Uberti deceiving arbor fit

[Smokerr]

Yep, removing the barrel after shooting is usually pretty difficult, and it gets harder the more you shoot.

I to have shimmed out the front assembly. While mine is still a bit sticky, its loosened up over time.
Does not matter how much I shoot for ease of removal. I can pull it off but I like the gentle nudge of the ram against the cylinder wall.

 

[M. De Land]

I to have shimmed out the front assembly. While mine is still a bit sticky, its loosened up over time.
Does not matter how much I shoot for ease of removal. I can pull it off but I like the gentle nudge of the ram against the cylinder wall.

That works but keep an eye on buggering the edge of the chamber with to much pressure from the loading ram. Kind of like prying against the muzzle crown to remove a stuck ram rod.

 

[Smokerr]

Dang, who knew? I guess I spent all those years mechanizing for nothing.

Next you know I can't do a valve set.

But then I don't use a bore sleeve either because I don't think you can wear a barrel out cleaning it. Lets see, rod 1/1000 FPS vs 2200-2900 fps for a bullet. Who wins?

 

[Ballshooter]

Yeah lead maybe not the best. I may pull it and make another from something harder.

I made one out of stainless steel worked awesome.

 

[Jshorter]

I made one out of stainless steel worked awesome.

I’m contemplating doing weld build up on the end and refitting it that way it looks “right” and is a permanent fix

 

[Blackpowderart]

I
Only have one colt, uberti 1862 pocket police. After getting it out and messing with it, I found that too my arbor has some wiggle to it. This one has only been shot maybe 150 times or so and only with mouse fart loads. And the wedge only inserted with hand pressure. Guess it's somewhat of an issue. I have never noticed it before you mentioned it and specifically looking for it

 

[Ed C.]

Just a note on wedges. They should be tapped in pretty snug to keep the gun tight when fired. Anything loose will cause movement and wear.

 

[Bad Karma]

I
Only have one colt, uberti 1862 pocket police. After getting it out and messing with it, I found that too my arbor has some wiggle to it. This one has only been shot maybe 150 times or so and only with mouse fart loads. And the wedge only inserted with hand pressure. Guess it's somewhat of an issue. I have never noticed it before you mentioned it and specifically looking for it

It’s a shame these replicas don’t undergo the same inspections and scrutiny as the original military issue guns. Made of modern steels they would be amazing firearms… still, for a few hundred per copy they’re a pretty good base.

 

[Ed C.]

It’s a shame these replicas don’t undergo the same inspections and scrutiny as the original military issue guns. Made of modern steels they would be amazing firearms… still, for a few hundred per copy they’re a pretty good base.

You can get a pretty good, reliable, long lasting, right out of the box unmentionable for $600 or so. I'd be willing to pay a little more up front to have a quality gun that does not require a bunch of work to get right and keep shooting. But I am glad that at least something is available to us to play with from the cap 'n ball era.

 

[Bad Karma]

You can get a pretty good, reliable, long lasting, right out of the box unmentionable for $600 or so. I'd be willing to pay a little more up front to have a quality gun that does not require a bunch of work to get right and keep shooting. But I am glad that at least something is available to us to play with from the cap 'n ball era.

Me too, since the volume of sales is so much lower for cap guns I’d expect somewhat of a premium price but 800 bucks for a high quality proper cap and ball revolver? I’d jump on that.

 

[Blackpowderart]

J

Me too, since the volume of sales is so much lower for cap guns I’d expect somewhat of a premium price but 800 bucks for a high quality proper cap and ball revolver? I’d jump on that.

Just sit back and wait, they will be $800 before you know it

 

[M. De Land]

Dang, who knew? I guess I spent all those years mechanizing for nothing.

Next you know I can't do a valve set.

But then I don't use a bore sleeve either because I don't think you can wear a barrel out cleaning it. Lets see, rod 1/1000 FPS vs 2200-2900 fps for a bullet. Who wins?

I've known steel cleaning rod "wear" effects accuracy as I have re-crowned two personal scoped hunting rifles after some years of on protected cleaning rod wear and seen the accuracy perk up on both after the re-crown work.
The unprotected steel cleaning rods peen the end of the lands at the muzzle crown which is described as wear and it can be seen with a magnified bore scope, which I have.

 

[Blackpowderart]

I've known steel cleaning rod "wear" effects accuracy as I have re-crowned two personal scoped hunting rifles after some years of on protected cleaning rod wear and seen the accuracy perk up on both after the re-crown work.
The unprotected steel cleaning rods peen the end of the lands at the muzzle crown which is described as wear and it can be seen with a magnified bore scope, which I have.

I use the carbon ones and have even made a few with carbon arrows. The standard insert for an arrow is the same thread as cleaning brushes and attachments

 

[M. De Land]

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
View attachment 324850

Thickness where the barrel stops—.528
View attachment 324851

More pictures showing how the tapered arbor increases in thickness causing a false “bottoming out”
View attachment 324852View attachment 324853


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.

In my thinking I doubt that an arbor that wiggles a bit hurts anything at all given how much these open top guns flex any way when fired. Even when the end is fit tight in the arbor well the clearance for them to slip together (arbor radial fit in arbor well, lower lug pin fit, wedge slot to wedge fit , bolt to notch fit, chamber uniformity and alignment, etc )is still present and allows movement when the piece is fired. It isn't in danger of pulling out and when the threads are loaded against the wedge pressure isn't going to elongate any further.
The thrust vector from firing is both straight ahead and helical torsion from rifling pitch and bullet inertia, all of the clearances that allow assembly are allowing movement hence the gun is flexing from the forces involved. Generally speaking the more rigid the design the more potential for accuracy and lacking that then the next best thing is that all movement be consistent and repeatable. The open top designs depend on the later for their inherent accuracy because they do flex quite a bit upon firing.

 

[45D]

In my thinking I doubt that an arbor that wiggles a bit hurts anything at all given how much these open top guns flex any way when fired.

Your thinking is wrong.
You can't be serious that a loose arbor isn't detrimental to the revolver AND accuracy!! You should have left your Walker alone . . .

Mike

 

[M. De Land]

Your thinking is wrong.
You can't be serious that a loose arbor isn't detrimental to the revolver AND accuracy!! You should have left your Walker alone . . .

Mike

Being wrong about that may be correct I have not tested the theory but hope to. My guess is you don't have any more evidence by testing that it does hurt , either!

 

[45D]

Being wrong about that may be correct I have not tested the theory but hope to. My guess is you don't have any more evidence by testing that it does hurt , either!

If it didn't matter, why install a staking pin?

Incredible

Mike

 

[45D]

Being wrong about that may be correct I have not tested the theory but hope to. My guess is you don't have any more evidence by testing that it does hurt , either!

I'm pretty sure I recently told the story of my Walkers barrel going down range . . . because the wedge worked its way out . . . Do you really think a loose arbor (which would allow the wedge to be loose from shot to shot ) wouldn't lead to bad things?
You've got your Walker, maybe you could run some tests?
Me, I'm going to continue what I've been doing, I enjoy shooting heavy loads in tight revolvers . . . that STAY tight!!

Mike

 

[Ed C.]

Walker with a fitted arbor and tight wedge. 44g of FFFg. BTW, the Remington's grouping was improved by reaming the cylinder chambers .004"

 

[Smokerr]

Look at an airplane wing sometime. Yep, it flexes, that is part of the design.

Now, barrels whip and stuff gets distorted a minute amount when a gun fires.

But the last thing you want to do is leave a gap in your wing joint and have it not flex but move. Its going to break and all too soon.

Same with a revolver. Give a bolt a few thousandths clearance and see what happens to said bolt, yea its going to hammer itself to pieces as well as the bolt recesses in the barrel.

A closed top revolver is self supported, you may have a bad design where the forces break it but it has no gaps to move around.

You want a bolt that allows movement? What is going to happen with a loose bolt fit ? Yea its going to beat itself into lead blowing around.

An arbor serves the same function as a closed top strap, if not mfg right its got a problem. You may get away with it as people buy guns and don't shoot them much (probably a majority). But its going to break if shot at some point because its not intended to move. How soon is a coin flip, fine if you want a wall hangar, not so if you want to shoot it as much as I will do over the years.