Walker fouling issues

[Navy Six]

My Uberti Walkers tend to have fouling issues after a couple of cylinders full. My Uberti 2nd Model Dragoons run all day long. Checking barrel/cylinder gap, One Walker is .004 and the other is .005. The Dragoons are .009/.010. The loads are moderate 30 grs. of 3F Swiss/Olde Enysford or up to 40 grs. I have used every conceivable combination of lube concoctions applied to wads and over/under ball application. Also, you name it and it has been applied to the arbors. I don't really like the gap on the Dragoons but it does work. Anyone else experience this?

[hellgate]

First of all when they get gummy apply some oil/grease/lube to the cylinder face to see if that frees up the cylinder. I have found that a tight cylinder gap will lead to dragging of the cylinder from fouling after firing a few rounds. The Uberti guns often will vary the cylinder gap depending on how far you drive the wedge in. Take a piece of typing paper, fold it in two and put it into the cylinder gap while reassembling. Tap the wedge it until the paper is just grabbed. That will give you a .007" gap which I found to be ideal for my Ubertis and ASMs. Real gunsmiths (I am an advanced tinkerer) will decry guns that change gaps depending on how hard you drive in the wedge but I chose to live with it rather than fix it. Setting the gap with a "feeler gauge" works for me. Eventually you get an eye for the proper gap without the feeler.

If lubing the cylinder face doesn't free it up then drip a drop or two of oil on the cylinder pin, hold the gun up so it runs under the cylinder and twirl the cylinder to see if it frees up. If that does the trick then just carry a small squeeze bottle of oil and put a drop onto the pin at the front of the cylinder each time you charge up. I have an Uberti Remington that gums up and the oil drop at each loading keeps it going all day long. I use olive oil.

[LongWalker]

With mid-range loads in a Walker, fouling seemed to go down when using heavier (conical) bullets.  Might be worth a try if you can source some.

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[Coffinmaker]

   Navy Six 

Allow me to extrapolate.  Or some such.  Percussion guns are FICKLE.  They do really odd and different stuff for no apparent reason.  Sometimes there is a "fix" and sometimes not.

Uberti Open Top design guns ALL have a Barrel to Arbor fitment problem.  As a retired Gunsmith, I am loath to allow that condition to continue and MUST fix it.  Hellgate elects to put up with it and that's OK too (not really).  However, with all that hoopla,  I would suggest:

Try a Rag.  Well, my recommendation is to spritz a rag with PAM (HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, DENATURED ALCOHOL AND MURPHY OIL SOAP) and between each cylinder full, wipe the face of the cylinder to remove fouling.  This, bye the way, is a "good thing" (quote Martha) for ANY Cap Gun.

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[Coffinmaker]

  Most Fergot 

Another check you will want to make, is to insure the barrel is not "walking" back on the arbor as you shoot, until the breach end of the barrel is dragging on the cylinder face.

[Navy Six]

I should have mentioned that the "short" arbor issue has been addressed with Goon's #14 pan head screw method. Thanks Hellgate, I resorted to the methods you mentioned just to keep the things running. I was hoping to find it not necessary during a Cowboy Match. When I use the Dragoons the darn things don't need anything. Coffinmaker, I'm with you that if something isn't running quite right I will loose sleep until its fixed. Last time out shooting I tried "PAM", but in this case it was actually PAM cooking oil spray on the arbor and cylinder face. That worked better than anything up till now but was only one trial and when the weather breaks I intend to investigate further.