Pietta vs Uberti

[kevinasch]

BCRider:I never did get the Uberti totally dismantled! The screws have been tight from the word go. When I clean after a trip to the range I take the nipples out. I had to take the Uberti to the local gunsmith to have them removed the first time. He had to make a special tool. That being said, I still recommend the Uberti. A great gun irregardless of a few problems.
Kevin

 

[fingers284]

No matter what you do to the cylinder arbor of a Remington, it will get blasted by BP fouling and bind up. There is no gas shield of any kind in the design. There is a flat area to apply lube, but it is insufficient.
After lubing the chamber mouths, I now give a squirt of Ballistol to the cylinder pin and give it a spin. That works better.

I took a new Pietta .44 c/w 5 shot Kirst conversion cylinder unit. Worked fine with .45 Colt loads, but I had to crank on more tension to the hammer spring for reliable cap & ball ignition. A lot of the failures to fire I've seen can be attributed to too light a hammer fall.

That why I said "mitigated somewhat', I realize we will never stop all the migrating fowling. That is why virtually every original 1858 thru to 1873 will have beating & bruising marks of some kind on the frame/barrel area (especially civil war era specimens) on the side that the hooked end protrudes from users trying to remove a stuck pin

 

[BCRider]

BCRider:I never did get the Uberti totally dismantled! The screws have been tight from the word go. When I clean after a trip to the range I take the nipples out. I had to take the Uberti to the local gunsmith to have them removed the first time. He had to make a special tool. That being said, I still recommend the Uberti. A great gun irregardless of a few problems.
Kevin

Your gun must have been put together at the factory by someone who's nickname was Italian for "Tiny".... The smith didn't have any luck breaking the screws loose either?

The screws will come out but you may need to use a trick a first time trick taught to me by a mechanic taught me a few years back.

Brace the far side of the frame on a piece of hardwood or metal with a layer of cereal box cardboard as a protective pad. Or better yet fold that card stock around both sides and hold the frame in a good bench vise so it's firmly held but not squeezed too tight and has the first screw accessible right at the edge of the jaws. Then lay a strip of aluminium pop can metal or similar over the head of the screws. Use a pin punch with a size that's a little smaller than the screw head to make it easy to center. Give the punch a dozen lighter but firm taps. Use the sort of force on the hammer that you'd use with a smaller size finishing nail. This should cause the screw to break free a lot easier. And be sure that the screwdriver blade fits the slots exactly. You want the blade to reach the bottom of the slot and be pretty well as wide as the full length of the slot. Take your time and custom grind a tip to suit if needed. And don't skimp on the attention to detail for this fit.

And needless to say you won't be tightening them to the same "welded" condition when replacing them, right?

 

[Sharps '63]

Good tip!

I've got wooden blocks that I've glued thick leather onto for clamping guns/parts into my bench vise. Comes in very handy for a LOT of uses where you need to anchor something you don't want to mar.
I use it for disassembly/assembly, scope mounting, cleaning, etc.

I'll be putting all this to the test this coming week end at our annual club CAS event. The weather promises to be marginal at best. Perfect for cap & ball ..... ;>(

 

[BCRider]

Give 'em hell Sharps! And smooth shooting to ya.

It's likely also worth suggesting that a heavy piece of sturdy leather like an old wide leather belt with a screwdriver sized hole in it aught to be used as a shield for the initial snapping loose of the screws. That way if the tip shatters there's something to catch and hold the sharp end of the broken tip if it's a touch too hard a steel. Far better this than having that tip go skittering across the nice looking bluing job.