OD#3
01-11-2013, 12:41 PM
I recently purchased a brand-new Uberti 1873 sporting rifle in .45 Colt, but it appears to have issues. I haven't shot it, because the first time I tried to test cycle some rounds through it, they consistently hung up on the cartridge rim support lug as the carrier was trying to lift them. Since these were BP handloads of mine for my Colt SAA, and this was my first toggle rifle in a long time (I sold my '60 Henry repro many years ago) I first assumed that I hadn't adhered to the COL exactly. Today I measured the rounds, and all were about 1.59 and fit easily in the frame window for the carrier. At the lever's open travel limit, the bolt face is retracted into the rear of the receiver's carrier window slightly, and the cartridge rim support lug is flush with the rear of the carrier window--exactly as it should be, I think. But during cycling, it appears as if the carrier is rising a little too early, causing the rising cartridge rim to catch on the bottom of the cartridge rim support lug, jamming up the works. Either that, or the lug itself is too long.
According to Chicoine's book "Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West", the bolt shoulder is supposed to snug up against the abutment on the receiver when closed. On mine, there is at least a millimeter gap between these two surfaces when the bolt is closed, and it is rather the cartridge rim support lug that bottoms out against the bottom of the chamber (the relief cut here being too small to allow the lug to enter completely without wedging against the top and bottom of the cut). I don't know how hard it is mashing against this area, but it looks like it could eventually peen the bottom of the chamber up, causing chambering issues.
I'm confident that I can delay the carrier rise by removing some metal from the top of the lifter arm, but I'm worried that this would also lower the carrier's final height, causing poor feeding. So I'm thinking that perhaps I should instead remove some metal from the cartridge rim support lug. This should allow the rim to clear it on the way up and also prevent the lug from contacting the lug relief cut at the bottom of the chamber. But I just don't know. This is my first 1873, and I'd hadn't expected to have these issues with a new Uberti.
Is it common for there to be a space on a closed bolt between its shoulders and the frame with Uberties? As long as the headspace is fine (and it is), I wouldn't think it would matter all that much, except that Chicoine mentions a tight fit here as being one of the goals when tighting up a loose toggle action, and that there should be a little resistance felt as the result of this when links approach top dead center. The only resistance I feel is from the carrier arm springing back down. I really hate to get involved in a warranty repair hassle, and I'd rather just fix this myself with a little adjustment if that's all it takes. But considering the other poor fitment concerns, did I just get a bad rifle?
According to Chicoine's book "Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West", the bolt shoulder is supposed to snug up against the abutment on the receiver when closed. On mine, there is at least a millimeter gap between these two surfaces when the bolt is closed, and it is rather the cartridge rim support lug that bottoms out against the bottom of the chamber (the relief cut here being too small to allow the lug to enter completely without wedging against the top and bottom of the cut). I don't know how hard it is mashing against this area, but it looks like it could eventually peen the bottom of the chamber up, causing chambering issues.
I'm confident that I can delay the carrier rise by removing some metal from the top of the lifter arm, but I'm worried that this would also lower the carrier's final height, causing poor feeding. So I'm thinking that perhaps I should instead remove some metal from the cartridge rim support lug. This should allow the rim to clear it on the way up and also prevent the lug from contacting the lug relief cut at the bottom of the chamber. But I just don't know. This is my first 1873, and I'd hadn't expected to have these issues with a new Uberti.
Is it common for there to be a space on a closed bolt between its shoulders and the frame with Uberties? As long as the headspace is fine (and it is), I wouldn't think it would matter all that much, except that Chicoine mentions a tight fit here as being one of the goals when tighting up a loose toggle action, and that there should be a little resistance felt as the result of this when links approach top dead center. The only resistance I feel is from the carrier arm springing back down. I really hate to get involved in a warranty repair hassle, and I'd rather just fix this myself with a little adjustment if that's all it takes. But considering the other poor fitment concerns, did I just get a bad rifle?