Getting Pietta 1860 apart

[Wayne Smith]

I got a Pietta 1860 from Cabelas a while ago and just tried to take it apart to clean off the shipping grease. The wedge will not budge. I didn't think they were supposed to be this tight and I don't want to scratch the finish.

Any bright ideas about how to proceed? Years ago I had a copy of a '51 and have a copy of a Sherrif's model in .44 (never made) and neither of those had this problem. This one has a somewhat more dramatic hook on the spring but I can push that down and nothing moves when I tap on it - wooden mallet and the end of the screwdriver so far. Gonna need three hands to hold it down and use a punch. I do have vices and know how to use them!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've got the very same gun and had the very same problem. I laid mine on a padded bench block and compressed the spring with the tip of a little screwdriver which I pushed between the top of the spring and the top of the wedge's slot, then pounded the wedge with a hardwood block and hammer. The second time was still difficult, but not as bad. You can alter the fit to something reasonable by filing just a little bit on the left side surface of the wedge only, full length of the surface, as viewed from the left side of the gun. Don't file the slot.

[Markopolo]

Hi Wayne...

I so had this problem.. I can totally relate... pm me your email addy again, I might still have it somewhere.. I can send you the fix that I did in PDF format... fix came from well respected cowboy action shooter. The docs I will send you take you step by step through all sorts of fixes for that dang beautiful gun..

Marko

[Good Cheer]

Sometimes if one of them is a real booger I hold a coin with a pair of needle nose pliers and use the coin for a drift, whacking it with a wooden whacker.

By the way, I have a treasured Pietta 1851, one of those with the white grips with the CSA battle flag, that when I first tried to disassemble it I found that the revolver had been forced together at the factory and it was a total wreck. The slot area of the arbor was distorted out of shape. It was horrible. Took about a week to get the gun apart without destroying it. Had to measure and work and measure and work, micrometers and files. The pins were so long that the barrel couldn't touch the frame. Everything was out of alignment.

Now I'm the proud owner of what amounts to one of the most grueling unintentional kit builds there ever was. And it shoots great.

[Gtek]

Find a really nice 2x4 about 6" long, butt end to cylinder face and mark wedge location. Cut out on side, find and extra hand to hold revolver, brass 1/8" punch and a real hammer. Drive wedge to spring just into barrel/arbor, stop, pull screw, take wooden cloths pin half and drive on through. I was diagnosed with the open top disease years ago, buy the bag of wooden cloths pins when you find them. You won't be that guy with dinkers all around your wedge cut!!!!I really have enjoyed learning and working the BP revolvers, click, click, clunk!

[AtomHeartMother]

On the originals, the wedge was meant to be removed with finger pressure. Though I'm sure even then, some left the factory with tight wedges. Dress the wedge! You'll be glad you did. I've done it to all my cap 'n ball revolvers that had angry wedges. Use very fine emery cloth on the wedge and go at it slowly. You can re blue the wedge when you're done. You'll see wear marks on the wedge where it's sticking so it's usually easy to tell where the wedge needs work. I load most of my cylinders off the revolver now for ease, be they colts or remingtons, unless I'm playing with paper cartridges.

[Markopolo]

Dress the wedge.as Adam says, they are meant to be removed with finger pressure, not hammer pressure. I used a fine file laid flat on a work bench and worked it similar as I work on a sharpening stone. Once the material is removed, I lay a piece of 400-600 grit wet sandpaper on the file and give er a good finish.. never use anything on the spring end of the wedge, just the bottom and the sides... little bit off, check, then a little bit, check, till it comes out and goes in with firm finger pressure. It shouldn’t come all the way out either. The tip of the spring should catch on the wedge screw and stay in place so it doesn’t get lost. That is why it’s there.

Marko

[bedbugbilly]

The next issue you may have is once you get the wedge out, you may find it difficult to get the barrel separated from the frame - if it is "tight" and you have issues getting the barrel off the cylinder pin, rotate your cylinder until the web between two fo the chambers is directly below the loading lever - release the loading lever and lower the ram to the web and use it to push he barrel off the frame/cylinder pin.

I have always stoned my wedges until can remove and replace with finger/thumb pressure - as already mentioned, that was the way they were intended to work . . . but the wedge slot int he cylinder pin on repros are not always quite up to spec for that . . some hand fitting will help. You don't wan them so loose that they shoot loose . . . but a light rap with a brass hammer should be able to release the wedge.

Wedges on reproduction revolvers are often like the screws . . . they employ "Egor" to install them at the factory.

[Battis]

I'm going to throw this out as an historical reference only.
Originally, Colt intended the "wedge screw" to act as a depth check, to adjust how far the wedge goes in. I have an original 1851 Colt .36 and an 1860 .44 Army, and the wedge screws really do adjust the depth of the wedge. The wedge screw head actually contacts the wedge and holds it in place. This is not the case on my repros.
Remember, this was used in early Colts - by the time of the 1862 .36s, there was no wedge screw.
Patent #1,304 dated 8/29/1839. In this patent, Colt talks about the "key" or wedge. "As the key C is to act laterally as a wedge to draw the receiver and the barrel into contact, it is of importance that it should be checked when forced sufficiently far in, or the receiver might be wedged up and prevented from turning. For this purpose I insert a screw, e, Fig.3, into the steel button f, which is attached to D D... The head of this screw, overlapping the end of the mortise, receives the wedge and checks it. By turning this screw the force of the wedge may be tempered. In fig. 5 g is a spring-latch on the under side of the key, which catches upon D when the key is forced in and prevents its accidental removal."

[Wayne Smith]

I should get a chance to work on it this weekend.

Intresting, Colt talks about the spring-latch being on the underside of the key (wedge). I think mine is on the top, but may be missremembering. I'm writing this at work.

[Markopolo]

Hmmm... mine are all facing UP... otherwise the screw does not ride in the wedge groove.

[Wayne Smith]

Well, it only took one sharp strike on a brass rod once I had it on my vice - just holding it on a part open vice with soft jaws and 'wack' it moved. Once I got it out it moves easily and is not oversized, just jammed in too hard.

I just checked my Uberti Patterson with lever - no spring at all on the wedge.