Proper Wedge Adjustment for Colt Open Top Revolvers

Ideally, you should be able to start the wedge into the slot and push it about 75% to 85% of the way through the barrel using only thumb pressure. Then the light tap of a plastic, nylon, rubber or wooden gunsmith hammer is all that should be required to final seat the wedge to the desired point. But just how far should the wedge go into the barrel?

When the wedge is perfectly fitted the shoulder of the wedge should not quite contact the barrel side. Often times, the wedge will make contact with the head of the wedge screw before the shoulder makes contact with the barre. If your barrel is fitted correctly to the frame and arbor, the barrel should not ever be able to come into contact with the cylinder face nor should the barrel be pulled off center by the wedge, even if the wedge is driven in too far.

For Uberti made revolvers, we may have another issue. Some, if not many, of the Uberti revolvers suffer from what is called the “short arbor” issue. Uberti has seemingly made some revolvers where the arbor does not seat itself completely flush with the arbor slot in the barrel lug. The arbor simply does not bottom out in the slot.

When this happens, as the wedge is inserted and locked into the wedge slot, the cylinder gap can be closed so tight the cylinder may rub the forcing cone of the barrel or not turn at all.

If you have one of these Uberti revolvers, before adjusting the wedge, you must adjust the short arbor. To determine if you have a short arbor, refer to the resource, “Uberti Short Arbor Repair” on the Cap & Ball Revolver Resource page at https://www.capandballrevolvers.com/RESOURCES to evaluate your arbor and repair the short arbor before proceeding with any wedge adjustments.

If the wedge is so t setting your revolver on two blocks of wood or on a padded vise to remove the wedge, so there is ample air space below the wedge. In order to keep from damaging the wedge or barrel frame during initial removal of the wedge, use a rubber or nylon tipped, flat head punch and a gunsmith hammer or a medium size ball-peen hammer to punch the wedge out. Or you can use a wooden or plastic clothespin half to punch out the wedge to keep from damaging the wedge or barrel frame.

Once the wedge is removed, you can begin the honing (filing) down process on the left side (pressure side which comes in contact with the arbor ) of the wedge with a honing file or fine-tooth file.  You will note that the left side of the wedge is generally narrower than the right side. It is the left side of the wedge that comes into contact with the arbor as it is inserted into the barrel opening and into the arbor wedge opening. This is the side we want to thin down.

After initial filing, put the wedge on a stone and polish that side until it is smooth. Only if necessary, repeat the process on the right side of the wedge, testing frequently, maintaining the original wedge dimensions as close as possible, until the tip of the wedge spring just sticks out of the barrel with thumb pressure on the wedge.

Notice that the wedge retention spring is sticking just above the wedge opening of the barrel in the photo above.  It is this spring that keeps the wedge from coming out of the opening as it hooks itself to the wedge opening in the barrel. Make sure this spring is protruding above the opening as the photo shows. It is the wedge retention screw that keeps the wedge from falling out of the barrel when the barrel is removed, and the wedge retention spring that keeps the wedge from coming out of the barrel and arbor opening under normal firing. When the gun is shot, the wedge may loosen a little more causing the wedge to go a little further into the barrel. But, as long as the wedge is tight, and the lip of the wedge spring is past the edge of the barrel, the wedge will be fine. Again, the primary purpose of the wedge retention spring is to lock the wedge into the barrel and, upon barrel removal, to catch on the wedge screw and keep the wedge from falling out of the barrel when as it is pulled loose to remove the barrel for cleaning.

When the wedge is inserted through the barrel assembly, that is, inserted left to right as seen from the back of the gun, depending on the model, the wedge retention screw head depresses the spring so that the lip of the spring is lowered and does not interfere or contact the barrel assembly as the wedge is being inserted or removed.

With the wedge fully inserted the spring is still depressed such that the lip on the spring is below the outer mold line of the wedge and thus fully within the channel in the wedge. It does not protrude above the wedge and cannot contact the barrel assembly or interfere with removing the wedge.

Notice above that the wedge retention spring is curved upward towards the lip of the spring. Be sure this curvature remains intact at all times. Do not try to straighten the spring as that will cause the lip to not engage the barrel frame and it will become insecure.

When the wedge is being loosened, the screw head allows the spring to return to its undeflected (pushed downward into the spring channel) position as the wedge moves right to left, out of the opening. In the fully loosened position, the lip on the spring contacts the back side of the screw head and prevents the wedge from being fully removed from the barrel assembly. This is the intended purpose of the spring, the spring lip and the screw. A fully functioning wedge should be easily loosened by hand if all parts are functioning as they should.

After the proper fitting of the wedge, I recommend using a Presto Gun Blue Pen to re-blue the wedge in locations that you honed it down or to remove any scratches. This will keep the wedge from rusting and help maintain its color uniformity with the revolver.