Best way to get wedge out

[umc180gr]

Hey all, new 1851 owner here. Quick question. Whats the best tool in addition to a hammer for pounding out the wedge? I been looking around for some to hammer on but have not come up with anything. Have you found a punch or something that wont scratch the gun? What do you use?

thanks

 

[Hellgate]

I use the edge of a house key as a drift. Take a bronze key and use the edge of the part you normally hold and set it against the wedge and then tap with a hammer. Put a block of wood under the barred so the wedge has some space to be driven out. I have used brass drifts but a tight wedge (i.e. new Pietta) will bugger them up. The key is more expendable. The edge is thin enough to go into the slot a ways and the bronze is harder than straight brass.

 

[Oyeboten]

I just use a little Wooden Mallet I made.

Any small Block of Hardwood ought to do well for it.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Depending on how tight the wedge is I use a leather mallet, nylon head hammer or a brass punch. I start with a brass punch with a 3/8 tip, then shape the tip to the same width as the wedge. On the few that are really tight I use an arbor press.

 

[wittzo]

I use a wooden crab hammer. It's identical to the wooden hammers they sell with the wooden peg and hole tools except unpainted.

I bought a wedge pin remover on clearance, it's a knurled length of bras rod with one end ground down like a flat-headed screwdriver, but you could make your own with a file or grinder if you have access to a quarter inch or bigger piece of brass or nylon rod.

On my Dance and Brothers, I have to use needlenose pliers to squeeze the wedge retainer in conjunction with the hammer. Squeeze the pin, and hit the plier handles on the end until the retainer is cleared; by that time, the wedge pin can be grabbed on the other side and pulled out in my case.

 

[adaptandovercome]

Brass jewlery hammer from harbor freight and a brass punch. I grind a little off the wedge if they are super tight

 

[steelbird]

I use a small mallet with a nylon head that was included with a die punch set. Straight smack, no marks ( on the gun, anyway ). I am curious about the history of the Colts in that supposedly, one didn't need tools to knock out the wedge. I'm guessing that the troopers could use a rock, maybe a horseshoe, or maybe the forehead of a guy in their unit they didn't like.....

 

[denster]

Once the wedge is properly fit to the gun it shouldn't require much to take it out or put it in. I can seat mine with my thumb and it only takes a light tap to unseat them for removal. I use a small lead rod I cast.
Some of the problems with the wedges as delivered are first being slightly too large. Second they sometimes forget to put a taper on both sides of the tip of the wedge spring. Third it helps to put a light bevel on the top edges of the wedge slot in the arbor.
Some of the Pietta wedges can be a challenge to get out when delivered. It sometimes helps to tap the lug side in line with the barrel to loosen them a bit. Also have someone hold the wedge spring down when tapping them out if they are stubborn as Pietta may have forgotten the bevel on the spring and if the tip is 90 degrees and locked on the outboard side of the barrel it can hold the wedge in place.

 

[Hellgate]

One the wedge is loosened byt firing the gun I only need a hardwood dowel to knock the wedges out. The bronze key is usually only needed when the gun is new and the wedge too tight. I also apply automotive grease to the edges of the wedge before replacing. A piece of copy paper folded over once will give you a .007" "feeler gauge" as the paper is about .0035" thick. Tap in the wedge til the paper starts to get grabbed and there's your measure on the gap.

 

[denster]

It is a common misconception that you should use the wedge to set the barrel cylinder gap. This is not correct. The wedge is only to hold the barrel on the gun. The arbor should bottom out in the arbor hole at the same time the barrel lug meets the frame. Pietta generally gets this right. Uberti uses a taper system that works OK as long as you don't put the wedge in too far and ruin the fit. With Uberti it is a good idea to make a spacer to take up the slack to guard against this in any case.

 

[sltm1]

This is a little combo tool I made for my rifle. I wet wrapped a bit of rawhide on the hammer head and tied it in place and it makes an excellent non-maring driver. 4" overall to give you an idea of size.

 

[Jimbo453]

Damm thats a neat hand made tool I could think of lots of other uses

 

[Fingers McGee]

Hey, that looks a little like my revolver tweaker . Does it come with a fold away multi sided file and cap remover ?

 

[sltm1]

Never had to make one that convoluted, I'd like to see a pic of yours though.

Jimbo, I make them for $15.00 + S+H if you're interested. I leave the blade thick so you can file it down to fit the lock screw on your rifle properly. Email me if you're interested.

 

[crgator]

The wedge on my new Pietta comes out with just a light tap. I've got a square dowel about the width of the wedge, about six inches long. A light tap, and it's flush, then I can just push it through.

 

[denster]

The late 2009 and 2010 production from Pietta is pretty good in that respect.
They finally started putting a corresponding taper in the end of the arbor and fitting the wedge a lot better. The last two I received were perfect right out of the box.

 

[Oyeboten]

Wedges should not ne KILLER tight anyway!

Just snug-enough to hold the Barrel on is all.


I can just about use my Knuckle to knock mine out, but it hurts doing it that way, so I use the little Wooden Mallet, and it does not take much of a tap to drive it out.

Never had one get loose in shooting, either.

 

[ClemBert]

Hopefully you don't have a wedge from hell like I did on two Pietta 1851's. Because you're going to have to beat it out if that's the case.

 

[denster]

ClemBert. I know what you mean. I've had Pietta's with wedges fit by bLu8igi the gorilla wedge setter and that wasn't fun. Fortunately I think Pietta has moved him to mangement where he can't do any further harm.

 

[pohill]

If the wedge is meant just to hold the barrel on the gun, why it is a wedge and not a rectangle?

 

[junkman_01]

If the wedge is meant just to hold the barrel on the gun, why it is a wedge and not a rectangle?

It's wedge shaped so it doesn't fall out.

 

[denster]

Pohill. If it was a rectangle it would just slide from side to side. Wedges have been used to hold things together since before the egyptians. Properly done the tapered wedge impinges on a corresponding taper in the end of the arbor slot. When the barrel lug meets the frame and the arbor bottoms out in the arbor hole, if things have been done correctly only a small amount of force like pushing with your thumb on the wedge will lock to two solidly together. And as Larry Potterfield is fond of saying. "That's the way it is"

 

[pohill]

Push the wedge in too far and the cylinder binds. Don't push it in far enough and everything is loose. I'd say that the wedge is part of a system of barrel/frame connection, which, like it or not, involves the cylinder and it's distance from the barrel. As parts wear, the wedge keeps drawing it in tightly but not too tightly, if it's set correctly. So it does more than just hold the barrel on the gun, though it does hold the barrel on the gun, as it did in a Hawkins rifle.

 

[junkman_01]

Push the wedge in too far and the cylinder binds. Don't push it in far enough and everything is loose. I'd say that the wedge is part of a system of barrel/frame connection, which, like it or not, involves the cylinder and it's distance from the barrel. As parts wear, the wedge keeps drawing it in tightly but not too tightly, if it's set correctly. So it does more than just hold the barrel on the gun, though it does hold the barrel on the gun, as it did in a Hawkins rifle.

If your wedge is doing that to the gap, then your arbor and lug are NOT fitted correctly!

 

[denster]

Thank you junkman. Pohill is somewhat mechanically challenged and we've had this go around before. Po if you want to adjust your colt with the wedge feel free to damage it to your hearts content. I know how bull headed you can be and it wouldn't matter if I had a sworn and notarized statement from God and Sam Colt it wouldn't change your mind.

Oh! One other thing Po. The barrel is held on a hawken rifle by keys not wedges.