Uberti barrels with the cap&ballers

[riflee]

Anyone been buying new Uberti cap&ballers lately? I'm interested in whether or not Uberti has been tightening up the arbor holes in their barrels. I read a couple articles quite awhile ago that mentioned the barrels being more difficult to remove because of a tight arbor hole.

Thunkin on picking up a  Uberti London 1861. Considering the same in Pietta model. Can't check arbor holes at the stores or thru the mail though, especially the Pietta with the un-removable barrel wedge.


Anyone been buying new Pietta cap&ballers and notice the fit of the arbors in the barrels?


I fixed on some Centaures/ Belgian fer an Hombre several years back and noticed on GunBroker  lately
he was bidding on a really nice Centaure 1960-1860 Army. I wanted to bid but.....figgered I had enough of them. Anywhoo they can come with a taper on the arbor whereas the barrel has a tight fit on the arbor as it seats on the frame locating pins. All of them don't have that though. 

What has aggravated me in the past was that taper on the arbor when the barrel needed set back due to an overly wide cylinder gap. Most Centennial New Model Army revolvers need that cylinder gap lessened. It's enough of an endeavor setting back a barrel without having to hone down a taper on the arbor. Setting a barrel in the mill to take of a few .001's off the lug and get the plane exact to lessen the gap is nerve racking enough without having to deal with a taper on the arbor. Still I like the taper being there.

Anywhoo I have wondered why Centaure would bother with the taper on the arbor when they could lessen the mill out on the barrel for the arbor under the forcing cone at the breech end and get a snug fit there.

Oh well......Life is a mystery ain't it? Maybe I'll mosey over to that FROCS (Centennial-Centaure Belgian 1860 Colts) web site and run my mouth/key pad over there. Not as many bonfied and pseudo gunsmiths over there like here. Can't find a ,"Kitchen Table Gunsmith 101", when I need one.     Just joking around. I do that all the time. Maybe I should explore that in therapy.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Hi, Riflee, glad to see you are well!
Long Johns Wolf (still chasing Centaures, ha)

[Coffinmaker]

Riflee, have a nice trip.  Be sure to write when you find work.

[riflee]

Howdy Wolf and Coffinmaker.

What Coffinmaker said...., WORK?  I'm retired and wish I could go back to work to get some rest. Now it's like the wifey is the foreman and I'm in the Labor Gang of, "one''.      You know....paint the barn, cut the grass, do the shopping, fix the car, weed the flowers,  ect. ect. ect. If I didn't love her I'd slap the smile offa her face. Just joking. I'd be afraid to do that since she's 1/4 Cherokee Indian and she doesn't give no quarter. Takes no prisoners. I've bee takin to sleeping in the barn with the weed eater fer company. 

I read a couple of articles a good while ago whereas the writer of each complained about the effort needed to get the barrels off the Colt types. I've just been wondering why writters that don't know Cap&Ballers  can't reason to use the loading lever and plunger to pop the barrels off. Maybe use a piece of leather or thin little wood thing to protect the cylinder face if need be.


Anywhooo  I just haven't bought any newer Uberti guns recently to scrutinize the danged arbor holes in the barrels and the arbors. Just thought some of you rich cowboys may have bought some recently.


If Ole Wolf was buying it would be conversions I'd expect and not Cap&Ballers Colts.

Wolf...... did you see that nice Centaure on GunBroker lately. A guy named "bandleader" may have gotten it. (I know bandleader so I'm going to try calling him) 

The gun was fairly mint and in the first 500 serial numbered. Silver backstrap and trigger guard. One that early may still have the soft arbor they put in them in the beginning right?  Anywhooo....I'd like to know if the arbor of that gun has that nice taper on the arbor whereas it stops the barrel right where it has to be.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Riflee & campfire: regarding this Centaure Civilian 2nd Variation with silver plated BS/TG
# yes, that should be in the 1960 production S/N range with the soft steel arbors. but a beautiful collector's piece, not a shooter. Centaures beginning 1961 production are OK for competition shoots,
# no, that Civilian would have the square arbor tip with the separate deep grease groove ... like the 1st gen Colt 1860 Armies.
Long Johns Wolf

[treebeard]

my first cap & ball was a Centaure that my father took me to a gun show to look for. I was 17 and it was 1964. I can remember being frustrated at the jams from the spent caps. did not know anyone at that time who could help me out. So how good where the post '61 Centaure"s?

[Coffinmaker]

Treebeard, .......

It's a relative answer.  First Cousin, Aunt, Uncle, that sort of thing (NOT REALLY  ).  Once past the soft Arbors, the Centaure was a rather well made Cap Gun.  Actually, First Rate.  The problem was/is the Nipples and Caps.  The Nipples and Caps on today's Cap Guns pale by comparison to those of the 19th Century.  Caps were of much sterner stuff and use to actually stay on the nipples which were also of a better constitution.  Of course, at the time, you actually needed heavy springs for reliable ignition.  Colt sales demonstrations actually demonstrated a Cap Gun, fully loaded and Cap'd being dropped into a bucket of water (or local creek) and at the end of the presentation, being fired.  Those caps fit tight and were actually water proof.  Try that today and let me know how it works out.

The guns sold today are no better at retaining caps than the guns you bought in the 60s.  They Suck.  So, those of us whom play with them for CAS developed the modifications and procedures and springs to play CAS with the modern iterations of the Percussion Pistol.  Must understand though, we ask our CAS Cap Guns to do things unheard of in the 19th Century.  Once properly set up, out Cap Guns are as reliable as Suppository Guns.  All kind of stuff to make them that way.

[riflee]

Howdy Wolf, Yer a real Trooper and a wealth of information as is the humanitarian Coffinmaker.


I always surmised that the caps of old were thicker stuff and didn't flay out as much. I used to get caps in lil black plastic tins by CVA and they were tough. Never flayed out. One flaw was they were like they were glued on after firing. Really difficult to get back off the cones.

People were talking about Cap Guards once way back so I got some and tried them. Little pink(of all things) O-rings to put over the caps. Those little things keep the caps from flaying out and then can be flicked off easy after firing. They would be perfect for an easy sure-fire set up fer fast shooting. No cap jams ever. Would cause some fights though when Cowboys made fun of an Hombre with "pink caps" on his guns.   It's a wonder that a little soft O-ring that is burnt to hell after one firing can let the blow back out around the cap and show no sign of an expansion of the cap. Makes you wonder don't it?


I'll go on down the hill to the garage at the bottom drive way(hills abound in this county) and get the name brand or whatever off the pack of Cap Guards and post it so treebeard might try them. I think maybe they are actually called Rain Guards. I use them when I'm going hunting with the hound after those man eating rabbits that abound around here. Never had a misfire in time of attack.

[Gus Walker]

    i have to agree with the quality of caps today Coffinmaker....but i remember when i first started shooting soot back in 85 that i had to pry the caps off my ASM after firing with my pocetknife...  Not so much these days tho....lol

[riflee]

Well I couldn't find "cap guards" at RMC/Oxyoke so they may not be around anymore. Someone was cutting small black rubber tube and selling them as cap guards I saw once on Ebay.. 


I guess someone could make their own cap guards with some sort of rubber or plastic tubing cut to short pieces to slip over a percussion cap to stop the flaying out and falling off of the cap. Have to find small tubing that would snug fit slip over a percussion cap..

[LonesomePigeon]

 2015 Uberti Walker - overly tight barrel, plus I have read of a few more Uberti Walker's & Dragoon's that had overly tight barrels.
2015 Uberti 1851 Navy - not overly tight.
2017 Uberti 1860 Army - not overly tight.


Edit: added the word "overly" for better clarity.

[Abilene]

.... Have to find small tubing that would snug fit slip over a percussion cap..

Air compressor tubing from an aquarium.  Read about that long ago.

[Coffinmaker]

Frequently see "Cap Guards" on eBay.  Packages of 100.  I could perhaps see them for plinking and actual hunting with a percussion gun, but not for CAS.  Way WAY too time consuming to apply and to remove.  Can be made from screw protectors as well as compressor tubing from an aquarium.  Fish wouldn't be real happy though.

[riflee]

The cap Guards I have in my draw in the garage down the hill (why do I type unneeded stuff?) are RMC and are PINK. That would be sorta out of character for Cowboy Shooting. I actually got some of them to test and for the wifey to use with her Colt 1862 Pocket Police since it drops caps in the works regularly.


I'd use them ifin I were hunting. I don't shotgun a lot of rabbits anymore but run the hound and...... take my Navy Colt and use it for any rabbits I spot in the brush. I call it, "sittin rabbit huntin".  Well.... wet snow and rain happen while out on the trail and with nobody to see my pink nipples I figger it's OK to keep rain off them.


Anywhoooo........the cap guards go on and off really easy and quick unless yer loadin on the clock and get fumbling fingers from the pressure. Can't say they aren't time consuming.