61 navy trouble with wedge swelling lol

You have a short arbor, the gun is trying to wreck itself because of it, I am willing to bet that once the arbor is correct the other problem will be gone. Uberti's fix was to taper the arbor for a sorta press fit into the barrel lug, instead of just making it bottom where it should. You can add washers into the hole untill you get the wedge to fit without binding the cylinder, that should fix the problem until you come up with a better more permanent fix. I can do the permanent fix, so can Outlaw kid and 45dragoon. Pm me if you would like to discuss it further.

I missed the part about it not being fired, it's still the arbor issue, possibly a machining error or a burr in the hole in the barrel lug. Something is changing every time the wedge is removed and installed. Take a close look at the wedge slot and the arbor and socket in the barrel lug, might see something there. Another thing to check, use a Sharpie marker and color the arbor where it goes into the barrel lug, reassemble, take it apart and see if there's a particular area that's showing lots of contact.Hope this helps.

Brick196 said:

ok sounds like a good place to start. yea this gun is unfired the wedge went from pretty much fitting perfect to not at all just sitting on my bench i dont get it

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When the arbor is short, the wedge depth can put upward pressure on the arbor, enough pressure to change the barrel-cylinder gap and affect the point of impact through barrel alignment.

A new gun hasn't even been broken in yet, and maybe it needs time to settle in.

These diagrams illustrate it: --->>> https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/diagrams-how-to-adjust-the-colt-lug-joint.873231/

Caution: Don't make any permanent adjustments based on the diagrams. They're for illustration only.

Fix the short arbor then fit the wedge. First thing that needs to be done with EVERY SINGLE Uberti Colt style percussion revolver. I can not understand why Uberti will not fix this issue that everyone that knows anything at all about them knows exists and has been this way with Ubertis since the 1970s at least. Biggest reason to buy a Pietta.

Jackrabbit1957 said:

You have a short arbor, the gun is trying to wreck itself because of it, I am willing to bet that once the arbor is correct the other problem will be gone. Uberti's fix was to taper the arbor for a sorta press fit into the barrel lug, instead of just making it bottom where it should. You can add washers into the hole untill you get the wedge to fit without binding the cylinder, that should fix the problem until you come up with a better more permanent fix. I can do the permanent fix, so can Outlaw kid and 45dragoon. Pm me if you would like to discuss it further.

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Trying to wreck itself? Hyperbolic much? This pistol was fired tens of thousands of times over a period of 50 years. Last year I “fixed” the arbor for what it’s worth. Good thing too. The gun was apparently on the verge of self destruction. None of these were “fixed” until last year. No wrecks so far, they’re holding up a lot better than their owner, that’s a certainty.

Didn't know the Jackrabbit was a 'smith. ! My advice is, when ever you buy a new C&B revolver, Don't have it shipped to your house. Have the retailer ship it to The Kid, the Goon, or Jack the Rabbit, have them sort it out and tune it, and then sent home to you. More than well worth the expense. Keeping the retail price down on these revolvers, by making a gun that does not work right, right out of the box, makes no sense to me. Imagine if S&W dropped their revolver prices by a couple of hundred bucks, but you had to take them apart and work on them, or send them to a gunsmith to get them to work right? !!!!

Had my own Walker as well as an 1860 do the frame stretch, as I stated earlier I missed the unfired part. Seems as though these pistols are individuals and some may go quite a while before showing signs of damage if any. After reading the OP a second time I also picked up on how the barrel to cylinder gap changed when the wedge was tapped in, again a symptom of a short arbor. FWIW I looked at a cartridge conversion 1851 that was in .44 special a few weeks ago, this was a Uberti, dedicated cartridge gun, not a C&B originally, and same issue with short arbor and cylinder bind if wedge tapped in past a certain spot.

woodnbow said:

Trying to wreck itself? Hyperbolic much? This pistol was fired tens of thousands of times over a period of 50 years. Last year I “fixed” the arbor for what it’s worth. Good thing too. The gun was apparently on the verge of self destruction. None of these were “fixed” until last year. No wrecks so far, they’re holding up a lot better than their owner, that’s a certainty.View attachment 983081View attachment 983087

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Nope, not an overstatement. They show up here all the time with deformed wedges as well as deformed wedge slots in the barrel. Deformed from firing the particular revolver that has a short arbor. Soft wedges are poor devices for holding the two assemblies together (hard wedges may buy time and there's always anomalies). Once loose, the barrel slot gets hammered as well. The shooter didn't bend the wedge, the forces of the revolver firing bent the wedge. That being the case, it's more akin to the idea of "self destruction". Or, I guess one could argue that pulling the trigger is what bent the wedge . . . or putting blk powder in the chamber . . . or the bullet/ball in the chamber . . . that's a long, useless road to go down.

In the case of the OP, he obviously doesn't know anything about this subject (which has been posted about for years, and years on a seemingly weekly basis). Posting about how yours lasted tens of thousands of rounds won't help his get better or fix his problem. Maybe yours has a frame with better heat treating, as well as the arbor and the wedge . . . whatever yours has going for it, his (and just about all the other repros ever produced) doesn't.

Some folks have never broken a hand spring. Some never a bolt/trig combo spring. Some never a bolt arm.
I've broken all of the above as well as a couple of mainsprings and even bent a Remington frame just shooting/loading it . . . some folks get all the luck!!

So, I'm one who has also described the short arbor problem as "self destruction" and I don't exaggerate or overstate the reason ( it's not needed with the posts that have been posted on this subject), it's just easier to describe it that way and paints a sufficient mental picture rather than a long, drawn out post such as this one has become.
Obviously, since he hasn't even fired the revolver in question, just the disassembly / re-assembly has allowed enough "clearancing" to attain cylinder lock-up. One doesn't need to shoot an Uberti (or any other makes excluding recent Pietta's) to drive a wedge in far enough to lockup the cylinder. It's just more evidence that the problem exists and it's an easy fix, and once fixed, the revolver will more than likely be an excellent shooter!!

To the OP, you don't have a "swelling wedge" problem, you have "short arbor syndrome".

I'm tired,

Mike

45 Dragoon said:

I've broken all of the above as well as a couple of mainsprings and even bent a Remington frame just shooting/loading it . . . some folks get all the luck!!

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Some people can, "Tare up an anvil in plowed ground.", as the old saying goes.

I've always dreaded having our oldest sun help us. Seems like everything he uses breaks. I think he inherited it from his mother. I often get, "Here, See if you can fix this.". Or, "I can't get this started.".

Thanks Mike.

woodnbow said:

Trying to wreck itself? Hyperbolic much? This pistol was fired tens of thousands of times over a period of 50 years. Last year I “fixed” the arbor for what it’s worth. Good thing too. The gun was apparently on the verge of self destruction. None of these were “fixed” until last year. No wrecks so far, they’re holding up a lot better than their owner, that’s a certainty.View attachment 983081View attachment 983087

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Why did you bother fixing it then if it was so perfect otherwise?

It's an easy fix. Just fix it and keep it. You'll probably end up liking it more than the Rem.

Mike