Grease the wedge on a Colt?

[Indian Outlaw]

Howdy. How do y'all prefer to lubricate the Colt wedge, the arbor slot, and the barrel slots? Do you prefer oil, bore butter, rifle grease? I am trying to reduce wear to the wedge and to the slots, but I don't want a black, gooey mess in there after I shoot the gun with real BP. I have never bothered to lube the wedge, but I figure I'd better start. I am thinking of trying rifle grease but am not sure how it will react with BP.

 

[Fingers McGee]

Don't use anything other than an external wipe down with a Balistol rag.

 

[Tommygunn]

It's not a moving part; why lube it?

 

[drobs]

On my Pietta Colt's I lube the arbor only with bore butter. Put a dollop on my fingertip and wipe it on there.

 

[44 Dave]

When I lube the arbor enough gets spread around. When cleaning everything gets a coat of oil.

 

[whughett]

Lets ask Goon. Mike other than for rust prevention any need for lube on a wedge.................................?

 

[45 Dragoon]

I think a wipe down with my Ballistol rag is all that's needed for the wedge. Since you guys remove the wedge more than I do, that should be plenty. That's all I do and I rarely remove my wedges (maybe 3-4 times a year?). For those that don't know, mine are all converted and are smokless shooters so clean up is a breeze!! Oh . . . sorry guys!! Lol!!

Btw, I have listened to my competition shooters and switched to Mobile 1 grease for the arbor (for some time now). I used to use Bore Butter with graphite mixed in. The problem with it is consistency. When warm, it gets messy, when cool, it hardens up. The Mobile 1 is the same hot or cold. So, I use it to protect the cam, hammer notches, hammer screw, the hand and the arbor. If I shot B.P. still, I would pack the frame cavity with it to protect all the action parts.



Mike

 

[whughett]

I think a wipe down with my Ballistol rag is all that's needed for the wedge. Since you guys remove the wedge more than I do, that should be plenty. That's all I do and I rarely remove my wedges (maybe 3-4 times a year?). For those that don't know, mine are all converted and are smokless shooters so clean up is a breeze!! Oh . . . sorry guys!! Lol!!

Btw, I have listened to my competition shooters and switched to Mobile 1 grease for the arbor (for some time now). I used to use Bore Butter with graphite mixed in. The problem with it is consistency. When warm, it gets messy, when cool, it hardens up. The Mobile 1 is the same hot or cold. So, I use it to protect the cam, hammer notches, hammer screw, the hand and the arbor. If I shot B.P. still, I would pack the frame cavity with it to protect all the action parts.



Mike

Wondered what that black stuff was on the arbor of the "62" and "60". Are you suggesting that one "pack" the action cavity, as in filling up completely.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Yessir! Lol

The original 1860 that I was allowed to take apart and photograph was mostly packed in a similar manner. The owner had never opened it up and had owned it for around 25/28 yrs. so . . . .
I have read about folks packing the cavity and that makes sense . . . especially with a product like Mobile 1. I have seen a lot of revolvers that aren't cleaned (inside) on a regular basis and the "tin worm" (rust for you non car nuts!) can do its thing to parts that are being FITTED to your specific action!!! Hello!! Lol. Folks spend money for this, why let is degrade and fail when it can be protected? I never thought about that way back when but after seeing what I've seen and read these things . . . . why not ?

Now, I don't do that with my revolvers because I shoot smokless and "less is best" in the "modern" guns!! A little grease on the cam, hand, hammer notches and hammer screw and the rest is pretty much dry! (Film on the arbor/cyl.pin) Makes for a smoooooth runner!! But, you B.P. folks should be packing the cavity I think. Especially if you don't do a full take down every cleaning.

(No, I don't own stock in Mobile 1!!!)

Mike

 

[1KPerDay]

I wonder if the "packing" in the original was just years of gunk/lube that had collected and never been cleaned out.

I have a few original colts including an 1860 and none have been "packed" with grease. I'm not saying it's not a good idea. As long as the springs and parts can all move freely it's probably fine, and as Goon suggests, would help protect the guts, if you don't do a full cleaning every outing.

 

[99whip]

How thick is the Mobil 1 grease? If you "packed" the cavity wouldn't that much grease provide enough friction to slow the action parts down, bolt arm resetting over cam, or otherwise make things feel sticky, etc?

I use a white lithium grease and graphite on the action parts, but don't pack it in. I do like the thought of packing enough goop in there to save from having to constantly clean as tuned and polished internals do seem more prone to rusting.

 

[44 Dave]

Mike, if you "lived in the Arctic" and you have to warm up the gun to even get the cylinder to rotate you would have a Winter lube.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Dave, you're correct!! Lol!!

The label says it's temp. range is -40 to 350 deg. I'll say that's a much better range than bore butter and graphite mix!!
As far as friction is concerned, I talked to whughett and we decided that I'd send his Walker back with Mobile 1 packed in the action well. He's going to test it for me. I could tell no difference as the action is (of course!) quite smooth and it works as fast as before. His has a hybrid spring upgrade which means the hand spring is now a coil and pushrod setup and the bolt is operated by a torsion spring. The bolt arm is the perfect thickness and with a highly polished cam, the bolt would reset just with the fall of the (unassisted) hammer! (Muzzle down on the bench, revolver vertical)
That means, no mainspring energy is lost to resetting of the bolt arm (which can be a reason for a f.t.f. on a factory S.A.). The hybrid setup is the "cats PJ's "!!

Mike

 

[BCRider]

I can see packing with grease around the bolt and trigger. But I'd worry about the viscous drag if the hammer was well greased. The caps and primers really like a high speed slap at them to go off. But the viscous drag from grease on the sides of the hammer would slow it down a lot.

Back to the wedge.... I suspect a light oil is best. If there's a film of grease then the friction goes down and the wedge could or would be more easily popped out of position from the shock of the shots. You WANT the wedge to lock in place. On the other hand if you're getting burrs and scuff lines on the edges of the wedge then something is wrong with your oil.

Getting a touch more scientific for a moment there is a formula for friction between two surfaces that determines if a wedged fit is self locking or free releasing. Think Morse and Jacob's tapers as used in metal working machines. Your revolver wedge needs to "self lock" in place or it'll tend to self release and the barrel will become loose. Adding oil or grease to a taper fit of this sort reduces the coefficient of friction between the surfaces and makes wedging angles that SHOULD self lock into angles that will self release. But you want SOME oil on the surfaces so that the metals don't gall or rust. Hence the suggestion that the oil or other lube used be lighter stuff that can be pushed out of the way in the metal to metal contact areas other than for a very minimal amount.

 

[45 Dragoon]

The parts well in the frame is what was packed and I'm fairly sure the hammer received minimul grease and non in the hammer slot. The torsion spring for the bolt and the flat trigger spring were completely covered and there seemed to be no ill effects when cycling afterwards (The torsion spring puts about 3 lbs pressure on the bolt). The bolt arm (as mentioned above) was relieved and the cam "massaged" and polished to the point that the bolt arm will reset just from the weight of the unassisted hammer fall. The addition of the new coil and pushrod hand spring upgrade replaces the rather large amount of friction from the original flat spring setupsetup so much so that the hammer has much more power available to ensure ignition.

Just an aside, the V mainspring used by the Walker and the Whitneyville/1st Mod.Dragoons is an excellent spring for "increased speed" near the end of travel. That is in fact where my "kick in the butt" mainspring "contouring" came from. The hooked end of the spring and the ramp type surface it pushes against acts as a multiplier. Very cool!!

Anyway, I agree that the wedge only needs "rust preventative" measures. The simplicity of the wedge system (not realized by many) is an extremely efficient way to ensure "two assys act as one" through simple triangulation. With a correct arbor setup, it's rather amazing at how well it works.

Mike