Walker arbor too long??

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omcf

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Hello, I am desperately trying to join the Walker club, but my firearm is almost non-functional, and that is simply unsat.

I bought this (I believe) Armi San Marco off another member here, and having never fired bp, I am really excited about it.

Trouble is, I believe the arbor is too long for a precise fit, the wedge will barely go in at all, and I would really have to whack it to get it in all the way.

0520031707a.jpg

0520031708a.jpg

I took the entire thing apart, cleaned, lubed, and reassembled it thanks to a few stickies on this board, and the arbor appears flush with the back of the frame. When I try to reattach the barrel assembly, it too fits flush, but the slot for the wedge does not line up 100%, the arbor is visible for like 1/16th on the right edge of the wedge slot (seen above, I hope).

I tried to follow the links to the CAS website, but that advised adding shims to the top of the arbor if it was too short, mine appears to be overly long. Perhaps I am not understanding something.

Any advise would be appreciated to get everything to fit properly; some previous owner dinged up the wedge slot on the barrel and the crown of the barrel man-handling it into place, and I would rather everything fit without a sledge-hammer, prior to firing the 1st time.
 
From what i can make out in the pic it looks pretty good.The wedge only needs to go in far enough to stick out on the other side just a little. It will loosen up some after it has been shot a bit.If the barrel fits good up against the frame where the two alignment pins are and you cant get the wedge in so that at least the tip sticks thru to the far side, then you may had to file a little bit on the side of your wedge, just dont over do it.When you have the barrel on the frame what does the barrel/cylinder gap look like?
 
Ok i just looked again at your second pic and it looks like your barrel gap is against the cylinder and kinda looks like the barrel isnt even up against the fram completely. Also looks like there is a lot more of the arbor showing inside the slot than the first pic but is hard to really tell by the pictues for sure. Does the arbor feel tight in the frame? Put a screw driver in the arbor slot and try turning it,,not hard just enough to tell if it is really tightly fit.Does the gun look to be fairly new or look to have been shot a good bit? Almost looks like the arbor may be backed out a turn.It should be pinned in place but you never know. If it is like it should be then there should be a little slot cut in the arbour where it screws into the frame so the cylinder hand clears the arbour.
 
You may have a Dragoon trying to wear a Walker barrel !
(the arbor would be the diff.)
By your second pic, looks like the barrel is pointed up there! May be two diff. companies version of a Walker.
 
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If it was a dragoon with a walker barrel the cylinder would not come anywhere near the forcing cone of the barrel, but you could very well be right about miss matched parts from diffrent makers of walkers.I know a San marco and an Umberti parts do not interchange.
 
I believe it is a Walker, based on the round humb of the grip going into the frame, the engraved scene on the cylinder, and the 1847 marked on the bbl, plus the pointed end of the loading lever.
walker.jpg

the cylinder gap between the cylinder when assembled, and the forcing cone...I do not have calipers, but it is touching when horizontal (barely) and I can only see light thru the gap when I point the pistol at the sky.

The arbor is flush against the back of the frame. With the notch cut for the hand.

As far as it being shot...does'nt seem like it has fired 1000s of rounds to me, but I am more familiar with wear on modern automatics.

The bbl is marked A.S.M., and looking through the literature on here, I believe the serial# corresponds to the 90's.

I can get the wedge in there with a few whacks and it looks like someone has tried to file it down a little, but... is that really what I should be doing?
 
Ya, after i posted that i realized it looked like the right length cyl. so, appears to be diff makes.

Dang!! IF i keep lookin at this stuff Im gonna have to get me a Walker again!!! Got rid of mine 20 yrs ago.
 
I think next you need to see if the arbor is bottoming out in the barrel. Remove the cyl. and put Barrel on 90 deg. (sideways) and carefully rotate and see if it meets the frame, or is too short or too long.

You could even have the right everything but the wrong cyl.!
 
Its starting to sound like you may not really have much of a problem. Could well be it just has a new wedge in the gun and may not be fitted to it yet.The wedge is easy to wear out on a walker and that could explain it having a new one.You say you can see light in the cylinder gap when pointed skyward,,that sounds good as you do need to pull back on the cylinder when checking the gap.Do like dragoon says about checking the arbout to make sure it is bottoming out. But im thinking it just needs the wedge itself adjusted a tiney bit.That wedge thing gives a lot of people problems till they get them figured out.
 
I have gone through this on a gun of mine.
First fit the barrel with out the cylinder, if it is a good fit on the bottom pin get out a good file.
Looks like you can take a LITTLE out of the arbor slot but remember it is hard to put back.
Check the wedge fit through the arbor and barrel separately.
Take the wedge down until it is still a little tight, as mentioned you don't need to drive the wedge all of the way in.
A new wedge is about $12.
I am sure you will get it to fit correctly, they sure did not in the factory!
 
Guys-

I sure appreciate the help.

I tried to rotate the bbl on the arbor, there is a 1/16th gap when it swivels down...which made me think the arbor is too long. But when I but the bbl on straight, it fits up flush on the two bottom pins.

The most common problem I have read, is the arbor being too short. Answer: shim it with spacers, jb weld, solder more on to the end of the arbor.

Mine appears to be too long, as it is flush with the back of the frame. Answer: ???

I could continue to file the wedge pin, or even a little off the right side of the arbor slot. But that feels like I am digging a 200 yard trench with a spoon, and as you said, it is hard to put material back on once it is filed off.

If shooting it 10-20 times will improve the fit, great! I could even hone the wedge pin a little more.

But 1/16"??
 
ONE MORE THING BEFORE YOU FILE !!!!!! Sorry, didn't mean to yell. Just remembered, your wedge will go in from the right side (like a Walker) instead of the left side (like all the real open tops!!!! . . . . . . Just kiddin . . couldn't resist!!). Just in case you / we overlooked this little item. It WILL make a diff.
 
Yep dragoon, i just thought about the same thing, wedge goes in the same side the screw is on with the little flat spring on it facing up.
 
Thank you, but yes that was one of the things I picked up on the "Walker Club" pages :).

*update, I took some emery paper to the wedge, and it goes all the way in now, but tight, so tight I am running into another problem articulated on a different thread... there is 0% gap between cylinder and forcing cone when the wedge comes out the other side. So I have it in now, just not thru to the other side.

Still worried about the over-long arbor, but we'll see what happens after I fire it a few times.

Ir's only 60 grains of black powder, what could go wrong?:eek:

Appreciate all the help!
 
nope, if you're binding, it's too short. Need to add to the arbor or shim in the arbor hole.
 
But ya see, if I add a spacer or shim to the end of the arbor that goes into the bbl, the wedge slot will get smaller and smaller, making the wedge even tighter, decreasing the gap between cylinder and forcing cone, etc....
 
Guys, I think he is looking through the wedge slot (the back of it) to come to the conclusion that the arbor is to long. When if he slides the barrel ahead to give some cyl. gap it would most likely not be then. Arbor to short in barrel bore.
 
wont take much. we're talking.006". now you can file that much kaint cha ?

get that done and we'll talk about a "captured" wedge. you'll like that. you'll have the same bbl/ cyl. gap all the time.
 
Make sure when you check the gap that you hold back on the cylinder because the hand spring pushes it up against the barrel sometimes making it look too close.
 
I will let dragoon guide you through it because he can explain it better than i can anyway and i dont want to confuse you. Its not really complicated though.
 
Rod Doc-

In the picture, you can see about 1/4" of the arbor looking into the wedge slot. If I put a shim in there, won't that exacerbate the situation? Put even more of the arbor metal into the slot where the wedge is supposed to slide through?

arbor slot.jpg

Or am I looking at this wrong?

The shim solution I have read on here seem to add it to the end that goes into the arbor hole in the barrel assembly. Or do I have this backward?
 
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