Barrel Wedge Backing Out

[tpelle]

I shot my Pietta 1860 Army today - first time in about 15 or so years.

The only unusual problem I had was that, after the first cylinder, the barrel wedge was backing out.

I had pressed the wedge in to the point that it was flush on the right side, but not so far that the hook on the spring had caught on the right side of the barrel slot.

After that, I tapped the wedge in with a brass hammer until the spring caught. But if I do that, it looks to me like the wedge is in a little crooked - if you look at it from the top it is slanted a little from the left front to the right rear.

So, is this fixable, and if so, how?

 

[pohill]

The spring tip should hook on the exit slot edge. If the cylinder turns, if there is no wiggle between barrel and frame, and the wedge does not back out, it should be fine.

 

[whosyrdaddy]

Is the wedge inserted from the correct side of the barrel with the correct side side of the wedge facing up?

If so, does the wedge make good contact with the rear of the wedge slot on both sides of the barrel?

 

[tpelle]

The wedge seems to want to go in kind of crooked - goes in angled from left front to right rear.

In another post I talked about shimming the cylinder arbor - this is on an old Pietta 1860 Army - due to the fact that the arbor is too short by about 1/16" or 3/32" or so. If I drop two thinned-down washers down the arbor hole in the barrel then the barrel-to-frame fit is perfect. Without the washers, you can insert the wedge in so far that the barrel binds the cylinder.

The "hook" part of the spring is not very well shaped - less of a hook and more of a bump. I think I may dress the hook to be a little more square and sharp. Then it will hook onto the right side of the barrel a little better. I may also remove one of the shim washers.

If I keep up shooting this thing, I may just buy one of those re-worked and de-farbed 1860 Army's that are offered by this guy:

http://www.bpstuffllc.com/capandballrevolvers.htm

 

[pohill]

I have a Pietta 1860 .44, the first BP gun I owned. It has the slickest, smoothest action of any gun I now own but the wedge has driven me nuts (that's my excuse). The barrel frame connection is loose - I shimmed in front of the wedge, behind it, I put it in from the other side, even upside down. I tried a wedge screw with an oversized head, and that actually works well. I think a small weld in the rear (or maybe the front) of the arbor slot would fix it (or a wider wedge).
I have an original 1851 .36 with a very tight frame/barrel connection (it was made in 1862). The screw does have a bigger head and it contacts the wedge as it was meant to do. That does not happen on my Pietta.

 

[madcratebuilder]

These two links may help with fitting the wedge. Don't worry about the wedge spring hooking anything. Ideally the nose of the wedge well be flush with the side of the frame.
The wedge contacts the rear of the slot in the barrel lug and the front of the slot in the arbor, only those two locations.

http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_One.pdf

http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf

 

[dispatch55126]

I took a file to my Pietta's cylinder post notch and widened it slightly. This allows the wedge to slide in far enough for the spring tab to catch. I checked the fit every 2-3 passes of the file to ensure that I didn't take too much metal off.

Since doing that, The wedge has en rock solid yet I can still take it out easily.