas

[bigted]

The hole in your trigger/locking lug is larger then the screw. Pietta's are famous for it. Also the trigger/locking lug springs are different lengths for Uberti and Pietta revolvers.

Almost every Pietta has a proper fitting arbor/barrel fit ... Uberti's ALL need shimmed so the barrel sets proper against the frame thus creating a UNIT fit that is engineered to create a unitary settup with all the parts assembled.

Easy way to figure out if its correct or not;

Leave the cylinder off the revolver.
Partially assemble the barrel over the arbor.
Just before the two small pins at the bottom touch ... rotate the barrel on the arbor and seat the arbor in the well till it bottoms out in the barrel well.
Now rotate the barrel to see where the two mating surfaces will meet each other.
If the barrel overlaps the frame ... you have a short arbor.
If there is a gap ... your arbor is too long
You desire these two mating surfaces to be JUST RITE.

Setting the cylinder gap is a bit different operation but similar.

After ensuring the arbor length is correct ... you can see how tapping the wedge in firmly will not ever change tension on the arbor OR cylinder gap.

Now as mentioned above ... go out and run at least 500 balls through your new baby. After 500 ... then determine if any further 'FIXING' Is required. Until that point, I would not do a darn thing fix wise to allow everything to seat properly with each other.

 

[nkbj]

The hole in your trigger/locking lug is larger then the screw. Pietta's are famous for it*. Also the trigger/locking lug springs are different lengths for Uberti and Pietta revolvers.

Almost every Pietta has a proper fitting arbor/barrel fit ... Uberti's ALL need shimmed so the barrel sets proper against the frame thus creating a UNIT fit that is engineered to create a unitary settup with all the parts assembled.

Easy way to figure out if its correct or not;

Leave the cylinder off the revolver.
Partially assemble the barrel over the arbor.
Just before the two small pins at the bottom touch ... rotate the barrel on the arbor and seat the arbor in the well till it bottoms out in the barrel well.
Now rotate the barrel to see where the two mating surfaces will meet each other.
If the barrel overlaps the frame ... you have a short arbor.
If there is a gap ... your arbor is too long
You desire these two mating surfaces to be JUST RITE.

Setting the cylinder gap is a bit different operation but similar.

After ensuring the arbor length is correct ... you can see how tapping the wedge in firmly will not ever change tension on the arbor OR cylinder gap.

Now as mentioned above ... go out and run at least 500 balls through your new baby. After 500 ... then determine if any further 'FIXING' Is required. Until that point, I would not do a darn thing fix wise to allow everything to seat properly with each other.

* Decided that Piettas are like Cracker Jacks with a surprise in every package.
One of my best shooting (a .36 caliber 1851) was purchased as a pair from a retiree, new in their boxes years ago. Early production Piettas with the Stars & Bars on the grips. The one I kept was so man handled at the factory that you could not disassemble it. It had been forced together so hard that the arbor was expanded within the hole in the barrel.

A week or so's worth of smithing and it became a nice piece.

 

[.36Rooster]

...Carefully file the mating surface where the bottom of the barrel mates with the frame to adjust for windage. Fine tune windage by filing the V in the hammer on one side. Install a taller front sight to bring point of impact to point of aim....

Can anyone elaborate more on this method of windage adjustment with a more detailed description of what to do and how it's done? It seems like something worth wrapping my head around, thanks.

 

[Bad Karma]

Can anyone elaborate more on this method of windage adjustment with a more detailed description of what to do and how it's done? It seems like something worth wrapping my head around, thanks.

I’ve heard of this practice, stayed far away from it personally. Seems like another clever way to ruin an otherwise good revolver. If for some reason you need to remove material from that part of the barrel assembly it would be best to chuck it in a lathe where the material could be removed perpendicular to the bore... second choice would be a Bridgeport mill.

 

[Bad Karma]

With respect to windage, this is all the adjustment this revolver needed and most of them are close to this. The front sight is fairly coarse and this allows a sight picture close to that of a fixed sight smith and Wesson.