[jimrbto]

I have a CVA 1851 Colt Navy revolver that was given to me long time ago, maybe around 1989. I has never been fired or disassembled. Last week I took it down to get it ready for some shooting and could not get the barrel off. It seems to be frozen the the cylinder pin. There is no evidence of rust anywhere and everything else works fine.
Tried penetrating oil
regular oil
acetone
it is now soaking in kerosene.
I am almost ready to fire one round into a barrel of cushioning to see it that will pull the barrel loose.
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks . . . . .Jim

[Donny]

Sounds silly but did you pull the barrel wedge all the way out?

Don

[dwave]

What Donny said, plus you can use the loading lever to help dislodge the barrel. Put the gun at half cock so you can rotate the cylinder and then use the loading lever on the solid part of the cylinder between chambers and push. The barrel should pop off.

[bender]

I was just reading through I book I have called "Guns of the New West"... It's about shooting the various modern replicas, such as the 1851 Navy. The model 1851 he was testing, an Uberti, "had an unusual problem" according to the author. He could not get the barrel off, even using the ramrod for leverage. Being a gunsmith, he was finally able to get it off. He said the barrel was fitted way too tight to the arbor pin and frame. He said he had come across other replicas that had the same problem (but not that often).

[Old Fuff]

Anybody want an original Colt 1862 Police Model where the barrel won't come off???? Go to www.armsbid.com :evil: :D

After trying the solutions suggested above, if the barrel still won't move, find a piece of brass or aluminum flat-stock about 3/16" thick that can be slipped in front of the cylinder between it and the lower part of the barrel. Remove the rammer assembly from the barrel and find a piece of aluminum or brass round-stock (rod) that will just slip through the rammer hole in the bottom of the barrel.

After stripping the gun except for the frame, cylinder and barrel, clamp the barrel upside-down in a padded vise. Place the flat piece up against the cylinder. Insert the rod through the barrel's rammer hole and up against the flat piece in front of the cylinder. Gently hammer on the rod, and the frame/cylinder assembly will be driven backwards. If you move the barrel about 3/16th forward you can turn the frame. Don't go overboard with the pounding, and if the barrel moves a little bit, put it back in the oil bath and soak it some more.

Takes time, but you'll win... ;)

[jimrbto]

Old Fuff,
Yours was the only solution that worked, finally got it apart. After cleaning everything I could not see why it wouldn't come apart, then trying to re-assemble it I found that I could not put it BACK together. So I put the pin in as far as it would go and rotated the barrel back and forth a few time and then I could see that the pistol was FORCED together in the first place. There was some distortion around the wedge hole in the pin keeping the barrel from going in easily. After considerable hard stoning I was able to polish the pin enough to get it to go back together, but not too easily. Had to do the same thing with the loading lever, bad burrs around the hole in the rammer where it is held to the lever with a screw at its pivot point making the lever "jerky" while operating.
Thanks all for your help! !
Jim

[Old Fuff]

My bill is in the mail....... :evil: :D :D :D

Actually, solving problems like the one you had is one reason The High Road is so popular. On any firearms subject you can think of there is a lot of expertise around here. :)

[Tru Griff]

Would this help, soaking in kerosene, on old powder build up and getting the breech plug loose on an 1863 musket? There is an hour glass shape build up of BP near the breech. I've tried several things including a extension on a dremal tool but it must be caked in this area. Breech plug is frozen so it makes it impossible to reach from that end.

I've used Kroil penetrating oil with great results on cars 50 plus yrs old but trying to be a little more cautious on 144 yr old steel that you dont want knarled or broken.

[Old Dragoon]

Use the Kroil! If you have a large container of it soak the whole bbl/tang in it for a few days, take it out every so often and "Ping" the tang (underneath) to set the vibration and Kroil will do the job and loosen the tang as well. It has worked for me.