Cylinder Doesn't Always Rotate

[rodwha]

I tore down and cleaned my Pietta Remington '58 and after reassembly I found that the cylinder doesn't always rotate when cocked.

I took it back apart thinking the hand spring was broken, but it wasn't.

After reassembly it still doesn't always rotate the cylinder.

I often have a hard time getting the hand into the slot so that I can pull the hammer to the point where the screw can be placed in there. I isn't force anything, but I had used a small screwdriver to wiggle around in there.

It seems like it'll usually rotate if I cock it with authority, but it doesn't always work.

Any suggestions?

 

[Skinny 1950]

I have only worked on Colts but I think the hand is pretty much the same, take the cylinder out,watch the hand as you cock the gun...poke it to see if it is spring loaded.
Report back.

 

[Crawdad1]

I agree, the first step is to take the cylinder out and watch the hand as you cock the revolver. Report back.

 

[rodwha]

The hand moves upwards but doesn't protrude through the opening.

I'm guessing the spring has been "adjusted" somehow and isn't giving full force?

 

[rodwha]

I took it back apart and inspected the hand/spring. I couldn't tell for sure, but it did look like it was slightly bent as I think I recall it being slightly further from the hand.

I bent it slightly and reinstalled, and not it seems to function properly.

I suppose I ought to buy a new hand spring now as this one has to be weakened even if slightly.

I was obviously hasty as I see that it doesn't seem to have enough tension or strength to rotate the cylinder when it's in place.

Bend the spring a little further?

And I did. And now it seems to work properly...

 

[Crawdad1]

I always buy a few hands and just keep them around as replacements. And I put a little grease on the bottom of the channel before installing that allows the hand spring to slide up a little easier when installing. Just a dab, you can barely see it, but just enough to get it sliding up into the frame.

 

[rodwha]

The inside of my frame has a good bit of Ballistol. Even the outside gives a slightly oily feel to the hand after handling, and it's been wiped down after oiling.

I finally bought a spray (non aerosol) can and found it much different.

There's a fella who has been trying to get a muzzleloader/BP business going, and I try to buy from him when I can. I've asked about his ability to acquire Pietta parts. I've already buggered up a screw, and hear that the various springs just don't last more than a few years so I may as well buy a bit of each.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I would have done the same with respects to bending the spring. The way we were taught to do it is heating it to red (propane torch is good enough for a small spring), bending it while it is red and then annealling it in your lead pot (725 degrees F) for 30 minutes.

 

[BCRider]

Gary, you missed a step. Doing it like you said you're relying on the air to quench the spring. And truly with something as small as a hand spring that could well be fast enough to harden it. But normally it gets oil or water quenched. THEN temper in the lead pot or via some other method that ensures even heating.

Rodwha, those little leaf springs on the hands are pretty delicate. It's likely that you flattened it out while learning how to disassemble the gun or during one of your early attempts to re-assemble it. There's not a lot of motion in that spring so it may last for quite some time. But then again it might snap or bend again in the next few operations. Hard to say. A spare hand and spring on the shelf would not be a bad plan.

 

[4v50 Gary]

You're right that you don't just air quench it.

However, when you work on small springs, they begin cooling off as soon as you remove the heat source. Hence the heated led pot that will bring it back up to temperature.

BTW, we've used this method to build replacement "V" springs for our Trappers. After heating and bending the spring, we polished them by hand. Naturally they were cool so we could polish them. They were afterward tempered by immersion in the lead pot.

 

[BCRider]

Yeah, the really thin and small stuff is tough to work with that way. I've not yet had the "pleasure" of trying to harden and temper a truly small spring so I'll file this away in the ol' noggin.