I picked up this circa 2001 manufacture Uberti 1873 .45LC in a trade deal for an original 1873 that was collectible, but with a poor bore and that needed a little action work. Although cosmetically fine, when I got it, it didn't feed anything except RNFP ammo, the action was "stock" and pretty "clackety-clack" and someone had (VERY poorly) drilled and tapped the tang off-center for a Lyman peep.
My ultimate goal for this rifle is CAS use, so the tang site was totally useless to me. (I still have it in a box). The tapping was so poor that a plug screw looked awful, so first step was to have Gunco in Ottawa plug the hole with a TIG weld and dress the tang back down as close to possible to "stock". To hide the repair, it was carefully rust-blued in that area then aged - it more or less blends in with the color case hardening now. Certainly good enough, even if a corned of the roll stamp is missing.
Next the super-ultr-heavy Uberti lever safety spring had to GO. I installed a Longhunter ultra-light safety coil spring in lieu of the stock leaf spring. So that the trigger spring screw would not protrude, I ground the arm off the stock lever spring and re-installed it over the trigger spring as a spacer. You'll also notice the hammer spring has been ground thinner and a slit milled down the middle of it to reduce the power.
As part of the fix for not feeding semi-wads, wads, and cones, The barrel was removed from the action and the bottom 1/3 of the chamber mouth was slightly throated and the entire chamber mouth de-burred. I also made a lot of changes to the action mechanism and feed block (more on that later), but it now feeds every bullet I could throw at it flawlessly.
Front sight was replaced with a Pioneer Gun Works speed dot.
Next to lighten lever resistance and speed up the action, the stock brass cartridge carrier went into my milling machine for a crash diet. Some people like going to the aluminum blocks that are anodized a brass-ish colour, but I'm not a fan of those as you wear away the anodizing fairly quick and they start looking ugly. This "lightening" solution is not quite as light, but it's more durable and will last as long as the gun. A few smiths have their own way of milling lightening cuts into the carrier blocks, but this is how I do it - so far I haven't seen anyone else do it exactly like this (which could be good or bad - lol!)
Other mods I haven't photographed yet:
-PGW short-stroke kit has been fitted and timed (for those who care, these kits are MUCH harder to install in a .45 than a .357 rifle - you have to remove a LOT more material from the lifter to get the action to time. If I was doing these for customers, I'd charge more for a .45)
-the gross OEM plasticky finish has been removed from the wood
-stock set re-finished with a light treatment of walnut color oil-based leather dye (to make the euro walnut look like black walnut) and 6 coats of Lee Valley polymerized linseed oil mixed with bee's wax
-Leather finger-guard added to the lever, baseball stitched with waxed sinew
-Whisper springs added and tuned
-action internals de-burred and slicked
-Firing pin extension replaced with hollow extension and fitted to the bolt
-firing pin tip re-contoured and debarred
-all (soft) OEM action screws replaced with VTI hardened screws
I'll post more pics later, but some of the new action internals are off at a local shop to be hot caustic blued.
My ultimate goal for this rifle is CAS use, so the tang site was totally useless to me. (I still have it in a box). The tapping was so poor that a plug screw looked awful, so first step was to have Gunco in Ottawa plug the hole with a TIG weld and dress the tang back down as close to possible to "stock". To hide the repair, it was carefully rust-blued in that area then aged - it more or less blends in with the color case hardening now. Certainly good enough, even if a corned of the roll stamp is missing.
Next the super-ultr-heavy Uberti lever safety spring had to GO. I installed a Longhunter ultra-light safety coil spring in lieu of the stock leaf spring. So that the trigger spring screw would not protrude, I ground the arm off the stock lever spring and re-installed it over the trigger spring as a spacer. You'll also notice the hammer spring has been ground thinner and a slit milled down the middle of it to reduce the power.
As part of the fix for not feeding semi-wads, wads, and cones, The barrel was removed from the action and the bottom 1/3 of the chamber mouth was slightly throated and the entire chamber mouth de-burred. I also made a lot of changes to the action mechanism and feed block (more on that later), but it now feeds every bullet I could throw at it flawlessly.
Front sight was replaced with a Pioneer Gun Works speed dot.
Next to lighten lever resistance and speed up the action, the stock brass cartridge carrier went into my milling machine for a crash diet. Some people like going to the aluminum blocks that are anodized a brass-ish colour, but I'm not a fan of those as you wear away the anodizing fairly quick and they start looking ugly. This "lightening" solution is not quite as light, but it's more durable and will last as long as the gun. A few smiths have their own way of milling lightening cuts into the carrier blocks, but this is how I do it - so far I haven't seen anyone else do it exactly like this (which could be good or bad - lol!)
Other mods I haven't photographed yet:
-PGW short-stroke kit has been fitted and timed (for those who care, these kits are MUCH harder to install in a .45 than a .357 rifle - you have to remove a LOT more material from the lifter to get the action to time. If I was doing these for customers, I'd charge more for a .45)
-the gross OEM plasticky finish has been removed from the wood
-stock set re-finished with a light treatment of walnut color oil-based leather dye (to make the euro walnut look like black walnut) and 6 coats of Lee Valley polymerized linseed oil mixed with bee's wax
-Leather finger-guard added to the lever, baseball stitched with waxed sinew
-Whisper springs added and tuned
-action internals de-burred and slicked
-Firing pin extension replaced with hollow extension and fitted to the bolt
-firing pin tip re-contoured and debarred
-all (soft) OEM action screws replaced with VTI hardened screws
I'll post more pics later, but some of the new action internals are off at a local shop to be hot caustic blued.
Most of the learning is on the 1st rifle - lol. I'm not a commercial gunsmith, I'm an Engineer and a machinst who does the odd gunsmithing job. Most of the work I do is not hard, but would be made so if you don;t have access to things like welders, milling machines and lathes.
