Pietta 1860 - barrel wedge question

[hAkron]

I just received an 1860 Pietta from Cabelas. The initial cleaning says to remove the barrel wedge, and I've seen a YouTube of someone doing that, but I've given this thing some SERIOUS smacks with a rubber/urethane faced hammer and its not moving a bit. I tried a small dowel which just splintered down under the spring tab of wedge and I had to painstakingly dig the pieces out. I'm worried about damaging the gun by applying additional force...any tips?

 

[denster]

Some of the Pietta wedges can be a bear to remove the first time. A victim of luigi the gorilla wedge setter.
Best way to do it is to support the gun on a couple of wood blocks then take a brass punch and center it on the wedge. Give it a solid whack with a firm hammer. You may have to hit it a few times but it will come out. When replacing it only needs to be pushed in with your thumb.

 

[hAkron]

I did the penny trick also with no luck. The wedge isn't centered in its slot. It is toward the back...is it possible that I just have a bad one? I'm considering seeing if Cabelas would exchange it for another one.

 

[44 Dave]

My 1860 is a Dixie Gun Works, Uberti proof marks.
The wedge has always been too tight. I finely "adjusted" the slot in the arbor but would never suggest doing this new one.
Dave

 

[hAkron]

I got it!! I had to use the plastic piece from a ballpoint pen and a metal hammer, but it came out. When I was trying to use a wooden dowel, I managed to splinter it all the way deep under the wedge spring, so once I got it free, I had to knock the pin out of it and dig out the wood (it was REALLY in there).

Cabelas offered to let me send it back for a refund, or wait till they were back in stock and do an exchange. Great service from them!

 

[Prairie Dawg]

+1 to what Denster sez.

I have taken a Lyman (round) brass punch and filed it into a rectangle.
It fits into the handle of their brass/nylon headed hammer.
Works wonders with Pietta wedges!
--Dawg

 

[1KPerDay]

I got it!! I had to use the plastic piece from a ballpoint pen and a metal hammer, but it came out. When I was trying to use a wooden dowel, I managed to splinter it all the way deep under the wedge spring, so once I got it free, I had to knock the pin out of it and dig out the wood (it was REALLY in there).

Cabelas offered to let me send it back for a refund, or wait till they were back in stock and do an exchange. Great service from them!

Probably nothing wrong with the gun... why return it?

Glad you got the wedge out. enjoy your 1860!

 

[hAkron]

Well, I asked them about the return before I was able to get the wedge out, just to get the ball rolling if I needed another one. I'm keeping it now that I was able to get the wedge out. They should ship the gun with the wedge out and the barrel removed. That's the first thing you need to do when you take it out of the box, why add the unnessasary assembly step in the manufacturing process?

 

[1KPerDay]

to teach you some Italian curse words!

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

... They should ship the gun with the wedge out and the barrel removed. That's the first thing you need to do when you take it out of the box, why add the unnessasary assembly step in the manufacturing process?

This reminds me that almost everything under the Christmas tree seems to come from China as a box of pieces for me to put together. Can you imagine if your 1860 came that way, with zero factory assembly, two extra screws, one missing nipple, 2 different triggers with no explanation of why one over the other and instructions with no words, just unrecognizable pictures with X's and smiley faces that no one speaking any language under the sun could understand?

Put that way the snug wedge doesn't sound so bad does it?

 

[hAkron]

I dunno, they press fit that thing in there and then the manual, in hastily translated English, tells you that step 1 is to beat it out with a hammer...it's a bit unnerving.

 

[44 Dave]

How big of hammer do you need?
Like I posted I filed the arbor slot to improve the wedge fit, the barrel showed scuffing from beating on it. For 20 years I needed a mallet along finely said "enough already"
Now it is just a little more than thumb pressure.
Dave

 

[hAkron]

I first tried with one of those two face hammers - one side is rubber and one side is urethane or something, and it was rebounding too much or something. I finally went with a metal claw hammer and a plastic piece from a ball point pen and a few hard smashes from the hammer. I was using more force than I would use to hammer a nail into a board.

 

[EljaySL]

Yeah, it's a pain. I got two similar revolvers recently (1851, 1860). The 1851 I just wacked with a gunsmith hammer (the kind that's brass on one side and plastic coated on the other). The 1860 wasn't moving that way, and I tried half a clothespin and just reduced that to splinters so I used a brass punch. And even then I really had to hit it hard. It's fine now - just needs a tap with something to get it going - but that first time, yikes. Makes me appreciate the 1858 design, that's for sure.

 

[jason41987]

i just bought a pietta 1860 as well, to get the wedge off the first time was a bit of a PITA... now i can do it by hand.. but the first time around i used the plastic end of a screw driver and smacked the end of the wedge a few times to pop it in... so the other side stuck out more...

then at this point i used the same screwdriver (flat head) and wrapped the end so not to scratch anything, and hooked it under the lip of the face of the wedge and pried it off

 

[rifle]

One thing to watch for with the first time Pietta wedge removal is that wedge spring. It has a sharp angle to the end of it that can't get out of the way and it snags the barrel and holds on tight. Depressing the spring before removing the wedge makes it easier. The gun has to be held by something or someone unless you have three hands.
I have a mill with a machinists vice and I pad the barrel in the vise and the bottom of the grip sets on the table of the mill so it's supported. I guess the same thing could be done with a bench vise and the barrel padded(coupla pieces of thin wood would be good or leaher if the vise doesn't have teeth on the grip parts) in it and something under the grip to support the gun.
The spring on it's first trip out(if not depressed on the tip) with the wedge broaches off some metal from the edge of the barrel slot so that is the slant the spring needs to depress to get clear of the barrel wedge slot edge. Some times it's good ..... once the wedge is out io file the tip of the spring where it grabs the barrel to give it a bevel to slide on the barrel wedge slot edge and thus depress. Just leaving it as is lets the spring broach metal off the edge till it bevels the barrels wedge slot edge and clears the path itself.
Anywhoooo....part of the problem with the first time Pietta wedge removal is the wedge spring snags the barrel and resists sliding the wedge out. A round flat end steel punch that can go into the barrels slot(so it doesn't hit it and dent it) being hit with a steel hammer works pretty well. Steel hitting steel hitting the steel wedge. Don't hit the spring tip though. Set the gun on some wood so the wedge has room to get out the other side.

 

[Rom828]

I scratched the blue on the barrel on my 1860 the first time I took it apart. Oh well, its a shooter.