New Uberti Walker

[mykeal]

Took delivery of a brand NIB Uberti Walker this past weekend. I ordered it from S&S firearms; $292 +$14.25 sh&i drop shipped to my FFL, + $20 FFL transfer fee (MI law).

It is a beautiful gun:





Fit and finish are excellent on all the exterior parts. The action is rough; right out of the box the cylinder had a tendency to stop just short of being in battery at full cock - it took a little nudge to get it to finish lining up. Howver, that problem went away after just a few cycles. The action is now noticeably smoother after about 50 cycles, but I'm going to need to disassemble it and polish it with stones before I shoot it.

Very pleased with it so far, although I have not shot it yet. We'll let you know how it shoots.

 

[Tallship]

Have to tell you that on my last Walker, which I got about three months ago, when I removed the nipples, there was rust around both the nipples and the threads in the cylinder. I was a little disappointed at Uberti for letting this slip, but not enough to return the gun.

 

[barman]

there was rust around both the nipples and the threads in the cylinder. I was a little disappointed at Uberti for letting this slip, but not enough to return the gun.

Are you sure it wasn't that red factory grease used to stock the gun for months? It looks an awful lot like rust at first glance because it has a tendency to solidify a little bit. I generally remove it with ethanol each time I buy a new Italian replica.

That grease is also the reason why the action feels rough when the gun is just out of the box. You need to dismantle the revolver completely and wipe off its internal parts with ethanol or zippo fluid. After that, I usually replace the grease with oil and the action feels much smoother.

 

[barman]

By the way, I own an Uberti Walker from 2006 and like a million other people, I love it.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Get it out to the range so you can watch the monopod drop!

I love mine. It is very soothing to shoot!

 

[Tallship]

No, it was definitely rust

You could see where the grease was, and when I wiped off the grease, the rust was still there. Didn't matter much in the end, because that's the one I took all the bluing and case coloring off of anyways.

 

[Walker'47]

I got mine for about $340 after tax, walking out of Cabela's with it.
I love it to death, it's hands-down the most fun I've had shooting.
Just too time consuming to shoot as often as I'd like.

 

[Pulp]

I got mine for free. Birthday gift from my brother, complete with an R&D .45Colt conversion cylinder.

 

[mykeal]

I got mine for free. Birthday gift from my brother, complete with an R&D .45Colt conversion cylinder.
__________________
Pulp

Does your brother have any room for another brother?

 

[Pulp]

This link is to a video of me shooting both of my Walkers gunfighter style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a68HbDLnftA

 

[mykeal]

Have not shot it yet.

Been busy with some other obligations since the gun came in. Last night I spent about 90 minutes smoothing the action up. The mainspring is very strong, requiring significant effort to cock the hammer - quite a bit more than either of my two Dragoons.

Most of the action parts have smoothed up very nicely, but there is a bit of interference between (I think) the end of the hand and the cylinder base pin; there is a noticeable hitch in cocking the hammer just before the halfcock position, as the end of the hand emerges from it's slot in the recoil shield. At first this was sufficient to lock up the action - had to release the hammer to get it to clear. It's now, after about 200 cycles and several polishing attempts, quite a bit better but still noticeable. This is the only issue so far.

 

[hildo]

Fast loading

The Walker must be one of the most interesting guns out there. Good looks and great size. Shoots better than I can too. Everybody should at least have one of these.

Pulp.
Video made me grin. Good shooting.

Will make a video soon too. Not much of a marksman so I'll try to break the world record in loading my Walker. Should be easy to get the record, don't think anyone tried to load one in record time yet?
Hildo

 

[Snaggletooth]

Uncle lee on Voy Forum is selling out He has 2 Uberti Walkers, with holsters and belt for $550. These are slightly used. Lee wasnt able to pull the triggers. He suffers from Arthuritis

 

[subgunner]

I once had a Uberti Walker. I got it mail order and it had a broken hand spring right out of the box. So back it goes to the dealer, guess what. I get the same Walker back for a replacement. Now I am Pi$$ed. Again back it goes for a refund. Should have got a Pietta.

 

[mec]

pietta doesn't make them. Just Uberti and Palmetto. Palmetto isn't really made to shoot and usually doesnt. the easiest fix is to buy either the hand/spring assembly or just the spring from VTI or Cimarron. I laid in spares of each. Generally, in the belt sized revolvers, the hand requires fitting but I noticed that the one for the dragoon (fits the walker too) dropped in with perfect timing and no fitting.

 

[Tallship]

I've had problems with the hand spring in my Walkers, also. Whatever method they use to attach the spring doesn't work, so it was coming loose. Tiny bit of JB Weld on the base of the spring, and walla; spring stays in place. I did order two extra hand/spring assemblies anyway.

 

[mec]

J&B Weld REALLY WORKS

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Nice picture!

 

[subgunner]

Mec

I know Pietta don't make a Walker pistol, I was just being a smart a$$. But I shouldn't have to buy a new handspring or any other part to fix a NEW gun out of the box. Gun makers need to do a better job of QC of the products they make.

 

[mec]

I know Pietta don't make a Walker pistol, I was just...

Cool. I do that myself sometimes.

 

[mykeal]

Subgunner said:

I know Pietta don't make a Walker pistol, I was just being a smart a$$. But I shouldn't have to buy a new handspring or any other part to fix a NEW gun out of the box. Gun makers need to do a better job of QC of the products they make.

Absolutely right. There is no excuse for broken parts on a new gun. And for the retailer to give you the same gun back is even worse. I'd be letting the store manager know about that in terms that would be impossible to misunderstand. That says they put broken merchandise right back into into inventory. That's crap.

As far as Uberti's quality is concerned, my gun was in very good shape. I did do some heavy duty cleaning to get the preservatives out, and I disassembled it and polished all the mating parts to get the action smooth; it was a little rough, as any brand new gun is. There is still a little hitch in the hammer movement as the side of the hand brushes against the cylinder base pin, but it's not worth taking it apart again to fix that. I'll do it at the next full cleaning.

I've not yet shot the gun. I took it to a bowling pin shoot at the range last Saturday along with my 2nd Dragoon and a couple of .36's (1851 Colt Navy, 1858 Remington Navy). The rangemaster for the shoot said he'd never seen anyone try to compete in that event with black powder. I used the Dragoon first and shot a complete table but with a slow time. It held up through the first round but quickly got eclipsed in the second round. My second and third rounds were both fouled; in the second round the first pin fell into the second and both fell off the table; if you don't shoot it off they disqualify the round. In the third round the third pin fell but stayed on the table; I shot the fourth and fifth pins off and used my last round to try to finish the third; I hit it but it stayed on, and I couldn't reload within the time limit.

I shot a cylinder of caps only to dry out the chambers on the Walker and it jammed solid - cylinder would not move and hammer would not cock. I though the bolt was broken until I got it home and found a piece of a cap jammed inside the action between the hammer and the bolt arm. Not a good beginning. Never seen a piece of cap in that location before.

 

[mec]

Not a good beginning. Never seen a piece of cap in that location before.

It happens. not pleasant.

 

[mykeal]

Ok, go to shoot it today. Put 24 rounds of 50 gr Goex fffg, 1/8" lubed felt wad, Hornady .454 swaged rb, through it with no FTF's, no cap problems (all shed quickly and correctly), and only one instance of the dreaded "loading lever drop". Which, being rare in this gun caused me quite an increase in blood pressure. On the fifth shot of the third cylinder the gun would not cock. I immediately assumed another jammed cap. Stepped off the line, walked back to the bench looking like an idiot with my head down, the gun barrel raised skyward and the loading lever sticking out like a ...well, you know. Laid the gun on the bench, cussed it for another jammed cap and smiled helplessly when an onlooker pointed out the loading lever in the chamber mouth. Uh, ok, I knew that. Really.

Anyway, here's the results, first cylinders 1-3:

The point of aim for the first six was at 6 o'clock on the outside ring, expecting the gun to shoot high. Not the case. The next 12 were aimed at the center of the bull, and when I tried hard (9, 12, 17 &18), I hit it.

Cylinder 4:

Point of aim was 6'oclock for the first 3, center of the bull for the last 3. I relaxed on the first 3 and tried hard on the last 3.

I like this gun. A lot. The "flyers" in the above photos are my own fault - lack of trigger control with a new gun (it's my story and I'm sticking to it).