Ok, what did I do wrong?

[Texas Moon]

Took a WALKER out to the range yesterday.
Shooting was fine except for one issue which has never happened before.
Couldn't get more than 3 shots off before the cylinder would bind up so bad I literally couldn't get to the 5th shot without turning the cylinder with my free hand!
Was so bad I almost couldn't get the cylinder off the arbor a couple of times.
Yes, I was using Gatofeo's recipe lubed wads under the powder.
I even started lubing over the ball with a wad under the ball and still had the problem.
This gun has never done this before. Probably have 500rds out of this gun and its never performed like this.
Same powder(Goex 2Fg) Same roundballs, same caps, same lube, same wads. The only thing different was some new TRESO nipples but that couldn't be the cause.
Maybe the cylinder/barrel gap is opening up and allowing too much blow by onto the arbor pin.

Any ideas?

 

[MutinousDoug]

Are you convinced that it is the cylinder pin that is bound up and not the bolt or hand? (Not a Walker shooter)

 

[Texas Moon]

Positive its the cylinder/arbor binding up with fouling.
Once it was taken apart and the arbor wiped off it worked freely.
Even daubed a bunch of lube on the arbor but it still bound up after just 3 shots.

 

[BHP FAN]

did you inspect the innards for cap fragments?

 

[Texas Moon]

No caps fragments in lockwork.
Like I said in previous post, with arbor wiped clean, gun functioned perfectly.
Even with lube on arbor, lubed wad under ball, and lube on top of ball, gun would bind up after just 3 shots.

 

[BHP FAN]

That's just odd.With the huge Colt arbor grooved the way they are,fouling tends not too bother them.Check for cylinder drag.the cylinler should have about a buisness card's worth of gap.You may have the wedge in too far,too little gap is more often a problem than too much.

 

[[email protected]]

Was it a bone dry day?

 

[JN01]

Disregard, already suggested

 

[TheRodDoc]

Did you try it with no grease at all anywhere?

I do not use any grease or lube of any kind in any of my ball and cap guns and can shoot around 6 cylinders or 36 shots before I pull the barrel and clean the arbor.

Those little grooves in the arbor are to catch the powder residue.. They act like little "O" rings as the first one fills up it starts to seal the arbor. The dry residue tightens up or swells up in the groove. That first one then seals the next one from getting as much and etc..

But if you let grease get in there it stops it from working. It melts the fouling that is supposed to make the seal in the grooves. And the liquid fouling now moves easily down further into the arbor and gets thicker as it does with each shot.

You also need to stop the cap from blowing off. If the rear is sealed and does not leak then there will be no fouling at the rear of the cylinder.

Also I use tight cylinder gaps. Only need what a cold cylinder expands when up to shooting temp. On my walker that is about 3 thousands. On the 51 navy it is 2 thousands.
The front of the cylinder won't foul. The gas blowing out keeps it clean as can be.

 

[Tallship]

I think BHP is on to it. Sounds like the cylinder is too close to the forcing cone, and after three shots, the barrel heats up and binds the cylinder.

 

[Texas Moon]

Yes, the day was very dry.
I was sort of thinking the relative humidity may of had something to do with it.

I'm sort of puzzled about the wedge being the issue.
The reason for that is with the barrel removed I had to really grip and twist the cylinder to get it off the arbor. A couple of times I almost couldn't remove it.
Once the cylinder was off the arbor I could wipe the fouling off fairly easily.
Added a little lube to the arbor, put the cylinder/barrel back together and it cycled fine.

 

[Fingers McGee]

Sounds like you didn't have enough lube on the arbor. I liberally lube my Colt style revolver arbors with bore butter, filling in all the grooves. I smear a glob or two on the arbor, then spin the cylinder as it goes on to spread the lube evenly in all the grooves and in the ratchet recess of the frame. This keeps them running freely for 10 cylinders full or more; unless its a really dry day. Then they may only go 5 cylinders full before needing more lube. The more lube there is on the arbor, the less space for fouling to build up & bind up.

 

[Hellgate]

I suspect cylinder drag on the front of the cylinder against the forcing cone. That is about the only thing I have run into that will gum up a Colt in just a few shots

 

[[email protected]]

You could switch to Swiss Black Powder. It's by product is water and on a
dry day should keep you shooting longer. I know on dry days my in-line pistol
striker will get so dirty even after 10 shots that it won't move. I just put a few drops of my water soulable oil mixture on it and shoot away. In my kind of
shooting I always carry a small meter that shows me the humidity. 25% is dry.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Fingers and Hellgate gave great advise. Lube the arbor and don't tighten up the barrel gap with the wedge to tight. .008 is the Colt recommendation and a few thousandths either side well be fine.

The fouling at the cylinder and barrel was one of the original complaints about the Walker. Mr. Colt addressed that on the Dragoons by tapering the barrel at the cylinder and in effect reducing the surface contact area.