[barnbwt]

I saw one of these in the local Cabela's, and I'm highly intrigued. I've always liked the looks and function of top breaks, and this one appears to be in a fairly stout caliber (well, heavy caliber, anyway). The revolver in the shop is in pretty good cosmetic condition, no rust or bad scratches, and all functions but one checked out. DA/SA is consistently heavy on all chambers (I have a feeling this was normal).

The one problem is the timing. Everything on the gun is tight like a vault except the chamber lockup. It appears the contact points on the extractor star and hand protrusion are at least somewhat peened, and a little worn. The pawl below the cylinder and it's lands are probably worn as well, but lock up was much tighter in that direction. On all but two cylinders, I could rotate the cylinder on its axis about 1/32" each direction, but on the bad two, it was about 1/16" against the hand (1/32" against the pawl).

They want 170$ for it, which I think is still high for a probably-unshootable clone. But the otherwise good condition has me wondering if the star could be recut, and the hand replaced/reshaped to get the gun in working order again. Or is the slop I've described acceptable (sure doesn't seem so, but I'm used to precise modern revolvers). The chambers are held centered with the barrel, just not very firmly (kinda springy/spongy). How hard is it to keep these old wheelguns in working order?

Thanks for the help,
TCB

The photo attached isn't mine, and there seems to be a dearth of photos of these Belgian Clones online. The one I saw had old wood grips, and a dark grey/blue matte exterior (probably left when the original finish wore off).