1851 Cylinder Clearance

[BobbyF]

Hello Pards,
     I have a '51 R/M conversion in .38 spec.,and 7" barrel. I think I remember reading somewhere that the clearance between barrel and cylinder should be .006 ". Can anyone verify that this is true or not. Thank you --BobbyF

[Pettifogger]

Hello Pards,
    I have a '51 R/M conversion in .38 spec.,and 7" barrel. I think I remember reading somewhere that the clearance between barrel and cylinder should be .006 ". Can anyone verify that this is true or not. Thank you --BobbyF

Guns are machines, they have tolerances.  There is no gap that it "should be."  They vary.  Anything between .004 and .010 is fine for BP.  A little less if you only shoot smokeless.  Also, you can't keep the gap consistent until you have checked arbor fit and and on 99% of Uberti's, corrected it.

[Coffinmaker]

Plus One.
There is no point in working on the Uberti open top handguns until you have corrected the barrel to arbor fit.  98 % of Uberti open top guns are manufactured with the Arbor too short.  Or with the barrel bored too deep :-)
Pettifogger has some fantastic information on the subject "pinned" over on "The Open Range."

Coffinmaker

[BobbyF]

Hi PettiF &CoffinM,
     Thanks for the tips. Wonderful bunch of info for me. I can't wait to get back to N. Mex where my guns are, to check the arbor business. I also didn't know about the Open Range, great articles. I'm slowly learning how these wonderful machines(firearms) work. Thank you too much-- BobbyF