Colt 2nd-3rd generation ?

[Olmontanaboy]

Does anyone know if Colt 2nd and 3rd generation percussion revolvers have arbors that bottom out the way they are supposed to? I've had piettas that did and Ubertis that did not. I've heard that Uberti had a hand in the production of these Colt reproductions and I'm wondering if the arbors botton out against the barrel or not.

 

[madcratebuilder]

They are much closer to the correct fit than the Italian counterparts. I have over a dozen and all have needed a spacer, .005 to .040. I have made spacers over .125 for Ubertis and Piettas. Uberti supplied raw barrels and cylinders, arbors came from in-house. The wedge slots in both the arbor and barrel lug are a better fit. 2nd and 3rd gens have a much better barrel gap, all I have are with in spec out of the box for me.

The 'correct' way to fix this is to remove the arbor, weld the end, machine to proper fit and reinstall. A labor intensive job. I short cut it. I machine a spacer the needed thickness and loc-tite it in the barrel lug hole. You can drill and tap the end of the arbor, use a shcs and file to fit. I have seen jb weld used.

 

[Olmontanaboy]

Thanks, does the spacer ever change the barrel-cylinder gap once installed? I seem to remember reading that this can occur sometimes.
Thanks again

 

[madcratebuilder]

Sliding the barrel on to the arbor, you should have correct barrel gap just as the bottom of the barrel lug touches the revolver frame. The arbor should bottom out in the barrel lug hole at the same point. Normally that does not happen. You can say the arbor is short or the hole is to deep. If you have to much barrel gap then you need to tale material of the nose of the frame. You have three things come together, bottom the arbor, barrel gap and touching the frame.

Once you have the arbor bottoming in the lug, the barrel gap can not change, you can not move the barrel closer to the cylinder.