tpelle
Member
I have an old Uberti Cattleman in 45LC. The cylinder bolt is leaving a drag line all around the cylinder.
I've checked the timing as to when the bolt leg comes off of the hammer cam, and that part seems to be fine - it's dropping well into the lead, and it locks up fine.
However, I notice that when I cock the hammer, as the hammer approaches the half-cock notch, the bolt mostly retracts clear of the cylinder, but still lightly touches. But if you continue to draw the hammer back, past the half-cock notch, the bolt continues to retract until it gets flush with the frame.
With the revolver at half-cock, as if to load it, you can rotate the cylinder but it feels that it turns with resistance (from the dragging bolt, obviously). However if you draw the hammer back a little farther than half-cock the cylinder will rotate freely.
I am the original purchaser of this revolver, and I bet it doesn't have 100 rounds through it.
I e-mailed a respected single-action gunsmith about it, and he basically said that it would be as expensive for him to fix it as to just buy a new one! He said that the issue is due to the hammer-block safety, and that this era's Uberti hammer that had that feature was not hardened at the factory, causing premature and excessive bolt cam wear. It would require replacing the parts with different model Uberti parts that did not include the hammer block safety, and I think he didn't want to take on the legal liability of disabling a safety mechanism on a customer's pistol.
If I want to get this pistol up and running again, it's likely that I will have to replace several parts, to wit: hammer, hand and spring, bolt. Personally I am not concerned with loosing the hammer block safety, as the revolver would simply revert back to the original Colt-style safety, which is between the shooter's ears, not some Mickey Mouse apparatus built into the gun.
Assuming that I can buy the parts from VTI, does anyone know which "newer" model of Uberti revolver would be a likely "donor" to provide parts that will fit? I'm obviously concerned with things like hole diameters, etc.
I am presuming that the major assemblies such as the frame, the cylinder, and barrel, etc. would remain the same when Uberti upgraded from the D-Cam hammer with the internal hammer-block to the current model with the two-position cylinder base pin.
I've checked the timing as to when the bolt leg comes off of the hammer cam, and that part seems to be fine - it's dropping well into the lead, and it locks up fine.
However, I notice that when I cock the hammer, as the hammer approaches the half-cock notch, the bolt mostly retracts clear of the cylinder, but still lightly touches. But if you continue to draw the hammer back, past the half-cock notch, the bolt continues to retract until it gets flush with the frame.
With the revolver at half-cock, as if to load it, you can rotate the cylinder but it feels that it turns with resistance (from the dragging bolt, obviously). However if you draw the hammer back a little farther than half-cock the cylinder will rotate freely.
I am the original purchaser of this revolver, and I bet it doesn't have 100 rounds through it.
I e-mailed a respected single-action gunsmith about it, and he basically said that it would be as expensive for him to fix it as to just buy a new one! He said that the issue is due to the hammer-block safety, and that this era's Uberti hammer that had that feature was not hardened at the factory, causing premature and excessive bolt cam wear. It would require replacing the parts with different model Uberti parts that did not include the hammer block safety, and I think he didn't want to take on the legal liability of disabling a safety mechanism on a customer's pistol.
If I want to get this pistol up and running again, it's likely that I will have to replace several parts, to wit: hammer, hand and spring, bolt. Personally I am not concerned with loosing the hammer block safety, as the revolver would simply revert back to the original Colt-style safety, which is between the shooter's ears, not some Mickey Mouse apparatus built into the gun.
Assuming that I can buy the parts from VTI, does anyone know which "newer" model of Uberti revolver would be a likely "donor" to provide parts that will fit? I'm obviously concerned with things like hole diameters, etc.
I am presuming that the major assemblies such as the frame, the cylinder, and barrel, etc. would remain the same when Uberti upgraded from the D-Cam hammer with the internal hammer-block to the current model with the two-position cylinder base pin.
