Uberti Cattleman Reassembly Help!

[dubious]

Hi guys, my Uberti sear bolt spring broke a couple weeks ago, so following RCModels advice i ordered a wolf music wire one. First of all I could use any advice to get the hammer, back in with the sear and hand corectly. I was having some trouble getting the cylinder pin out, so I dropped out the hammer. Then I found this mysterious spring and plunger. I can't figure out where it goes. It's definitely not the loading gate spring. The schematics seem to indicate that this is a hammer safety spring. I don't see a place to put it like in the schematic.

The hammer safety seems to be function fine without the spring and plunger. I'm pressing on the hammer safety from the sear area (where my blue punch is pointing) and it seems to be working.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=325/schematicsdetail/1873_Cattleman_S_A_

 

[average_shooter]

That spring and plunger look like the hand spring setup. If you look at the hand in your picture, immediately left of your blue punch, you can see the line formed from the hand spring plunger.

If you look at the rear of the action, left of where the hammer goes you should see a little hole that lines up with where the hand goes. Spring and plunger go in there. On mine there's a very tiny set screw that holds them in place when the hand is in place, so I would think you should have that as well. Or the hole should have some threads to accept a screw.

To get the hammer and hand in, I have the hand on the hammer and insert both at the same time. It can be difficult to get everything to line up. After the hand and hammer are in you should be able to get that hand spring and plunger back in.

 

[rcmodel]

Sounds like the hand spring and plunger.

It goes in a hole in the grip strap.

Just put everything together, then add the spring & plunger to the hole and put the grip strap back on the assembled frame.

rc

 

[dubious]

Which grip strap hole do i put the spring in?

 

[average_shooter]

Give us a picture of the rear of the action, stripped.

You should see on either side of the hammer a hole for the rear frame screws, where the grip frame attaches to the action. Either just below or just above (don't want to strip mine at the moment and can't remember exactly) the grip frame screw hole on the left there should be a smaller hole, just the size of the plunger, that's where the spring and plunger go. You should only have a few holes to choose from and process of elimination will rule out all but the correct one.

 

[dubious]

Ahhh turns out it was the hand spring not the grip spring. So this model is different from those schematics. It was pretty hairy getting that tiny hand spring screw bolted down until i found the right screwdriver!

 

[average_shooter]

Ahhh turns out it was the hand spring not the grip spring.

Well, yeah, that's what we said.

Not sure what a grip spring is, unless you mean the mainspring. But the mainspring is flat. Originally the hand spring was flat and attached to the hand as well, but coil springs are more reliable and tend to break less. But that tiny retaining screw is a little beast to deal with under spring pressure

FWIW I had the exact same problem with the trigger bolt spring in mine, too. Did the Wolfe replacement and it's been great. Pay close attention to how the gun comes apart next time and in a short period you'll be able to strip it down no problem.

 

[dubious]

Yeah i think i get it now! I'm now somewhat competent at working on the SAA platform. Thanks for your help. How tight should that screw go in to the frame? Perhaps if I tighten it down to far the hand doesn't work ?

 

[average_shooter]

If you're referring to that tiny retaining set screw only screw it in to flush or just below flush with the rear of the action so it doesn't interfere with the grip frame when you put it back together. There's no reason to go tighter. I would think if you do get it too far in there you'll have problems with the spring binding and the hammer / hand won't work as smoothly.

 

[rcmodel]

Did you happen to notice or remember how far it was in the frame when you took it out?

I think if you held your mouth right and did what I suggested in post #3, you could have did it without messing with the screw.

It fell out, so it should have went back in the same way.

rc

 

[average_shooter]

RC, in my experience that hand spring plunger falls out when you pull the hand out. The spring also tends to follow, though it may get stuck in the channel. There's no way to get that plunger back in, with the spring in place, without removing the screw and replacing everything from the rear. Unless you've got fingers smaller that an infant's and more dexterous than an olympic basket weaver, you're not getting that plunger back in the way it fell out. I've tried using fine tweezers and that was more trouble than it was worth, too.

Easiest thing to do when stripping the Cattleman is to back out the retaining screw and remove the hand spring and plunger before removing the hammer and hand. And reverse the process upon reassembly.

Also, if you try to get the hand in after putting the spring and plunger in, you'll either knock the plunger out again, or you simply won't be able to get the hand past the plunger.

 

[rcmodel]

O.K.

I haven't seen or worked on one for quite some time.

Thanks for the info!

rc

 

[dubious]

RC, I guess I must've misread post number 3 and got some silly idea about a grip spring in my head. Not sure what I was thinkin. Not the first foolish thing I've and certainly not the last. Also the hand spring and plunger definitely just popped out on its own when I dropped the hammer out. It seemed like it would be impossible to put back in without removing the screw. Thanks guys!

 

[average_shooter]

If it weren't for the breakage problems with the flat springs I think the original design is much easier. Just getting the hand in also puts the hand spring in place. However, for the reliability of a coil spring you get the headache of having to deal with an additional three small parts in a very confined space.

I want to say earlier derivations of the coil spring and plunger design did not have a retaining screw and simply had the plunger and spring held in place when the rear grip frame was attached. That eliminates the headache of getting that screw in without cross-threading it and against spring pressure, but then you have to juggle keeping everything lined up while you get the grip frame mounted and be careful not to pinch the coil spring.

Everything has tradeoffs.

 

[dubious]

Oh yeah one more question... is it safe to dry fire this uberti with no snap caps and the saftey base pin pushed on? It seems like it the hammer wouldnt be hittting the frame. Or should i use snap caps and safety off?

 

[average_shooter]

Use snap caps.

If you dry fire with the base pin in it's normal position you're smacking the hammer against the frame just above the firing pin.

If you dry fire with the base pin all the way in ("safety" mode) you're smacking the hammer against the base pin, and subsequently the base pin retaining screw, just below the firing pin.

All of that puts various stresses on the hammer and I've always been recommended against doing that, and the recommendations came originally from a CAS guy that competed quite a bit. I believe the manual also recommends against dry firing without snap caps and states the intent of the longer base pin is to act as a kind of additional safety.

To provide the least amount of undue stress, use snap caps.