Help with new Walker.

[EvilGenius]

Took my new walker out to the range the other day and had a blast shooting BP for the first time.

Anyways, after about 4 cylinders worth it was dragging real bad. I could barely get the cylinder to tur, even by hand. I had to use a rubber/plastic to rap on the barrel until it was loose enough that I could finally wrench it off with the loading lever.

I have put some ballistol on the arbor, I guess I could've put more. Do y'all reccomend something else?

 

[45 Dragoon]

You need LLLLLLLLLLLLLLOTS of grease on the arbor! When you think you have enough, put some more! Don't push the wedge (key) in far enough to bind the cyl. with the barrel ( the arbor is prob too short as most of them are and this is what happens).

45 Dragoon

 

[BullSlinger]

Lube up the arbor before shooting and try lubed wads between powder and ball. You could use over ball lube but I find it very messy. Have fun.

 

[rodwha]

Even the Walkers suffer from the short arbor syndrome?

 

[BowerR64]

It just happens ive tried everything sugested by members on this forum.

The only thing that really works is after about the second cylinder while its still fairly hot pull it apart and clean the arbor.

The longer you let it cool between cylinders the stiffer it gets. Its almost as if the stuff expands as it cools.

I found after you shoot it while its cooling keep spinning the cylinder, it kinda works the fouling out keeping it spinning.

 

[EljaySL]

(going to think about what I said for a bit and maybe repost later)

 

[[email protected]]

I never use any grease on the arbor. After five or six shots just take a bottle of
water and squeeze a few drops on the arbor and let it run down the length of it.
Turn the cylinder and it will feel like it is on ball bearings. Taught to me by a old
Civil War Vet.

 

[swathdiver]

Shot my ASM Walker for a whole day, about 100 rounds, without it slowing down recently. Weeks before the arbor had been lubed with bore butter

 

[BowerR64]

Shot my ASM Walker for a whole day, about 100 rounds, without it slowing down recently. Weeks before the arbor had been lubed with bore butter

Wow, whats your secret.

What loads? what powder? whats your exact loading and cleaning technique?

It cant be just bore butter.

 

[EvilGenius]

Yeah, I was careful to make sure I wasn't binding the cylinder with the wedge.

Because it's a C&B I was unable to "unload and show clear" during ceasefire so I just took the barrel off and sat the cylinder aside to show it was obviously incapable of firing. (Now I see how it cooled and got worse.) I saw that there was some fouling creeping down a bit onto the arbor, but I didn't bring anything to wipe it down with and was paranoid that wiping it off might just smear it around and make it worse.

I don't mind trying bore butter on there, but I like to keep it simple. Is there a similar household alternative?

 

[damoc]

Yeah, I was careful to make sure I wasn't binding the cylinder with the wedge.

Because it's a C&B I was unable to "unload and show clear" during ceasefire so I just took the barrel off and sat the cylinder aside to show it was obviously incapable of firing. (Now I see how it cooled and got worse.) I saw that there was some fouling creeping down a bit onto the arbor, but I didn't bring anything to wipe it down with and was paranoid that wiping it off might just smear it around and make it worse.

I don't mind trying bore butter on there, but I like to keep it simple. Is there a similar household alternative?

lard its even authentic/period correct

i dont recomend crisco as others will

as others have said grease over ball and grease on the arbour will probably solve most issues

it can be a little messy but not to bad

 

[Curator]

I have my NRA muzzle loading pistol instructor candidates shoot my 1851 Navy Colt, 3rd. Model 1849 Army (Dragoon) and my 1847 Walker Colt reproductions in the course of their training. I have them smear the cylinder arbors with my standard C&B lube (50/50 bee's wax grocery-store lard) I also have them use said lube over the ball. Of course, the balls are nearly flush with the cylinder's face because the load of powder, felt wad, and/or filler is selected to have this happen. The combination of lube on the arbor's spiral grooves and the extra lube provided by the over-ball lube being splattered upon firing keeps the cylinders turning smoothly throughout. We use loading stands but not cylinder loaders in this class and most revolvers are fired up to 300 times in the course of the shooting exercises without cylinders binding. The water-trick does work better on 1858 Remington NMAs since these do not have the large diameter cylinder arbor with spiral grooves that the Colts do. This issue was well documented during the ACW where the open-top Colts were preferred even though less accurate than the top-strap revolvers because of the cylinder binding problem.

 

[jgh4445]

I'd take it back to the medical supply store and tell them to get me one that rolls easier. Walkers are no different than the buggies you get at Walmart. Sometimes you get one with a square wheel or one that just won't roll! That can wear you out and mess up your whole day at the range!

 

[EvilGenius]

It "rolls" just fine.

It's when it starts getting covered in powder residue that it starts to drag.

 

[EljaySL]

The Walker is definitely prone to binding up.

Pretty much any cap and ball revolver I tend to pop the cylinder out every three cylinders and give it a quick wipe and relube. Doesn't have to be perfect, just gets ahead of any problems. There's a couple of revolvers I have that don't have loading levers or for whatever other reason I load the cylinder off the gun and I just always give it a quick touch up as long as it's out.

re: showing clear during cease fires - the usual RO at my club knows black powder very well and he just gives the nipples a quick look (possibly rotating the cylinder with permission if he doesn't know you). But it is faster if he can just glance at a cylinder that's out so I do try to keep track of the time and sync up so that the cylinder's out when it's that time. And if I get an RO who's confused they just find it very reassuring to see the cylinder out.

 

[Hellgate]

Put a little squeeze bottle of oil (olive or Ballistol) in your shooting box. After each six shots, recharge the chambers and then put 1 or 2 drops of oil onto the cylinder pin where the cylinder rubs the frame. Twirl the cylinder to work it down onto the pin. Also set the wedge to about .005-.008" cylinder gap. This can be done at the time of reassembly after cleaning by putting a folded piece of copy paper between the cylinder and barrel as you tap in the wedge. Once it starts to grab the paper, pull out the paper and you will have a .007" gap (paper sheet is typically .0035" thick, folded once =.007"). Someone/somewhere else are the instructions for setting the length of the arbor but until you do that the paper "feeler guage" technique and oil drop will free up the gun. ANY arbor lube will do. I use rotgut cheap automotive grease on all of mine. Bore butter and other lubes work as well. Lube wads under the ball and over ball grease help keep the fouling soft.

 

[rdstrain49]

I've not read the entire post, so pardon me if I am redundant. Type of powder is important in all BP weapons, and very critical in others. Assuming proper maintenance and procedure, try some Swiss BP. Try fff and 1 1/2f. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[EvilGenius]

I've not read the entire post, so pardon me if I am redundant. Type of powder is important in all BP weapons, and very critical in others. Assuming proper maintenance and procedure, try some Swiss BP. Try fff and 1 1/2f. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

On yeah, that could've helped in the OP.

I used 3F Triple 7.

 

[EvilGenius]

Put a little squeeze bottle of oil (olive or Ballistol) in your shooting box. After each six shots, recharge the chambers and then put 1 or 2 drops of oil onto the cylinder pin where the cylinder rubs the frame. Twirl the cylinder to work it down onto the pin. Also set the wedge to about .005-.008" cylinder gap. This can be done at the time of reassembly after cleaning by putting a folded piece of copy paper between the cylinder and barrel as you tap in the wedge. Once it starts to grab the paper, pull out the paper and you will have a .007" gap (paper sheet is typically .0035" thick, folded once =.007"). Someone/somewhere else are the instructions for setting the length of the arbor but until you do that the paper "feeler guage" technique and oil drop will free up the gun. ANY arbor lube will do. I use rotgut cheap automotive grease on all of mine. Bore butter and other lubes work as well. Lube wads under the ball and over ball grease help keep the fouling soft.

Ah, thanks for the tip!

I had a feeler gauge out and checked the cylinder gap when disassembling/cleaning/lubing before taking it out. It was in the .001-.002 range.

 

[rdstrain49]

The feeler gauge can be misleading when talking about C&B revolvers. Unless you are seeing drag marks on the front of the cylinder when every thing is clean, don't worry about it. You will hear all manner of theory about what the gap should be. I have reproduction guns that have a much greater gap than my originals, and both shoot just fine. (I'm talking function as well as accuracy).

Don't over think it, shoot em and have fun.

 

[EvilGenius]

I thought it did surprisingly well for having such a small gap. Though it did start dragging real bad on the first cylinder, but that turned out to be a jammed spent cap. It was fine after that until the 4th cylinder, but even then with fouling all over the front of the cylinder it didn't seem to be dragging on the front.

Also, I think it's assumed at this point, but I was only shooting ball and powder. For the amount I was originally planning to shoot and the short time between shooting and cleaning. I decided to forego the wads.

 

[rdstrain49]

any of them will shoot with powder and ball only, just not as many rounds before fouling becomes an issue. One of the purposes of the lube is to keep the fouling soft so as not to become a problem. Brand of powder also play a big role in amount of and hardness of the fouling. The better the powder, the less the issue.

 

[44 Dave]

While cylinder gap was mentioned.
I had one with a large gap I shot for years, it shows some burn away on the arbor. Wonder if this erosion would be less if I had closed the gap earlier?
Not going to talk barrel bushing mods, not worth it!

 

[rdstrain49]

flame cutting is an insidious beast. should it become an issue, how about machining the effected area the fill welding with an extra hard welding rod. should be a simple matter for a good machine shop

 

[44 Dave]

The flame cutting is not that bad yet, don't think it will be a problem for a long time, got the cylinder gap down to about .004 from .012. should be less flame out sideways.