New Uberti 1858- cylinder/hand issue on half the chambers.

[bczrx]

Hello,

I just received a Uberti 1858 [blued steel 8"] revolver and have run into an issue.

When cocking it the hammer/trigger doesn't engage smoothly on half of the chambers.

• For 3 of the chambers I will cock the hammer and the trigger pops forward to catch the hammer easily- just like on my Uberti 1847 Walker or Pietta 1858. [or any other single-action revolver I own]
• For the next 3 chambers I will pull the hammer back and have to put about twice as much pressure on the hammer for the last 1/8" of travel before the trigger pops forward to catch the hammer.
  
  • For all 6 chambers the bolt/stop has popped up and is locking the cylinder before I have to really press down for the 3 problematic ones.

Before I do anything I need to use a range rod to verify that the chambers are in alignment with the barrel bore. I realize my issue might also be the cylinder stop/bolt notches not being perfectly aligned. The following thinking is based on the assumption that the notches ARE allowing all 6 chambers to be aligned properly with the forcing cone/bore.


My first thought was to dress the tip of the hand/pawl a bit to reduce the length and allow the hammer to travel farther back to full lock.

• However, there is no noticeable issue for 3 of the chambers.
• I worry that shortening the hand/pawl will result in the 3 bad chambers no longer causing problems but the 3 'good' chambers not moving up enough and becoming 'bad'.

As a result, my thought was to instead modify the three 'ratchet' areas of the cylinder that are problematic.

• My thought is that the cone-shaped ratchet design needs a smidge removed to allow the hand to go up that hair more for full cock position without an increase in pressure at the end of the cocking motion.
• This would fix the 3 'bad' ones and leave the 3 'good' ones alone, resulting in 6 chambers lining up properly and being locked by the bolt/stop.
  • Of course, screwing this up ruins a much more expensive part than the hand/pawl/lifter, but it avoids a reduction of the pawl/hand that might just flip which 3 chambers are problems.

Does this seem like I am on the right track? Am I missing something?

I haven't worked on the action on these before, but have fit cylinders on other SA revolvers [Ruger] as well as fitting hands/pawls on DA revolvers [H&R, High Standard, S&W, Ruger].


IF I am right, I have a second question- about the engagement surface of these ratchet designs.

• The rear 'ratchet' area has 6 cone-shaped indentations that act as the ratchet/star on the cylinder.
• Would I only be touching the flat wide end of the cone?
• Or do I need to work on the outside edge of the cone as well?

On the other revolvers it was readily apparent where the hand/pawl pushed up- but I am not quite as clear on the remington 1858 design.


Any tips would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[bczrx]

NEVERMIND!

I was SOOOO Overthinking it. It was the hand.


I took the cylinder out and was able to insert it into my Pietta 1858. It had too much endshake for use, but would rotate properly.

In the Pietta the Uberti cylinder rotated and locked into place without any issues. Cocking the hammer resulted in cylinders rotation and hammer locking back on the trigger without any increase in pressure needed.


So- the cylinder ratchet notches were not mismilled.

I then took cylinders out of both revolvers, examined the good Pietta and used a file to dress down the Uberti to about the same contour as the Pietta tip.

I then began inserting the cylinder, testing, removing, taking 3 light passes with my file, and repeating until the binding disappeared. Now the cylinder rotates and locks into place properly and my hammer locks back with no change in pressure on the hammer.


When I have time I will remove the hand, use a stone and oil for a final treatment of the hand, and polish all the internals to enhance smoothness.

Hope you all had as productive of a day as I did.

 

[wiscoaster]

I don't see any problem in overthinking stuff. It's how the mind sorts through the possibilities and arrives at a conclusion. It worked for you.

 

[russellshaffer]

You did good by thinking before leaping. Most projects of any kind will benefit from some consideration of alternatives. Don't just grab the hammer, grinder, or saw and jump in. It only took me 77 years to figure this out.