Is there anyone who can replace an arbor on a brass frame colt?

[Swamp Fox]

I inherited my dads old (1970s) navy colt. The arbor is a little loose in the frame. I still shoot it from time to time, and would like to have it repaired so I could feel better about shooting it more. I have no idea how much he shot it back in the day, but it must have been a fair bit. Is there anybody who can reliably work on a brass frame colt?

[LAGS]

Try PMing Jackrabbit on this forum.

[Rockindaddy]

It is a job to tighten up the cylinder pin in the frame. If the cylinder pin is not too loose you might try stripping the frame and soaking it in thinner over night. Try some Red Locktite while the pin is still in the frame. Otherwise if it is real loose you will have to unscrew the cylinder pin. Check first if it has a staking pin. Once you get the cylinder pin out; measure the outside diameter of the threads. Measure the thread pitch. Usually they are metric. 8~10mm around a 1.5 pitch depending on the manufacturer. I TIG weld up the threads and turn the weld to about .010 over the original major diameter. You need a lathe that has a metric gear box. Chase the new thread. You have to keep trying the fit in the frame so you get a snug class one fit! Check the newly threaded pin with the barrel and cylinder so the wedge is snug with minimum barrel to cylinder gap. I usually degrease both the frame and the rethreaded pin and Red Locktite em in. The brass frame guns loosen up much faster than the steel frame cap and ball revolvers. When I was a kid my 44 cal 1860 Army made by Centenial Arms in Belgium got so loose, it pulled the pin out. That was the first one I had to repair. An old welder and an old machinist guided me through that one. My old friend talked me out of that gun for $50 ! He is 80 years old now but still shoots it.

[armoredman]

@Jackrabbit1957 would be the most likely help for that problem.

[Hellgate]

Fortunately, the only one I "repaired" was not staked and the cylinder pin (arbor) would completely unscrew. So we degreased and coated the threads with JB Weld, reassembled it to the proper cylinder gap and let it set. It has worked fine since but how long that will continue I don't know. Epoxy might have worked as well. We figured there was nothing to lose as it was merely a paperweight to start with.

[indian joe]

red locktite !!!!
nothing to lose - its an easy try - been using this stuff for dodgy bearings on heavy machinery for years - make sure the gun is fully assembled before you let it set - use the locktite cleaner on the joint for better, faster setting.

[john.k]

Id be careful of red loctite and brass,can set instantaneously .....certainly wouldnt use any cleaner ,just a bit of acetone if necessary .......loctite is quite oil tolerant ,provided the parts arent swimming in oil............the brass framed replicas are notorious for the arbour pulling out ,the brass simply isnt strong enough.

[bedbugbilly]

I was given a brass frame '51 Navy - circa 1970s - stamped "made in Italy" (maker unknown) a couple of weeks ago. It obviously hasn't been shot much and recoil she'd shows no battering marks. It has a number of problems but the worst is a loose cylinder arbor pin. On this pistol, it screws in. I did a quick look at it and if tightened, the wedge hole is off about a quieter turn. I put it away in the safe and will work on it later next winter when we are backk in Arizona.

Like I said, I didn't look at mine that close - so will ask a couple fo questions. On the arbor you are working with - is there shoulder on the arbor that seats against the brass when it is screwed in tight? If so - is there a possibility that a shim could be made to fit so that when the arbor is re-installed, the shim would index the arbor and the wedge hole in the proper place and then it all be put together with locktite?

Or . . . is the arbor hole in the brass frame a "blind hole"?. If so, is there any way to make a piece out of shim stock that could be put in the bottom fo the blind hole so that when the arbor is screwed in tight and the wedge holes in the correct position - the end of the arbor "bottoms out" on the piece of shim so that it tightens in correctly and then locktite used on it?

Maybe neither of the above applies - but was just thinking about it.In 60 years of shooting C & B, I've only owned one brass frame revolver until this one was given to me. The one I had was an old Navy Arms brass frame '51 Navy 36 cal. Sheriff's short barrel. It was pretty stoutly made and ZI never had any issues with it, but I stuck to mild loads out of it.

I hope you can get your revolver fixed up as I'm sure it has some fine sentimental value for you. Good luck! Keep us posted on how it all works out.

[Swamp Fox]

There doesn’t appear to be a shoulder on the arbor, it looks to just screw straight into the frame. It looks like the arbor screws all the way through the frame, as I can see the end of it in the slot the hammer ride in. I wonder if it may have been screwed in then peened, as I can’t get it to unthread itself. If there’s a pin or something holding it it must come up from the bottom, as I can see no sign of it with the frame assembled. I will take it apart and see what I find.

I will send a message to jackrabbit and see what he thinks.

[indian joe]

Id be careful of red loctite and brass,can set instantaneously .....certainly wouldnt use any cleaner ,just a bit of acetone if necessary .......loctite is quite oil tolerant ,provided the parts arent swimming in oil............the brass framed replicas are notorious for the arbour pulling out ,the brass simply isnt strong enough.

so it sets up differently on brass than steel? never knew that.

[Swamp Fox]

Just a follow up to this. I ended up sending this gun and another to jackrabbit1957. He was able to pin the arbor and take all the slop out, then retime it to be functional, although he doesn’t think the repair will hold up. So this will mostly be a safe queen and occasionally shooting some very light loads. Overall I’m happy with the work done, even though the gun can’t be repaired to original condition, it was worth a try.

I can also say that I was very happy with the work done on my other pistol. He did a very nice job of tuning and upgrading it. I will try to make a post dedicated to those upgrades soon.