If you read my last post on my recent acquisition of this revolver, I gave the impression that this was a very fine revolver that benefited just a little from some minor stoning and bolt leg work but was otherwise fantastic. Well, I spent most of the afternoon correcting a little problem, and I'm curious how many others may have encountered this.
When I was testing cylinder rotation with a loaded cylinder, I found that the cylinder felt like it was binding on something whenever the muzzle was pointed at the sky. Further investigation revealed that the rims of the cartridge were catching on some rough machining on the breech side of the recoil shield. Here is the offending areas.
There was a slight difference in height between the loading gate shank area and the recoil shield. This height difference was only very slight, but some of the cartridge rims were catching momentarily on this sharp edge. But the worst area was the ledge created by the rough machining on the left side of the shield. Now as I imagine the manufacturing process, the headspace area at the top is critical. So I guess that Uberti finishes this area carefully but then has to blend the loading gate shank into the rest of the recoil sheild, and this often causes the lower part of the shield to be machined deeper than the headspace area at the top of the shield. So somewhere along the way, these two areas have to meet, and the transition should be as smooth as possible. I noticed the same "step" in the recoil shield of my Colt, but the transition is much smoother, and rounds don't catch on it.
So I tore her back down again and got the stones out. I first attempted to attack the following area shown in pink with small stones and a cylindrical stone. This proved very difficult to get a smooth transition, and I was noticing that the area shown in yellow was actually a shallow depression caused by some rough machining.
Eventually, I switched to larger stones and increased the area of my blend. I was careful to stay away from the actual area where a cartridge would be sitting under the hammer, so as not to increase the headspace any. But the total area stoned became quite large. Eventually, I'd eliminated the machine marks and created a smooth transitional surface from the deeper area at the bottom to the shallower area at the top.
Of course, this now left a large bare patch of steel that I had to hit with some cold blue. I dabbed it on with a cotton swab, attempting to mottle the color a little bit. It turned out better than I expected.
I also beveled these areas shown, though this is only a "before" photo; I forgot to take an "after" one.
Now I can put it on half-cock, point the muzzle at the sky, and rotate a loaded cylinder without any hint of a hitch in rotation. However, it was suggested by someone else that I had gotten carried away with the stoning and had eliminated an important part of the recoil shield--that "step" that the other person claims is present on all single actions and is somehow important to the design. He said that mine was too sharp from the factory but I got the impression that he believed its presence was necessary.
My thinking is that since I did not touch any area covered by the rim of a cartridge that was actually being fired, that I did no harm. But I'd be interested in your opinions. I'd also be very interested in pics of other's recoil shields in this area and/or anyone else's experiences with cartridge rims catching on these areas.
I'm hoping to get to the range next week, and I'll post a range report then.
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