Uberti 1873 Clone Parts Needed

[cooltouch]

I've got an old Uberti 1873 SAA style revolver with the single word "Regulator" inscribed on the barrel and I need a couple of parts for it.

The hand broke during my last outing to the range with it. This is the model with the old style flat hand spring. I had to replace the hand spring a few years ago and I'd just as soon not try to pry the spring out of the hand to reuse it, so I'm looking for a hand assembly, which would include the spring, already attached.

I've been searching online for replacements, but I'm running into listing after listing that says "no longer available." I don't want to think that this fine old shooter will have to be permanently retired because I can no longer find a hand for it. So I'm hoping someone here might have an idea where I might try to find it. I've tried Brownells and Numrich and Midway and several others, and I'm striking out. But I'm not giving up.

Is it possible to convert one of these old-style revolvers such that it can use a hand with coil spring? If so, what sort of modifications would have to be made to the gun? I have a milling machine and a drill press and a fair number of hand tools, so I'm hoping that, if this conversion is possible, it's something I can do myself.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you'd care to offer.

UPDATE: I located a hand with spring at VTI Gunparts. I've never head of these folks before -- found them doing an Internet search. Anyway, they appear to have it in stock, so I just placed an order. Yay!

 

[Keith G]

Nice! Post a pic of that thing. You also might get more help in the repair/gunsmith section. Some of the guys that hang out there have a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Jim Watson]

Glad you discovered VTI.
The answer to your other question is yes, your flatspring hand can be "Rugerized" by drilling a hole in from the rear of the receiver in JUST the right place and inserting a plunger and coil spring. It will be held in by the backstrap.
There is also a repair by drilling the hand for a piano wire spring acting the same as the original flat spring.

 

[drobs]

Try Ebay.

I bought Uberti El Patron Competition that was missing it's ejector rod, rod spring, rod housing, and screw.
Found the rod, spring, and screw at VTI but no luck on the housing. Ebay had the housing.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Replacing a hand spring is simpler than you think.

For one thing, if you just replace the spring, you don't have to fit a new hand.

Not saying a new hand will need fitting, but it might.

If you use the old hand with a new spring, there is no fitting required.

This is a Remington hand, not a Colt style hand, but the idea is the same.

Place the hand over a gap of some sort. I am using a small vice here. Place the new spring directly on top of the old spring. Using a small hammer, gently tap the new spring into place while it drives the old spring out.

Simple. No prying necessary.

 

[StrawHat]

DJ,

The OP managed to break the hand not the spring. Good trick!

Kevin

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Well, then he may need to fit it, and he may not.

By the way, VTI was created a bunch of years ago when Uberti USA was disbanded. VTI is what came out in the wash and they only deal in parts.

They are very good to deal with.

Ask for Maria if you need help.

 

[cooltouch]

Wow, thanks for all the info, y'all. I'll be sure to file it away for future reference. I think that the next thing I'm gonna replace on this pistol is that flat spring at the bottom of the frame -- the one with the two tines? I've seen where this one tends to break -- usually the shorter of the two tines breaks. The new Wolf replacement seems the hot setup. I don't know how prevalent it is for the main spring to break, but I'm thinking I might ought to go ahead and replace it too while I have things apart.

Just eyeballing the hand, it appears that not much fitment has been done to get it to work right. I'll know soon enough, though. I'll compare the two and do whatever tweeking it looks like I'll need before I install it, which will help some with a lot of back-and-forth steps -- I'm hoping.

I really like this old pistol. It handles great, is accurate to shoot, and spells C - O - L - T whenever I draw back the hammer, something I strangely missed with my old, now-departed Ruger Blackhawk.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yes, the split bolt/trigger spring can break. This one is from a 2nd Gen Colt. This is typical of the way they break. Right across the base of the leg. That is the leg that raises the bolt. Sometimes you will notice the bolt is sluggish popping up. This usually means the spring is cracked, but not completely broken yet. Once I took apart a Colt and as I undid the screw for the spring it fell apart in my hands.






I do have one of the wire springs in one of my Colts. The arrow is pointing to it.






However I prefer the traditional leaf type of spring. The wire springs tend to be lighter and I don't like the way they make the trigger pull really light. Of course one can always bend one leg of a wire spring, you can't do that with the traditional leaf type springs.






The reason this spring tends to break is a stress riser builds up at the sharp corner between the 'main body' of the spring and the two legs. The more of a radius there is in the corner, the less likely it is to break.






Regarding the hammer spring breaking, I have never experienced that, and I have a bunch of Colts, both 1st and 2nd Gens.

However I do like the hammer spring available from Wolff with the slot running up the middle. Helps make for a lighter effort to cock the hammer, which also in turns lightens the trigger pull slightly.

Do remember though, putting in lighter springs is not the same as doing an action job.

 

[RON in PA]

Another possible source of parts for your revolver might be Dixie Gun Works.

 

[Catman42]

i bought a couple of extra screws and hands from the calif. co. when you put a new spring into a hands slot for it put red locktight in the slot first. i had trouble with one of my uberties until i did this. it stays put now. another reply on another post says they didnt like the feel of the wire spring over the flat spring that breaks alot. i dont notice the difference. i also replyed, put the flat spring in a cup of liquid nitrogen and let the nitrogen boil off. this treatment makes any spring last longer. i do this with firing pins on buffalo rifles to make them last longer.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

put the flat spring in a cup of liquid nitrogen and let the nitrogen boil off.

I'm fresh out of liquid nitrogen.

 

[Catman42]

if your living rural, all artificial cattle breeders have it. if not, it would cost very little to send the springs and firing pins to a cryo treatment co.

 

[cooltouch]

Thanks for the additional comments, guys. I should have gotten back here over a week ago and posted an update. The new hand with spring came in the mail just a few days after I ordered it. I compared the new hand with the old and there was a fair amount of difference in the shape of the two, mostly where one side of the hand had been filed down in a beveled sort of direction. I went ahead and fitted it as is though to see if it would work. It didn't. So I pulled it back out and set to the hand with a couple of small files, doing my best to duplicate the shape of the old hand. Fitted it back up and it worked perfectly, with the pistol spelling C O L T in a satisfying manner now. With the old hand, there was a noticeable amount of slack in the lock up before the hammer was drawn back, but once it was drawn, the cylinder was locked up tight. Now, however, the cylinder shows only the slightest amount of slack before drawing back the hammer, and of course, once the hammer is drawn back, the cylinder is again locked down tight.

The main reason why I'm thinking about replacing some of the other springs isn't so much to lighten or improve the trigger or hammer operation as it is to improve longevity of the firearm. I've never used it in Cowboy Action shooting, and likely never will, so speed isn't that important to me.

So, the old Regulator is back in business again. I'm looking forward to getting back out to the range with it. I guess these old SAA types aren't all that common where I go because it drew admiring comments from both the shooter next to me and the range master who checked firearms during the range breaks.

Since it was requested, here are a couple pics of the Regulator.