.455 fiocchi in mk2 webley

How far off can the cylinder be out of index with the barrel and still be safe to shoot? How does one fix that problem?

As jethunter mentioned, the lockup should be tight when the trigger is pressed. Best is to check the revolver in DA, the whole process should be tight since the trigger is the first motion in DA, right? If not, you have to build up metal on worn parts. If the indexing is slightly off and not tight, it will still shoot up to a certain point, most Webley bulldogs don't tighten up, just use soft lead bullets or if off too much, have work done on cylinder stop and/or hand. But as I mentioned, that problem usually doesn't occur on Webley Mark revolvers.
 
How far off can the cylinder be out of index with the barrel and still be safe to shoot? How does one fix that problem?

The issue is spitting lead and gasses, and wear on the cylinder and cylinder stop if it is out of time. Fixing it could be as simple as replacing or rebuilding one or more parts of the cylinder stop mechanism if they are worn.
Not to mention that worn parts will eventually fail and create a situation that is unsafe.
A good gun smith that has experience with the model of handguns can tell you what needs to be done, if it can indeed be done. I once fixed a .22 Herbert Schmidt that was out of time and spitting from the cylinder gap by installing a new oversized cylinder pin that trued up the cylinder with the action and the parts that locked up the cylinder.
 
Good advice from Scianna and also if you are dry firing the revolver it is best to use a snap cap or a fired case in the chamber. I've seen a quite a few of these old girls with stretched fing pin holes in the frame and damged pins from dry fitring. The pin is not floating like more recent designs.
 
Back
Top Bottom