Cylinder gap

[Diamond Dan]

 Sorry I started this in the wrong forum. Picked up an older [ 70's vintage] cap & ball witch works fine just a lot of cylinder gap.
Any easy,inexpenisve way to correct this with out buying new parts.I know that the barrel to frame area could be cut,but keeping it square would be the problem.Has anyone tryed shims betwen the cylinder back and frame? Thanks
A new smokey shooter

[Coffinmaker]

If it works fine, just a lot of cylinder gap, why mess with it???  What is the cylinder barrel gap??  Should be somewhere around 6 - 8 thou.
Shimming the back of the cylinder may affect the relationship to the hand. 

Coffinmaker

[rifle]

A lot of cylinder gap can let a lot of gas and particles shoot out that gap and be a nuisance. Like make sure you wear shooting glasses.
The hand can be affected as was mentioned and the hammer may have a hard time reaching the caps to fire reliably.
Usually the wide gap in an older Colt gun is wedge/barrel slots/arbor slot related.(may be a loose arbor in the frame too) Peened up metal widdens the gap. Need a new wedge maybe or a wide one made to fit the wide arbor/barrelslot space where the wedge seats. The barrel slot and the arbor slot can end upflush and cause problems.
Anywhoooo depending on what the frame is made of....brass or steel there are cures fer the problem. What make is the gun you have and what is the frame made of?
Brass framers can be made to last a long long long time about like a steel framer with a certain trick done with a thin steel plate behind the cylinder soldered on and the nippples shortened a little to make fer "no" chain fires. Maybe the hammer nose welded up and shaped out to be a bit longer and then rehardened.
If the gun is a Remington type then the barrel needs set back a little and that should be done by an Hombre with the use of a lathe and the piloted reamer to set the cylinder gap just right once the barrel is set back and.....then the piloted reamer to redo the forcing cone if need be.
Anywhoooo......it should be fixed up if the gap is too big for safty sake and to make the gun more consistant in velosity and shot to shot uniformity regards to pressure.
Also with the wide gap the cylinder gets pushed forward by the hammer and then has a running start to bang back into the frame behind the cylinder harder and mess with the longevity of the gun.
Setting the barrel back on a Colt revolver is possible and I've done it a lot of times with my mill machine and that always entails the wide wedge made fer the gun since the slots where the wedge goes widdens when the barrel is set back.The arbor can be welded in the front of the arbor slot and filed to fit a factory size wedge if the person wants to be able to replace the wedge some day with a factory made/bought one..or left as it ends up and the wide wedge made of a good tool steel and fit proper with the sides of the wedge full flush with the sides of the arbor/barrel slots to where no light can be seen between the parts.
A "Kithen Table Gunsmith" or Pro Gunsmith wanting to do the thing proper would take the opportunity to set the arbor onto the bottom of the barrel arbor hole so the barrel is bottomed on the arbor when the Colt barrel is flush to the frame or is set .001 or .002 inch away from the frame so to give a little room fer seat-in of the parts depending on how well the fixer-upper gets the arbor face contact to the bottom of the hole(like using Prussian blue machinists ink to see the fit of the arbor face to the bottom of the hole and work it to get 100% flush fit.......most of the time around the outside edge of the arbor face since so many barrels have a concave to the bottom of the hole). A lot of that scenario depends on the fit of the barrels arbor hole on the arbor ...how snug the barrel is on the arbor. That may need addressed right off the bat.
Anywhoooo......someone like me or one of the illustrious gun smiths on this CASS website will be able to fix er up good as new.
A wide cylinder gapcan be and usually is more than meets the eye and the saying ,"easier said than done", comes to mind.
Sure it can be done the quicky way and be acceptable fer an Hombre too. No wait...there is no quicky way to do it right.

[Diamond Dan]

Uberti,opentop in 44 cal and .025 cylinder gap. Yes .025 as I stated old and mutch used; was hopeing to save it from a life of safe setting. thank again Diamond Dan

[Coffinmaker]

Fixing an .025 barrel/cylinder gap is not going to be inexpensive.

Coffinmaker

[Diamond Dan]

  After reading everyones thoughts and advice I went ahead and filed and squard the barrel to frame mount and added a new wedge; cylinder gap is now .006. Now all I need to do is get to the range and test. Thanks eor all the info.
Diamond Dan