I am working on a Model 1905, 1st Change Target revolver from 1908 and first wanted to strip the gun down to bare bones for cleaning. I was amazed at how easily this 112 year old gun came apart. Must have always been kept well oiled even though all the screw slots were full of dried oil and dust. I was even able to remove both windage screws and sight blade without issues. The mushroom knob unscrewed from the rod just like it had been installed yesterday. What surprised me was that while I was trying to separate the two piece extractor rod, the star and spanner nut/screw in the center of the star unscrewed instead. Don't believe that has ever happened to me before. I always treated these pieces as integral with the assembly since they have never come apart before and even schematics show the assembly of the rear rod, star, and end spanner nut together. I am not even sure what each of these parts should be called?? Pictures below.
The reason I am asking is that I am wondering if the center star nut/screw (one that normally takes a small spanner to remove) was a means of adjusting the cylinder or does one just tighten it down? For some reason in the back of my mind I am thinking that someone claimed that in the past? I wanted to make sure that it should be completely tightened down against the extractor rod since I did not witness it coming off until it fell off in my hand.