So why bother tuning a new in the box open top? Simple answer is most need work to be reliable shooters. Uberti suffers from the short arbor which has been beat on pretty hard in other threads. There is a certain individual on this forum that has been absolutely against what tuners do to improve these pistols. So in spite of this fellow I am gonna give a rundown on what is done during a typical tuning job.
First and foremost correct the arbor. It's a big deal on the large horse pistols as they can and do beat themselves into a paperweight. Arbor correction has been discussed in detail elsewhere.
Timing and install a bolt guide, a bolt guide is a piece if hardened steel that goes between the frame and the bolt/cylinder stop. It keeps the bolt head traveling in the same plane. In spite of another guys opinion you cannot get precision timing without a bolt guide.
Make and install music wire torsion springs for the bolt and trigger. These replace the flat combination spring which is prone to breakage.
Install a Ruger type plunger and spring for hand tension. Gets rid of the flat spring on the hand. I use a stainless steel plunger and spring. This setup is much more reliable and not prone to breakage.
Install an action shield and stop. Action shield prevents cap fragments from entering the revolver's innards and jamming the works. There are several ways to attach the shield to the hammer. The action stop is installed to prevent damage by limiting how far the hammer can travel at cylinder lockup. It's an important addition for the CAS and fast draw guys. It helps limit wear and over travel and breakage of internal parts
Cap post, This is a small finger that is installed in the hammer slot to prevent cap fragments from getting into the slot under the hammer. A lot of cap and ball revolvers will pull spent caps off the nipples on the cylinder and drop those pieces into the hammer slot. Cap post also deflects blow back gasses from the nipple. Case in point a pocket pistol that would blow the hammer back to the half cock notch. After the cap post was installed that issue was gone.
One of the optional things I offer is to chamfer the cylinder throats so the ball doesn't shave lead when loaded. I set up my revolvers with a.002 barrel to cylinder gap, those lead rings can and do lock up the cylinder. I prefer the ball to be swaged into place with no shaving of lead. I have yet to see any thing documented from Colt or Remington about shaving lead from a ball during loading. Again this is an option.
So there it is in a nutshell. For those of you that are interested this a brief rundown of things that can be done to improve these pistols. My major recommendation is fix the short arbor on the Ubertis. Pietta fixed it on their stuff but occasionally one slips through. For those of you that are new to this please take that fellow who is gonna be commenting on this in a negative way with a huge grain of salt, he does not understand the single action platform.
Let the discussion begin.
First and foremost correct the arbor. It's a big deal on the large horse pistols as they can and do beat themselves into a paperweight. Arbor correction has been discussed in detail elsewhere.
Timing and install a bolt guide, a bolt guide is a piece if hardened steel that goes between the frame and the bolt/cylinder stop. It keeps the bolt head traveling in the same plane. In spite of another guys opinion you cannot get precision timing without a bolt guide.
Make and install music wire torsion springs for the bolt and trigger. These replace the flat combination spring which is prone to breakage.
Install a Ruger type plunger and spring for hand tension. Gets rid of the flat spring on the hand. I use a stainless steel plunger and spring. This setup is much more reliable and not prone to breakage.
Install an action shield and stop. Action shield prevents cap fragments from entering the revolver's innards and jamming the works. There are several ways to attach the shield to the hammer. The action stop is installed to prevent damage by limiting how far the hammer can travel at cylinder lockup. It's an important addition for the CAS and fast draw guys. It helps limit wear and over travel and breakage of internal parts
Cap post, This is a small finger that is installed in the hammer slot to prevent cap fragments from getting into the slot under the hammer. A lot of cap and ball revolvers will pull spent caps off the nipples on the cylinder and drop those pieces into the hammer slot. Cap post also deflects blow back gasses from the nipple. Case in point a pocket pistol that would blow the hammer back to the half cock notch. After the cap post was installed that issue was gone.
One of the optional things I offer is to chamfer the cylinder throats so the ball doesn't shave lead when loaded. I set up my revolvers with a.002 barrel to cylinder gap, those lead rings can and do lock up the cylinder. I prefer the ball to be swaged into place with no shaving of lead. I have yet to see any thing documented from Colt or Remington about shaving lead from a ball during loading. Again this is an option.
So there it is in a nutshell. For those of you that are interested this a brief rundown of things that can be done to improve these pistols. My major recommendation is fix the short arbor on the Ubertis. Pietta fixed it on their stuff but occasionally one slips through. For those of you that are new to this please take that fellow who is gonna be commenting on this in a negative way with a huge grain of salt, he does not understand the single action platform.
Let the discussion begin.
