![]() ![]() It might wear out sooner than one would that was new, but you still have a working gun for a good amount time. I don't think they will quickly wear out, no more than they originally did, because the operations that did it to get them in that shape, are the constant opening and closing, along with firing. That top portion is slightly beveled, to allow the latch to swing past anyhow. The front of the latch will have a full seat on each, minus about 0.005" at the top. If done right, you will have two straight flat lugs, after peining and filing, on each side, and not a small contact point for the latch. ![]() One looser than that, would require welding to add metal, since you would be loosing grip area for the latch. They are probably 0.005" shy of the top at the most, at the rear, after peining, as it doesn't take much to tighten one up. Of course you have to tell them, that after peining, they will not be flush with the top of the latch, but I've never found one who cared for that on one of these. When you pein them down, (not much at all), at the rear top corner, they shorten, and swell, giving you the material you need to rework them for a tight fit. Not necessarily, Jim, as the rear of two lugs are the locking surface for the latch, and the reason why it is loose is because the lugs flat surface had worn down, thus the needed metal in the rear. I, with expressions of deep regret, suggested that the gun be taken to that shop. In a few cases, the customer would question my intelligence and tell me that some shop or someone someplace would fix the old gun "like new" for $5 or whatever. I found it was better just to tell the gun owner that the gun was 1) cheap to begin with, 2) worn out, and 3) was not economically repairable. But the scope job will probably work fine, while the breaktop job will be back to haunt you. Whether you spend an hour working on, say, installing a scope, or the same hour trying to tighten up an old Iver Johnson, is up to you. Meantime, you are (or should be) getting paid for your time. If you can fix it again, it will go bad again in another few shots. You fix the gun once, and in a few shots it stops working again. For a gun owner to try those things is one thing, but I don't advise it for a professional gunsmith. But any of those old breaktops that can be "restored" by peening the locking lugs or the hand (another commonly used "trick") will not last long and those "fixes" will soon be back to where they were before. Note the hinge joint can loosen too, and that might have to be adjusted also. With a little work, what was once a revolver with the cylinder hanging up at every trigger pull, came back to life. I just helped a neighbor bring another old Iver Johnson back to life, showing him how to perform these steps. The trick is to get the slack out of the hinge joint, with the latch easy to lock and lift. Keep checking the fit with every two file licks. If it rotates properly, then you have found the culprit.Īfter peining the lugs, first file the sides of the lugs, (the top corner on each side), and between them, making them flat with a pillar file, to make sure that nothing hampers the two haves swinging closed, and then, gradually, with only a few file licks at a time, reshape the rear cam surface of the two lugs so that the latch will close over them. ![]() Afterward, the lugs will then need to be fitted by filing.Īnother test, is to take off the grips, place the frame in a padded vise, and lift up on the barrel, applying pressure upwards, to see if the cylinder will rotate properly, when cocking or pulling the trigger. This does not take much to do, only a few good raps, and do not wail on them. If you have this problem, open the revolver, cock the hammer, and with a small ball pein hammer, swell the metal, (toward the hammer), of the two lugs that the latch fits over, by striking the back corner of each. It does not take much, just a small amount of slack. Grasp the barrel and the grip with two hands, and see if there is any slop in the barrel wanting to lift from the frame, due to the latch being loose. If you run into an old Iver Johnson or H&R top break revolver, that is having a problem with the cylinder not wanting to rotate, some times this is not caused by either the hand of the cylinder stop, but loose locking of the frame at the latch. ![]()
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