38/44 HD Cylinder play

PuertoRican · #1 03-30-2011, 10:15 AM

Went to this thread & ran thru all the checks.
Revolver checkout: how to tell if a particular specimen is any good - THR
Only thing that looks bad on my HD was the front to back wiggle. What is this an indication of? Is any wiggle at all a bad sign or is there some amount of leeway?

1Aspenhill · #2 03-30-2011, 10:22 AM

It appears that your gun may have some end shake. Does it move front to rear when it is cocked? It can be fixed realitivly easily.
Bill

PuertoRican · #3 03-30-2011, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Aspenhill

It appears that your gun may have some end shake. Does it move front to rear when it is cocked? It can be fixed realitivly easily.
Bill

Bill
When cocked, it barely moves. Can feel it but the actual amount movement is hard to see. I'd say between 1/32nd & 1/16th of an inch.
Bob

DCWilson · #4 03-30-2011, 11:19 AM

If you have a feeler gauge set, determine the barrel/cylinder gap when you hold the cylinder all the way forward, then again when you hold the cylinder all the way back. That's the amount of endshake you need to correct. Determine if all of the front to back movement is in the cylinder; sometimes the yoke can have some fore and aft slippage as well.

A sixteenth of an inch is pretty big in this context. There are endshake bearings ("shims") that you can put inside the cylinder for the yoke shaft to bear on; using them will increase the B/C gap. Sometimes, unless you want to have a gunsmith refit the barrel, the best you can do with a much-fired gun is reduce the endshake without correcting it completely. Shims can take up several thousandths of an inch of play, but I don't know if they are the solution to endshake measured in the hundredths of an inch.

I had a beat up 1917 that was really sloppy front to back, and I got it into reliable (but not perfect) shape by replacing the yoke (the one that came on it was already not original to the frame) and putting in a couple of endshake shims.

PuertoRican · #5 03-30-2011, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCWilson

If you have a feeler gauge set, determine the barrel/cylinder gap when you hold the cylinder all the way forward, then again when you hold the cylinder all the way back. That's the amount of endshake you need to correct. Determine if all of the front to back movement is in the cylinder; sometimes the yoke can have some fore and aft slippage as well.

A sixteenth of an inch is pretty big in this context. There are endshake bearings ("shims") that you can put inside the cylinder for the yoke shaft to bear on; using them will increase the B/C gap. Sometimes, unless you want to have a gunsmith refit the barrel, the best you can do with a much-fired gun is reduce the endshake without correcting it completely. Shims can take up several thousandths of an inch of play, but I don't know if they are the solution to endshake measured in the hundredths of an inch.

I had a beat up 1917 that was really sloppy front to back, and I got it into reliable (but not perfect) shape by replacing the yoke (the one that came on it was already not original to the frame) and putting in a couple of endshake shims.

Feeler guage is a good idea. Whole lot better than eyeball. There is no forward cylinder movement. Gap between barrell & cylinder is less than .004. Cylinder moves back far enough to let the .004 feeler to slide in but won't take the .005. Don't have anything smaller than the .004.

What the · #6 03-30-2011, 12:10 PM

That's Perfect,

NO worries there in fact that is about what the factory sets the B/C gap at when building your gun.

PuertoRican · #7 03-30-2011, 12:18 PM

Thanx everyone for the help. Only reason I brought it up is that my model 36 has no movement at all.
Thanx again.