Loose arbor

[Harrod]

Went out to shoot the ASM 1860 army today and wow it shot great, better than I expected even. When I go home I had some trouble getting the barrel off and then noticed that the arbor has a wiggle too it. Now, I did read another thread on the forum on how to fix it and I am going to try to get a punch and tap the pin in some. Anyone have this issue before and fixed it with just tapping the pin? I'm not confident on drilling it out and drill/tapping a threaded hole in myself. Its not worth it to have a gunsmith do it for me since the gun was only $140 to begin with. I guess this is what I get for being impatient and buying used right? :banghead: It still has a nice tight lockup and shoots straight.

Also its an as is/no returns item so I can't send it back.:banghead:

 

[loose noose]

Harrod, are you talking about the wedge?

 

[BADUNAME30]

You don't have to tap it Harrod.
You could just drill out the frame and arbor to the next size up pin.

 

[Hellgate]

I have only read but never done it but supposedly others have drilled out the pin, unscrewed the arbor, degreased everything, applied J B Weld or epoxy to the threads, reassembled the gun and re-pinned it before it set. I'm sure it is more difficult than it sounds but otherwise you are liable to have a dead gun anyway. If you have a brass frame then the fix isn't gonna hold unless you shoot light, 20gr loads. I have a friend who's gun has a loose arbor and it shoots better than his solid one.

 

[Harrod]

It's has a steel frame instead of brass. I'm kind of nervous about drilling out things on it. I've done that sort of thing before for work but not on something that needs precision. I don't have the money to just replace it at the moment, so I guess I have to do something. Is it safe to shoot as is using light loads? Or am I better off just waiting til I can attempt a fix? Also where would one buy a bigger pin?

 

[samcolt1860]

It is safe to shoot with moderate loads. I would try tapping the pin in before trying anything else.

 

[arcticap]

I would wait and not fiddle with it because you said, "...wow it shot great, better than I expected even." and "It still has a nice tight lockup and shoots straight."
Maybe the arbor wiggle is a non-issue when the wedge pin is installed.
And because it has a steel frame it may never get any worse.
I wouldn't worry about loading up to 30 grains of powder in it which approximates the standard issue Civil War military loads.

 

[farmerted]

I've done it, but with a machinist looking over my shoulder. He had a (can't think of the dang word) that was on the bed of his milling machine, with a hole in it the size of my arbor. This was for near perfect vertical alignment. Then, where the pin holds the arbor, I used the milling machine to drill for a #8 set screw. On my gun I went in 250 thousandths. Then it was just a question of tapping it, using an end tap to finish, and it's shot fine since. A lot of machinists are curious about stuff and willing to help out. I gave him a dozen homegrown avocados for the help. My gun was really loose BTW.