1862 police revolver broken (fixed now!)

[Nobade]

The cylinder base pin/arbor on my Uberti 1862 police revolver has stretched to the point that the wedge won't tighten the barrel any more. VTI can't get the parts to repair it. Any colt gurus out there with suggestions? I think after I get this fixed I'm going to be a Remington fan from here on out! I just wish they made a little revolver in a similar size.

OK, I finally got the little revolver up and running again. And learned a bit in the process. I found out that Cimarron had a new arbor, so got one from them. Nice helpful folks to deal with. I drilled out the lock pin from the old one, and it turned right out. Seems it bent and stretched because it was way too short. I also suspect the shooting way high from the factory is due to this, allowing the barrel to point skyward when the wedge is tightened. With the new arbor in place, there was a huge barrel/cylinder gap. Like .025". So I trimmed the barrel where it hits the frame on the bottom until I had a more reasonable .008" gap. Now headspace (if you can call it that) is proper, and it should fire every time. But the arbor was still too short! Tightening the wedge bound up the cylinder. So I drilled and tapped the end of the arbor for a 6-40 set screw, which allowed me to adjust the arbor's length until it bottomed out at the same time the barrel hit the frame. Aah, now we're getting somewhere. I could tighten the wedge, and the barrel stays pointing in the same direction! So then I worked on the slot in the arbor until the wedge went in the proper amount, and it's all set. I did cheat a bit and add red loctite to the arbor threads, just in case the little pin doesn't hold it well enough.
It's funny, when I bought that revolver I checked to see if the arbor was long enough, and it seemed to be. But it probably was hanging up on something in its hole and giving a false sense of it bottoming out when in fact it wasn't. I now see how critical it is to have it fitted to the right length, and I suspect this isn't the only Uberti out there that had this problem. In a way I'm glad it happened to me, because now I have a much better understanding of how Colt revolvers need to fit together. Now I just need to get out to the range and shoot some, I bet it works a lot better now.   

[bedbugbilly]

Not an expert by any means - but - if you can't get a new one, is there any way that it could be removed,  built up with weld, turned back to the correct diameter and the slot re-milled and then filed square to get it back in to shape so the wedge will work properly and tighten things up again?  I would think that a good machinist could take a look at it with you (they probably would be unfamiliar with the function of it untill you show them) and probably come up with a solution or possibly even make a new one.  You might check around in your area and see if there is perhaps a retired machinist who has a home shop, etc. that could do it without spending big $$.  I just bought a '62 Colt Pocket Police and am looking forward to being able to plink with it - they're a great little pistol and it would be a shame to have to hang yours on the wall and just look at it.  I agree with you on the Remy - I have Colts and a Remy Navy - I know it wouldn't be authentic, but I wish that someone made a Remy in .36 that was about the same size as the "62 Colt Pocket - the .31 Remy Pocket is "cute" but on the small side.  I'd even like a Remy in .31 the size of the Colt Pocket -  wishful thinking on my part I'm sure!      Good lukc with your Colt Pocket and I hope you can get it fixed so you can use it!  I'm sure that someone on here should be able to head you in the right direction. 

[coyotejoe]

I believe the base pin is threaded into the frame and cross pinned to prevent unscrewing. If the threads, both male and female are good, you'd have to remove it to see, it should be easy enough to add a bit of weld to the front of the slot and file it a bit more to the rear to a snug fit of the wedge. What sort of loads have you been shooting and how many? Assuming it is a steel frame gun I'm surprised you have this problem. None of my Colt style repops have ever loosened up but I've owned a '62 only briefly.

[Flint]

If the threads in the frame are OK, then you may have to have a new arbor made, if VTI or other parts sources don't have a new one available.  David Chicoine's book Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West has dimensions for the Uberti Army and Navy Arbor, but not the Pocket sized one.  The existing one might be measured and a new one made to fit tighter and the wedge slot made to fit more tightly...  Good Luck.

If you get desperate, maybe Taylors can help you.  I've never made one, but probably could be talked into it.

[Nobade]

Loads have always been 20gr. KIK FFFg and a .375" lead ball. (At least I think so, might have been 15gr. I'll have to look at my scoop.) I have fired it maybe 150 times, never a problem. The last time I took it out, I started getting misfires. Then I noticed the wedge was bottoming out. The arbor has to have stretched through the thin section around the wedge slot, I can't see anything else that could be wrong. Benelli does have a warranty department, but I'm not the original owner so I don't know what they'll do to me. I probably will make a new arbor for it, I don't have the original dimensions but it won't be hard to figure out what it should be. I do like this little revolver, and hopefully will get it back into service soon.

[coyotejoe]

Well that is odd. I think pretty much everyone shoots all the powder they will hold and I know a couple of guys who have fired way more than 150 rounds with no problems. The Italian repops are all rather soft but I've never heard of this problem. You might email UbertiUSA and see what they have to say.

[madcratebuilder]

Is the arbor stretched or the barrel lug just moving back to far.  99.9% of these have a short arbor, the arbor needs to bottom out in the barrel lug, that is what keeps a tight wedge.  You can weld and fit the end of the arbor or make a spacer to insert in the arbor hole of the barrel lug.


http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_One.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf

[Nobade]

If you put the arbor in its hole, the barrel no longer hits the front of the frame on the bottom. It used to be almost the perfect length, now is too long.

[P.A. Myers]

Considering only dollars/time this unit should be retired.

[Nobade]

Aaw, where's the fun in that?

[His lordship.]

I had a Euro Arms 1851 Colt that stretched the frame like that, it had a bunch of misfires.  It was not a well made gun as I recall, but I shot it alot for 7 years with some upper level charges, so I was not totally surprised.  You could use your pistol as a parts gun and get another 1862 police.  Still, you should have gotten far more than 150 rounds out of it.

[kid buckskin]

I once fixed a 51 with a set screw in the end of the arbor. First make shure that the arbor is not pulling out of the body to do this unscrew it from the recoil sheld and inspect the threds inside and out if its good mount the arbor in a mill vice and find center and center punch drill and tap some threds that coraspond with the set screw now that you got that done mount the bbl and drill a hole where the arbor fits the bbl (two drill sizes over the setscrew) now clean the shavins and assmeble the pistol and take a allen wrench and bottom the set screw and give a little more to add tention, if every thing is tight desasmble and put a roll pin in the back of recoil sheld to keep the arbor from backing out and put some wikable locktite on the set screw ! That should fix it

[Nobade]

Hey, that's a really good idea! Thanks!

[kid buckskin]

If for some reson can't drill the arbor when you are tring to install a rollpin try nicking the threds with a diegrinder with a cutoff wheel (not to deep tho )try to keep it centered betwen arbor and threds in the recoil sheld

[Nobade]

I got to looking at the arbor closely last night. Not only is it stretched, but bent downward. I think I'll just make a new one from drill rod, harden and temper it, and probably be set from now on. I still don't know how this happened, unless possibly it fired out of battery and a ball hit the back of the barrel. But it couldn't be much or the hammer couldn't hit the cap and fire it. Very strange. 

[kid buckskin]

look closely at the pins that clock the bbl and frame do  they show any twisting ?

[Nobade]

BTT