Walker arbor too long??

[TheRodDoc]

You will need a shim on the very end of the arbor. The part that bottoms in the bore of the barrel.

Here is one way to help you understand what is going on.

To check the arbor slot, Place a standard buisness card in the gap. No wedge in barrel. push back the barrel against the cyl. This will be where the barrel needs to stay when the wedge is in place.

Then look again through the slot with no wedge in it. The back of the slot in the arbor should be just very slightly back from the back of the barrel slot. If it is ahead then you will need to file the back of the arbor slot towards the cyl. till it is. Try the wedge in the gun. (leave the card in the gap) This will tell you wether or not to file on the wedge. But dont file till you decide if you need a shim on the end of the arbor.

Then with the card out of the gap push the wedge back in. if the cyl gap closes and the card wont go in you will know that you have to shim the end of the arbor in the barrel hole.

this is my walker. you can see that the arbor slot is about even with the back of the barrel slot. I should take a couple passes with a file at the back of the arbor slot too.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Don't want to get in the way here. before i wind down for the night, Just want you to understand what you are doing. When the barrel and frame are matted, the arbor end should meet the bottom of the arbor hole in the barrel. Right now there is a gap when matted and we want to fill that gap. So, filling the gap is not going to move anything anywhere. The shim will fill the gap and ideally the frame and bottom of the barrel assy. will mate as well (where the two pins are). It's best to start with a shim (steel washer) that a little too thick so you can reduce the thickness untill, The frame pins fit the barrel and the cyl. gap is about .006". When you get there, why there you are !!! Ya did it !!! now use a little red thread locker and glue that shim in place ( no since in lookin for it every time you take it a part!!) in the barrel, not the end of the arbor.

Now, fit the wedge.


sorry Doc, Thanks for the help.

takes me so long to type you'd think i was writing a book !!

 

[omcf]

Thanks alot guys! Your patients with a bp noob is one of the reasons I trust this site for firearms advise I will study up on this and let you know how it turns out.

 

[TheRodDoc]

I forgot to say that there are 2 types of arbors used on these guns. A straight one which is shimable at the end for gap adjustment and a tapered type that can not be shimmed.

To open the gap on the latter you must either remove material from the cyl. face and or the forcing cone face. the barrel position is fixed by the taper in a tapered hole in barrel. You Do not want the arbor to bottom in barrel hole.


here is a shot of a tapered arbor. you can see how much smaller the end of the arbor is compared to the opening of the barrel hole.

The pros of this type is that the barrel is as one with the arbor when the wedge draws it together. It can't move at all. The con is that if the wedge is inserted to tightly it is very hard to get the barrel loose again. It must be hit under the joint between the barrel and frame with a plastic or hard rubber hammer to break it loose. If the wedge is put in with a light push of the thumb you can hit the same spot with your hand to get the barrel off.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Wow, never seen that!
Just goes to show life is a continuing edumacation!!!!

Thanks Doc

 

[kituwa]

TheRod doc, my walker has the tapered arbor like you show.It is a early ASM,1968.You are right, it fits very snug. Do you know if the tapered arbor was used on the original walkers? There are several things about my walker that are diffrent than any of the newer ones and im thinking maybe some of the early ASM guns were made closer to the orginals and a few things were changed later to keep them more in line to how we use them today without changing the outward looks of the gun.The things i know about my gun that are different are the tapered arbor,faster riffling twist and the bullet rammer has a very pointed cone inside instead of the normal cup shape. Have you ever seen a tapered arbor on any other models besides a walker?

 

[kituwa]

And one more thing,,the chambers on my gun are bigger than newer ones.Could have been done by someone later but not sure.From dropping a 457 ball in the chamber it seems like they may be slightly tapered.The 1 in 18 twist,pointy bullet ram,and bigger chamber mouths all seem to me like it was made to shoot those original pickit bullets.

 

[omcf]

Just out of curiosity, would an Uberti bbl fit an ASM frame? Replacement parts for Armi San Marcos Walkers are apparently hard to come by.

 

[kituwa]

I wouldnt count on it being a drop on fit, but that would go for another uberti barrel too.Im sure any walker barrel could be made to fit without a lot of work though. I do see ASM walker parts for sale on E bay a good bit. For some reason cap n ball parts there hide all in mixed every where so you have to do a lot of searching to find them.

 

[TheRodDoc]

I have never seen an original Walker so I don't know if they had the tapered arbor. Most people that have looked at one probably wouldn't notice if it did or not because they don't know they exist.

Uberti also made some with a tapered arbor. The 1862 colt. probably others. Same thing here. Most would not notice it. Uberti used less taper then the walker has.

 

[Noz]

You have us and yourself too confused. You need to take it to a Walker owner and see what he says.

The most common Uberti error on any of their open top guns is the short arbor. This causes inconsistant cylinder/barrel alignment.

 

[TheRodDoc]

I drew a quick drawing to show where the shim goes if needed.

In first drawing you will see the red arrow that represents the tapered wedge pushing the barrel back. At the back it needs to push on the back of the slot on the blue barrel. And at the front it needs to be pushing on the front of the arbor slot.

You can see the barrel gap as if it had the buisness card in it I told you about in other post.

Notice in this drawing the very front of the arbor is not touching the bottom of the barrel hole. If you were to push the tapered wedge in, (Red arrow getting longer) it will move the barrel back and close the cyl. gap. Causing the cylinder to drag on the forcing cone.


Drawing 2 shows how to fix that. A round shim (green) is fastened to very front of arbor to stop the barrel from moving back. The thickness of it is filed till when the wedge is pushed in, the cyl. gap will stay where you want it.

 

[kendak]

don't file on anything ,my 1860 was tight until I shot it & now it's too loose to fire will have to send it back