I recently fitted Kirst cylinders to a pair of new, unfired Uberti 1860 Armies. In both cases, the hand seemed a trifle short as when cocking very slowly(cylinder stops a hair short of lockup), but any type of normal cocking assures full carry-up and lockup.
Anyway, I attempted to stretch one of the hands using a variety of punches. I ended up with a mess that I was too embarrassed
to put back in the gun. I ordered a new hand, finished the project and am happy with the results.
My question is, what type of punch is best suited to this and where is the best place to srtike the hand in order to stretch it. Or is there a better method? I plan on a few more similar projects and if the hands are just long enough to work now, I assume some wear in the future may cause a problem. By the way, I took care of the Uberti "short arbor" situation first before starting the project by filling the arbor hole in the barrell so it bottoms out and fitted the wedge. Thanks for any help.