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Old January 20, 2011, 09:39 PM   #11
Bill Akins
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Join Date: August 28, 2007
Location: Hudson, Florida
Posts: 1,135
Quote:
JNO1 wrote:
Makes more sense now. Thanks for the comprehensive description, Bill.

It seems the timing is fine, I'll try backing off the bolt/trigger spring screw a bit. Is the spring tension on that screw enough to keep it in place (if it is not tightened down) or is a bit of blue locktite needed?

I'm thinking that another factor may have been that the face of the bolt itself (that touches the cylinder) was extremely rough. Maybe it was kind of filing the leads. Being careful not to change the shape, I smoothed it out with super fine sand paper and a soft Arkansas stone, then polished it. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems to cock smoother.
You're welcome JNO1. Regarding the tension on the bolt/trigger spring, since it is a spring, if you loosen the screw to lighten the tension, the spring itself acts to help keep the screw in place since the spring pushes against the screw and vice versa. But, doing a lot of shooting could possibly vibrate loosen the screw further. I personally have not had my screw become vibrated more loose from shooting and that concern really doesn't bother me because I completely disassemble my black powder revolver anyway for cleaning after I shoot it and then re-adjust my spring screw tension again each time after cleaning. But that could be different on another revolver, even of the same model.

So you can try loosening the spring screw without locktite at first and see how that works out after shooting it. But each individual revolver has its own little quirks. And if you find that your spring screw further vibrates loose after firing, then just put a little blue (not red) locktite on the screw threads. That should stop the screw from vibrating loose from shooting....if you find you have that vibrating loose problem to begin with. I prefer using this method vs trying to bend the spring to lessen its tension which could easily break the spring. (They break easily and frequently enough just from using them normally).

The face of your bolt being rough as you described no doubt was contributing to the scoring of your cylinder. You did exactly right in your correction of it. Did you notice that the head of the bolt is actually angled a bit so that the angle of the bolt head helps to minimize scoring of the cylinder? The reason for that is because as the bolt rises "drops", it is entering into an ever increasingly deeper lead in groove. The hope is (and was by colt) that by putting an angle on the head of the bolt, that the bolt could rise up along with the angle depth cut of the lead in grooves too. The idea was to minimize scoring. Buffing the bolt head like you did will usually help. If it doesn't, you can also very very carefully stone a little more of an angle to the head. But not so much that the low side of the bolt will not adequately hold the side of the cylinder slot.

Take your bolt out and look at it carefully. Then while out, place it into each of your cylinder slots to see how it fits in each one. It should fit all the way down and snug in each slot. Pay particular attention to the low side of the bolt where it is cut lower at the angle I described. Make sure the low side of the bolt is not too drastically angled and that the low side will also adequately lock the cylinder slots. Often folks will file too much on that angle on the bolt head hoping to stop cylinder ringing. If done too much, it will cause the low side of the bolt head to not lock adequately into the cylinder slots on that low angled side of the bolt. There is a lot you can do to minimize scoring and smooth the action up as your found out by stoning and polishing your bolt head. But the whole timing thing is all a trade off of cylinder lead in groove scoring/cylinder "ringing" vs adequate lockup. It is hard to get it exactly perfect and it is a time consuming trail and error thing where you file and stone a bit, put it back together and try that, then stone a bit more and repeat, etc. But with experience you will find that you get it pretty good. And pretty good is usually good enough. You can minimize the scoring and "ringing" of the cylinder, but you can't eliminate it completely.

If your bolt/trigger spring tension is too much, you can get "dinging/peening" on the edge of any particular slot impeding the bolt going in, then you need to very very carefully straight file that cylinder slot edge with your jeweler files. But be careful to keep the cylinder's interior slot sides straight. Don't try to use a dremel for that. Do it by hand and very very carefully. Sometimes you can take a tiny chisel and chip off the teeny sliver of peened metal so the cylinder slot sides are open and true again. That saves you from having to file. This is something you will have to actually do to learn adequately. It's an art that can be taught but must be done to be completely understood. You will learn your own tricks as you go along. Just remember to work slowly and very carefully, those slot edges are a tiny place to work on. A very bright light and a set of magnifying glasses help.

If your cylinder slots eventually becomes too big from wear, you can replace the cylinder, or you can get a new bolt that is oversize and see if that fits your slots better and or file it to fit if the oversize bolt is a tad too large. Another way to get a little more life out of your old cylinder (if it is really worn and an oversize bolt didn't help and you are considering getting a new cylinder anyway)....is by hammer punch "peening" around the edges of the cylinder slots so that you force the metal closer together which will make your slots more narrow again so your bolt locks up tight in them again.

Last edited by Bill Akins; January 20, 2011 at 10:06 PM.
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