Walker Colt loading lever latch

kell

kell

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Joined
Aug 12, 2020
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159
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DFW Texas
I've had 2 of these break. I have a new one ordered. 150 years ago, folks put a loop around the lever because the recoil would sometimes unlatch it. The latch is poorly designed. It breaks easily with use. I made this from an old belt and dolled it up with some shoe polish. If my new latch breaks, I may just use the loop. (Sorry about the upside down pics - I don't know how to turn "em around.)
 

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kell said:
I've had 2 of these break. I have a new one ordered. 150 years ago, folks put a loop around the lever because the recoil would sometimes unlatch it. The latch is poorly designed. It breaks easily with use. I made this from an old belt and dolled it up with some shoe polish. If my new latch breaks, I may just use the loop. (Sorry about the upside down pics - I don't know how to turn "em around.)
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmm . . .
How is it breaking? I've never heard of that being a problem and it's never been a prob for me or mentioned by a customer. Typically it's a problem of the lever dropping which is corrected by cutting more of a "shelf" or "ledge" on the nub of the spring.
Loops of rawhide or whatever tend to hide the front sight.

Mike
 
Mike is right. I have never seen a historical reference to the dropping lever. The new spring was not a good copy of the original. A couple minutes using a hand file will make a correct ledge to hold the lever tight to the barrel.


Kevin
 
I've heard if you file too much it will lock the lever in the closed position. I don't know of any historical record of it but if the latch wasn't a problem they wouldn't have changed it on the dragoon. The dragoon vertical latch was a problem also. My repro dragoon dropped the lever too but I suspect Colt went to the horizontal latch because of difficulty using the vertical latch.
 
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Never broke one on my Walkers either, I do the above mentioned modification as well. Just sold one that the mod was done on, customer says it doesn't drop when shooting. I can fix yours as well as tune them and correct the arbor. Just a shameless plug for tuning services.
 
45 Dragoon said:
Hmmmmmm . . .
How is it breaking? I've never heard of that being a problem and it's never been a prob for me or mentioned by a customer. Typically it's a problem of the lever dropping which is corrected by cutting more of a "shelf" or "ledge" on the nub of the spring.
Loops of rawhide or whatever tend to hide the front sight.

Mike
Click to expand...
I've not had a problem with the lever dropping, I've only read about it. The breakage occurs after repeated use. The "spring" portion is very thin and breaks where it meets the base. This is the most likely flex point and repeated bending causes the spring to break off. I suspect that if there was more of a radius at that point, more of the length of the spring would bend eliminating stress fractures.
I always wondered about a loop of rawhide hiding the sight. The loop I made from an old belt is thin enough to see over it.
 
I don't recall where I read it, but what I read was that in an effort to squeeze some lemonade from this lemon, users would employ the dropped lever as a sort of ad-hoc vertical fore grip. This is not advisable, especially in light of the tendency of original Walkers to violently disassemble themselves.

I've only seen one modern repro drop the lever with regularity, and that was due to a weak spring. The owner took the fix a step farther and installed a Dragoon-style latch.
 
Someone used to solder two brass rings of diameters slightly larger than the barrel & loading lever together. The slotted rings would fit over the sight and the latch mechanism.
 
I like that "2 brass rings" fix. Seems more professional than a loop. My leather loop I made from an old belt works pretty good though. Anyway, I got my new latch from Numrich and I'm back in business.
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
Never broke one on my Walkers either, I do the above mentioned modification as well. Just sold one that the mod was done on, customer says it doesn't drop when shooting. I can fix yours as well as tune them and correct the arbor. Just a shameless plug for tuning services.
Click to expand...
I'm in a discussion on TFL about arbors. Some have advised tapping the wedge in on Uberti Colts. My wedge on the Walker won't tap in any more due to the wedge contacting the screw head that usually stops the wedge from falling out when removing it. I guess I don't have the short arbor problem. Does this make sense to you?
 
hawg said:
Nope, it means you need a new wedge. ALL Uberti's have short arbors. Even the Colt open top cartridge guns have short arbors.
Click to expand...
With the barrel mounted and the wedge in place - I have .005 min and .011 max cylinder gap clearance. The rear bearing surface of the wedge against the barrel frame and the front bearing surface of the wedge against the arbor is what establishes the min clearance. Max clearance is the opposite. I can't see how extending the end of the arbor would change this unless you extend the arbor to the degree that you can no longer insert the wedge. You seem to have a lot of experience in this area. Please help me figure this out.
Thanks
 
The wedge does NOT determine the barrel to cylinder gap on a properly set up revolver. The arbor making contact with the arbor recess in the barrel is what determines the gap. Since your arbor is short, the gap is “adjustable” but not correct.


One of the revolver mechanics will be able to expand on my post.


Kevin
 
kell said:
With the barrel mounted and the wedge in place - I have .005 min and .011 max cylinder gap clearance. The rear bearing surface of the wedge against the barrel frame and the front bearing surface of the wedge against the arbor is what establishes the min clearance. Max clearance is the opposite. I can't see how extending the end of the arbor would change this unless you extend the arbor to the degree that you can no longer insert the wedge. You seem to have a lot of experience in this area. Please help me figure this out.
Thanks
Click to expand...

StrawHat is right. If you don't believe the arbor length has anything to do with cylinder gap gently tap it in. Measure it and tap it a little harder and check it again. It will change and if you tapped hard enough it will bind the cylinder against the forcing cone. When the arbor bottoms out in the arbor hole cylinder gap will remain the same even if you drive the wedge in with a hammer.
 
I have tapped the wedge in as far as it will go. No change. Maybe I have a good arbor.
 
You most likely are out of wedge to tap in. It should have the same barrel to cylinder gap when the wedge is tapped in and seated. The gap should be .002 to .003 with no change after assembly and disassembly. From what was shown above you have a .006 variation, not good. If the arbor is not seating the pistol is eventually going show damage such as the barrel/ cylinder gap opening up, the wedge becoming loose and the frame stretching. As Mike stated a wedge bearing helps but it doesn't fix the short arbor. That needs to be taken care of especially if you shoot moderate to heavy loads. I have personally seen several Walkers that have been shot with full house loads on a short arbor. I was able to successfully repair a couple of them, one became a paperweight. If you want to fix it feel free to pm me and we can discuss it.
 
Well you did say it contacted the screw head. It shouldn't do that. If you bought the gun used it is possible somebody already fixed it. If you bought it new I'd be willing to bet every cent I have that it's short. I've never seen or heard of a Uberti that didn't have a short arbor. Every one I've ever had had a short arbor. This is how far a wedge should come through the right side with a good wedge and a proper fitting arbor.

upload_2023-6-5_20-48-28.png
 
AJumbo said:
I've only seen one modern repro drop the lever with regularity, and that was due to a weak spring. The owner took the fix a step farther and installed a Dragoon-style latch.
Click to expand...

I am reminded that the last Walker to go up for auction had a period repair made with......wait for it..... a Dragoon loading lever latch. I'm looking for the auction details now.

It may not have been the "last" Walker auctioned off, just the last one I'm aware of. Still searching.
 
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Aaaaannnnnnnnnd I struck out. What I recall about the piece is that it was discovered in a safe by the family of the original owner, along with a holster marked by a San Francisco maker. All original and in excellent condition, apart from the latch repair.
 
OK. Here's the deal. The Walker loading lever latch is a flawed design. Spindelly little thing, prone to failure. I mean, look at this massive revolver with that little twig sticking out there. It's a joke. If you modify it to a Dragoon style, then you don't have a Walker any more. I've come to the realization that I'll keep drifting out/in new latches or kludge it up with the brass rings or my belt loop. (Being OCD, I'll probably keep buying new latches.) ( Ican't win this one.)
 
If you modified it to an early vertical latch it's still going to drop the lever and be a PITA to use with greasy fingers..
 
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