1860 hand spring

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TheRodDoc

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Shot my new Uberti 1860 today. fouled up at just 6 shots. Couldn't cock it again. (Testing first with no lube in gun like I shoot my colts).

First Reason is the hand spring. Uberti makes it waaaay to stiff for its purpose. Being to stiff holds the cylinder ahead hard against barrel forcing cone when cocking gun. And against any fouling on cyl face.
When loading the gun I noticed the strong spring right away. Difficult to turn the cylinder with 2 fingers of left hand that is holding gun to load it. Only because of the spring.
That spring should be just stiff enough to hold hand against back of cyl. And that's not much.

I don't have a scale to check it with but the weight of a full box of 100 .454 round balls sitting on spring end will just very slightly flex it.

My colt 1851 cyl. spins freely with only a click, click of the hand. The way it should be.

Second reason is that the cyl face needs the machine marks polished off of it to help eliminate fouling sticking to it. Got that done now. Shines like a mirror like my other gun now.

These were the 2 reasons it seized up.

Arbor was clean.

So I need to replace the hand spring with a lighter one. It has to be a light one to make this gun work like it should.

Any one know if thinner lighter springs are available anywhere for a Uberti 1860 army?

Or do i have to make one?
 
Thanks Junkman,

looks easy to do. In fact I have a replacment spring and plunger for a ruger single six. Spares

I will consider that method.

Will the unloaded cyl. on the one you fixed stay to rear when gun is aimed straight up and hammer at half cock and full cock?

Meaning is the new spring and plunger that light?
That's what I need.
 
RodDoc,
No, mine functions as it was designed to. It pushes the cylinder forward, but lightly. The amount of force that pushes it forward can be regulated by the length of the spring you use.
 
Got the spring done. For now I just thinned the original one by slightly over half (not the width). It's perfect now. Cylinder will stay to rear where it should when cocking gun. Cylinder spins almost freely too. What a difference. Cocks very smooth now. And easier too even when gun is clean. Haven't shot it yet but I know it will help a lot with the fouling problems.

Now it needs the hammer side bolt leg spring lightened too. Same there. Waaay to strong.
It takes to much force to move hammer completely forward past bolt leg from full cock. (no main spring in gun.)
 
Now it needs the hammer side bolt leg spring lightened too. Same there. Waaay to strong.
It takes to much force to move hammer completely forward past bolt leg from full cock. (no main spring in gun.)
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be any need to weaken that leg of the bolt at all. Make sure it has a good, smooth angle where the hammer cam slips past it, and polish it nice and shiny. More importantly, file down and finely polish the cam on the hammer. It only needs to protrude the width of the leg on the bolt. Then a very small touch of good grease and it'll be slicker'n snot.
 
Wolff makes a round wire replacement spring for the Colt Single Action that fits admirably. Much lighter, but still has positive lock up.
 
BHP Fan, I think he is referring to the hand(or pawl)spring not the trigger/bolt spring. ;)

An old trick I have used many times is to take the hand and spring out of the gun, insert the tip end of a screwdriver between the spring and the hand as close to the bottom as possible and bend the top of the spring toward the hand. This relieves some of the tension on the hand without removing any metal.
 
I first lightened the hand spring. With the original one thinned, I then thinned the bolt leg on the hammer side.
Used a slitting saw in my horizontal mill. I widened the original slot toward the hammer side. Reduced that leg thickness by half there by lightening its spring tension a fair amount. This will greatly reduce wear on hammer cam and bolt leg keeping gun in time much longer. And it works super smooth.

I also ground the bolt - trigger spring thinner too. Just the bolt side. Trigger side needed its stock strength. Trigger is light as was.

What a difference!

Beside the polishing of cyl face I already have done, I still have one more step to do, (or try for I haven't ever done this one before so not sure of results)

I want to see if I can tighten up the cyl. to arbor fit.
Would love to get it as close as my 1851 Colt. (.0005" to .001")

I'm going to try coating it with Teflon Molly bake-on coating. I will test it on a piece of steel shaft first to see if it will build up and how much per coat.

Any one ever used it?
Does it build up in thickness?
 
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