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Old 04-14-2018, 06:53 PM
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Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected  
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Default Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected

I just received a 38 perfected that I bought online, knowing it had some problems and was advertised as parts only gun. Paid a ridiculously low price and got it home to find it a pure 100% gun. No marks on the recoil shield, no burn rings on the front or back of the cylinder, but had one missing part. It was missing the ejector rod and have located that part, but the bigger problem is it does not lock up properly. I can get the barrel to close with some force, engaging the top latch, but it will not engage the center pin into the hole in the recoil shield. It also binds up the cylinder on the bottom frame. Thread is found at Bargain or Bust? - post #10.

The 38 Perfected revolver has two latches, one is the standard top latch found on top-break revolvers and the other is a thumb release center pin that is found on hand ejectors. It appears to me that someone tried to forcibly open the action without using the thumb release, bending the quill. I have not figured out how to straighten the quill, so the action closes properly. The top strap on the frame is not that beefy, so I do not want to use it as the anchor to try to move the quill. Any suggestions are welcome.
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Old 04-14-2018, 07:18 PM
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Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected  
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I am not familiar with the top breaks.
Is the quill the part you have circled in this photo?
Bargain or Bust?-38-perfected-cylinder-assembly-jpg
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Old 04-14-2018, 08:59 PM
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Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected  
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I believe the Quill is attached to the barrel assembly ? My thoughts would be to make a pin that would fit the inside of the quill and with a nub that would fit the hole in the recoil shield .Place pin in quill and use a stout "C" clamp
with something to protect the top strap of the barrel and grip the quill and top strap with the gun closed .tighten the "C"clamp until the pin in the quill will align with the hole in the recoil shield. Go slow an you might need to make several tries to get it bent enough without springing back.
you might want to cut a "V"in the fixed foot of the "C" clamp .
Others might come up with a better way
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Old 04-14-2018, 09:04 PM
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Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected  
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The cylinder arbor/spindle is a separate part and is threaded into the bbl assembly.
A very fine thread, no cross pin. RH thread.
They can be removed for replacement or straightening. It takes making up a tool not unlike something on the order of what is used to remove/tighten the extractor rod on the H/E cylinder assemblys.

You have to work around the top strap on the top breaks, so some thought goes into your design! but a simple but secure clamp wrench is the usual tool.
Always place a close fitting steel blank into the spindle center hole to avoid any damage to it in the clamping process.

Taking a bent one out is a little tricky as the bent stub of the spindle makes for some very abbreviated turns of the wrench tool. But once they start to turn, they come out fairly easy. a nice clean pistol like this one should be pretty easy to work on. The crusty, rusty, brown battered ones are the 'thou shall not give in' ones that defy disassembly.

With all that said,,for one that is simply bent and not worn or otherwise damaged,,the usual fix is to bend it back while it is still in the bbl assembly.
The part is soft and hasn't been seriously crimped. You'll not be bending it any more abruptly while in the bbl assembly than if you had taken it out to do the repair.
So if thoughts of it about cracking were there, it's going to happen either way. I doubt it would.

Place that close fitting slave pin back into the center hole in the spindle. Make it long enough to be able to pull it back out again when done.
You don't want a short piece dropping down in there and get stuck looking back at you.

Use a hard plastic or nylon mallet/hammer to tap the spindle back into position.
Even a hard wood block hit with a regular hammer works well (always my choice for stuff like this).
What ever you can control the best but don't damage the exterior of the spindle.

It won't take very much force at all to move it. It's a thin hollow tube is all.

You can check for centering by placing the cylinder assembly back on and the bbl back on the frame and closing, noting where they line up.

..Or you can use a simple tool they used to use for gauging.
Again a close fitting plug for the center hole of the spindle,,a slip fit with a nose turned to the dia of the locking hole in the face of the frame.
A soft coil spring is dropped into the spindle hole (ball point pen spring work good for this) and this gauge plug on top of it. The bbl closed (no cylinder assembly needed be mounted).
You very clearly see if and where the nose of that plug lands against the breech face and make some adjustments with educated mallet blows.
If you're real good,, or real lucky,,it drops right in the first time!
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Old 04-15-2018, 09:33 AM
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Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected Rebending a bent Quill on a 38 Perfected  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BC38 View Post
I am not familiar with the top breaks . . .
I took a quick shot of a parts gun to show the quill. It is the same as in the 38 Perfected revolver.
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Old 04-15-2018, 09:42 AM
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Thanks guys for your suggestions. With what you have added, I am leaning towards inserting a tight fitting rod through the bore and another into the quill, then compress them, try the cylinder on the frame and compress more until I get the cylinder free of the lower frame and the center pin to push the thumb latch back into firing position. I can use the center pin and lay the cylinder in the frame without the barrel assembly attached to see when I start to get a slight gap between the bottom frame and the cylinder. I note that the center pin seems to slide down the recoil shield perfectly centered as evidenced by the slight vertical line.

I am just too nervous to use the top strap as an anchor, since it might be possible to bend the upper frame with the small amount of steel at the transition between the top strap and the barrel.
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Last edited by glowe; 04-15-2018 at 09:45 AM.
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