Walker won't disassemble

LonesomePigeon · April 10, 2015, 12:43:06 AM

Hi. I just purchased a new Uberti 1847 Walker and I'm having a problem disassembling it for initial cleaning. I have pulled out the wedge and I'm using the rammer to push the barrel and frame apart and it still won't budge. The gun is on half cock and the rammer is pushing against the front of the cylinder as it should be but it's stuck. What can I do?

This is my first post here and I'm totally new to guns in general and cap and ball in particular. I'd appreciate any help or advice from you seasoned vetrans.

Fox Creek Kid · April 10, 2015, 05:08:37 AM

Take a piece of hardwood that will fit between the cylinder & barrel. It needs to be long enough to stick out one side and then whack the wood forward with a hammer. Before you do this dribble some oil into the pin juncture at the bottom of the frame. Obviously, do this above something padded in case the barrel flies off.

Sir Charles deMouton-Black · April 10, 2015, 10:17:17 AM

Check to see if the cylinder locking bolt has dropped out of the cylinder notches. Difficult dis assembly is sometimes seen in new guns.

Get a wooden dowel or stick, longer than the barrel. Hold the revolver barrel with the dowel along side the barrel between the barrel and the crutch of your thumb, with the end on the cylinder face. Tap the dowel with a safe-faced hammer over a safe surface. I might alternate sides of the cylinder face to even up the force.

hellgate · April 10, 2015, 11:53:18 AM

Make darned sure the wedge is COMPLETELY out of the way of the barrel. Just a little bit of overhang can jam the barrel from coming off. I use a popsicle stick or tongue depressor over the chambers of the cylinder when prying off the barrel with the rammer. You will want to sand or file just enough of the burrs on the arbor before you reassemble. I mark up the arbor with a sharpie then start to reassemble and file/sand the high spots til it is snug but not binding.

Sir Charles deMouton-Black · April 10, 2015, 11:58:07 AM

Carefully! It's hard to replace metal.

rickk · April 10, 2015, 12:14:39 PM

I had similar problems when I got mine. I forget exactly how I got it apart... I think a urethane hammer was in the equation someplace.

I recall that the offending sticky part were the pins that hold the lower part of the frame to the lower part of the barrel assembly.

I put anti-seize compound on them before I put it together. The next time it was a little easier. After a half dozen disassemby/reassembly cycles it was no longer hard to get it apart.

Coffinmaker · April 10, 2015, 05:07:55 PM

OK, it's an Uberti. It doesn't fit right. the above suggestions to get it apart are all really the same thing, almost. You are going to need a safe face hammer. You'll need some form of padded "receiver" such as a cardboard box with towels in it. Some form of Padded Vice.
Clamp the barrel tightly in the padded vice, run a hardwood dowel down the barrel, against the frame of the revolver. Whack the dowel real hard until the frame/arbor/cylinder come away from the barrel. After you get it apart ..........
With the frame secured in a padded something ... half wrap the end of the arbor with 220 grit wet/dry and "polish the shoe." Flip it over and do the other side so you have polished the end of the arbor evenly, eliminating rough spots and burrs. Do this until the arbor slides into and out of the bore in the barrel easily. You may also need to run a flap sander down the hole in the barrel to eliminate burrs. Look in the hole with a flashlight and run a patch in and out. Nothing in the hole should "grab" the patch.
Inspect the alignment pins in the front of the frame. Often, the pins are "hammered" into the frame with excess "gusto" and the end of the pins may need to be dressed with fine file. Carefully dressed.

Congratulations on your purchase of a finely crafted pistol "kit." The fun of prepping it for use has just begun.

Coffinmaker

Pettifogger · April 10, 2015, 07:13:41 PM

Quote from: Coffinmaker on April 10, 2015, 05:07:55 PM
OK, it's an Uberti. It doesn't fit right. the above suggestions to get it apart are all really the same thing, almost. You are going to need a safe face hammer. You'll need some form of padded "receiver" such as a cardboard box with towels in it. Some form of Padded Vice.
Clamp the barrel tightly in the padded vice, run a hardwood dowel down the barrel, against the frame of the revolver. Whack the dowel real hard until the frame/arbor/cylinder come away from the barrel. After you get it apart ..........
With the frame secured in a padded something ... half wrap the end of the arbor with 220 grit wet/dry and "polish the shoe." Flip it over and do the other side so you have polished the end of the arbor evenly, eliminating rough spots and burrs. Do this until the arbor slides into and out of the bore in the barrel easily. You may also need to run a flap sander down the hole in the barrel to eliminate burrs. Look in the hole with a flashlight and run a patch in and out. Nothing in the hole should "grab" the patch.
Inspect the alignment pins in the front of the frame. Often, the pins are "hammered" into the frame with excess "gusto" and the end of the pins may need to be dressed with fine file. Carefully dressed.

Congratulations on your purchase of a finely crafted pistol "kit." The fun of prepping it for use has just begun.

Coffinmaker

Deluxe kit.

Lefty Dude · April 10, 2015, 09:22:11 PM

Quote from: Pettifogger on April 10, 2015, 07:13:41 PM

Deluxe kit.

LonesomePigeon · April 10, 2015, 09:31:03 PM

QuoteMake darned sure the wedge is COMPLETELY out of the way of the barrel.

Thanks. I used a small flashlight and I can see that the wedge is not in the way.

QuoteCheck to see if the cylinder locking bolt has dropped out of the cylinder notches.

I think I understand. If the cylinder turns when I have the gun on half cock that would mean the cylinder locking bolt has dropped out of the cylinder notches, correct?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I don't have access to all those materials at the moment but I will try those things as soon as I can.

I have a couple more questions.

QuoteBefore you do this dribble some oil into the pin juncture at the bottom of the frame.

I have some Lock-Ease Graphited Lock Fluid. Would that work or should I get something else?

QuoteI put anti-seize compound on them before I put it together.

Again, would Lock-Ease Graphited Lock Fluid work?

Mike · April 11, 2015, 03:42:45 AM

I have been shooting Uberties sice around 1980s, I never had or have heard of so many problems as i do now. I have sold all my SAA and replaced them with ASM my Walker is a ASM, i have 9 winchester copies and the last 73 carbine i cant get apart because the screws are stuck farst and the dealer said shoot it and it will free off.
I wonder if the pepole at Uberti read these post?

Crow Choker · April 11, 2015, 07:10:57 AM

Had a Uberti cap'n ball that would come apart ok, but you couldn't turn the arbor 'one tiddle' when it was in it's barrel hole. It was due to minute burrs inside the barrel's arbor and on the arbor itself. Would slide in and out with ease, but any attempt to turn to check the arbor's length was 'not'. Polished and cured.

Coffinmaker · April 11, 2015, 01:15:28 PM

I forgot. There is also the option of adding heat to the equation. You have to be real careful with heat though. There is the problem of setting the house on fire. I also provided the "heat" suggestion to someone who thought if "some" was good," A lot" was better. Steel will melt ya know. Also, the application of heat can be hard on blueing. Proceed with care!!!

Coffinmaker

Coffinmaker · April 11, 2015, 02:11:28 PM

Well POOP.

I just noticed you said you don't have a lot of equipment or tools. OK. You need to give it a Wedgie. Yep a wedgie. You will need a Spring Clothes Pin. Take it apart. Throw away the spring (if you just drop it, you'll just step on it). Turn BOTH pieces of the Clothes Pin BACKWARDS. Insert the halves of the pin into the lower barrel cylinder gap from opposite sides. You now have opposing wedges. With one side of the wedge on a solid object, smack the other side with a hammer. Driving the two sides together will force the cylinder and barrel apart (we hope).
After you get it apart, go back up to my other post and clean up the end of the Arbor.

Coffinmaker

hellgate · April 12, 2015, 12:02:22 AM

Coffinmaker,
Should he coat the contact surfaces of the wedges with bar soap or wax as a lube so they slide agains each other better?

LonesomePigeon · April 12, 2015, 12:05:57 AM

I got it to come apart. I followed the suggestion to use a dowel in the barrel and tap the dowel with a hard rubber mallet. After a good many taps it came apart enough to use the rammer the rest of the way. It might be interesting to note that a very thin ring of metal shaving came out of the arbor hole, much like that which comes of a lead ball when it is seated, except this was more like a spiral than a ring. I am not sure if the metal shaved off the arbor or shaved out of the hole. Also a small flake or two shaved off of one or both of the little pins that are on the front of the frame.

LonesomePigeon · April 12, 2015, 12:20:29 AM

hellgate said:

QuoteShould he coat the contact surfaces of the wedges with bar soap or wax as a lube so they slide agains each other better?

That's a good question and one I would like to know the answer to. Although I think you mean arbor and pins, there was never any problem getting the wedge out. I have the following products on hand already:
Ivory soap
TC Number 13 Bore Cleaner
Traditions Wonderlube 1000 Plus
3-In-One Multi-Purpose Oil(this says it contains petroleum distillates).
Lock-Ease Graphited Lock Fluid(contains Colloidal Graphite).
T 17 pre-oiled patches for muzzleloaders(contains petroleum distillates).

hellgate · April 12, 2015, 07:32:37 AM

I was unclear. I meant the contact/sliding surfaces of the clothes pin "wedgies" maybe needing a lube to enhance the wedge effect to force the barrel assembly off. Looks like you got the job done without it..

Coffinmaker · April 12, 2015, 03:21:21 PM

The reversed clothes pin is a trick I learned years ago, taking Uberti Open Tops apart. Yes, a little soap or wax on the contact surfaces of the clothes pins will make em slide a little better. I have always been able to get em apart without "lubricant."

Based on what came out of the Arbor Hole when it came apart, I strongly recommend slotting the end of a dowel, reverse fold some 220 wet/dry (so grit is on both sides), to make a simple flap sander, chuck it up in a drill motor and run it in and out of the Arbor hole. There almost has to be burrs in there. Also, polish the end of the arbor where it plugs into the barrel.

After the barrel will slide on and off easily, it's time to fix the barrel/arbor fit and then work on the rest of your "kit."

Coffinmaker

LonesomePigeon · April 27, 2015, 08:51:00 PM

Update: The arbor is a little too big in diameter and one or both of the frame pins don't quite match perfectly with the holes. I sent it off to be fixed instead of returning it since it seems most of these repros need tuning anyways.

Before I sent it off went ahead and fired it because they do have to test them for safety before leaving the factory, plus I had a guide with me who said it was okay. I used only 20 grains of black powder + about 30 grains of Cream o' Wheat since it was my first time shooting anything other than a BB gun. Most of the balls hit within a 4" group about 2" high and 2" right, although it seemed like 2 out of every 6 went about 8" high and 4" right. The distance was 10 yards.

Now I am wondering how much accuracy were the original Colt percussion revolvers normally capable of? What was considered good at the time? What are the modern replicas normally capable of at 10, 25 and 50 yards when you get a "good" one?