73 mainspring tension screw on older Uberti?

[Cliff Fendley]

I am working on an older 73 carbine circa 1978 and some jackleg in the past has ground off the mainspring tension screw and it appears someone else tried too hard to adjust it because the threads are pretty much shot.

I have new screws but they are too small so I guess Uberti changed this at some point. Can anyone tell me what size and thread count that screw is supposed to be on the older gun?

[Coffinmaker]

Well ..... TA DA ...... NO.  Nada clue.  Normally I don't answer unless I can contribute something.  ......  Ah .. anything.  Were it I on the
job, I'd find something close in the form of a Cap Head Set Screw.  Drill out the old threads, Counter bore for the head of the new screw,
thread the hole and call it done.  Or, even a close size long enough set screw. 

So long as the actual Main Spring retaining screw is intact almost anything can be drilled and tapped to work.  Unfortunately, it has been my experience over the years, when Uberti makes a change, they only support the "old" parts until they run out or have had no call for
them and dispose of them.  For Uberti rifles that "ancient" Uberti doesn't support ANY replacement parts unless they are the same as
new build.

Coffinmaker

[Cliff Fendley]

Yeah after closer inspection the threads in the tang are about shot also. I found what I think is the right size screw but it doesn't seem to be grabbing much so I'm going to drill and tap it to a slightly larger (probably a long set screw).

A bunch of stuff on this gun is different than newer parts. Someone (I would assume the same someone that butchered the tension screw) had also discarded the lever safety. I had to make that part because the new lever safety arms are too short.

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[John Smith]

I had trouble with the mainspring screw also, I found a metric bolt, about 1" long, put it through the mainspring hole, then tightened a nut down , used loc-tite, then using a dremel, cut the bolt flush with the nut.

[Cliff Fendley]

No problem with the mainspring screw, it's the tension adjusting screw, it and the frame have the threads about half stripped out.

The new screws are too small and the right screw was too loose on the threads. I believe it's the same size and thread count as the screw that holds the stock on which are both a little larger than current production guns.

[Coffinmaker]

Cliff,
Unfortunately, for a Uberti rifle made back in the 70s, almost none of the new build Uberti parts will fit.  the bolt/firing pin/extension rod
are all different as is the geometry of the frame.  The lever side springs are also quite different.

Unfortunately, there have been a number of folks who don't understand how to work on the guns and just manage to butcher them.  I have never been able to figure out why people thought it was a good idea to remove the Lever Safety as opposed to just tuning or
replacing the spring.  There were several discussions some years back on another board about removing the lever safety.  there were
those who just didn't understand how to make it user friendly.  MORONS.

Coffinmaker

PS:  There is also no rime nor reason to abuse the Main Spring Tension Screw.  It's a pretty simple idea.

[Pettifogger]

Unless you are running a super soft after market spring or have ground down your stock original to far you don't even need the tension screw.

[Cliff Fendley]

Unless you are running a super soft after market spring or have ground down your stock original to far you don't even need the tension screw.

That's the problem, the spring in the gun is too soft, will only set off Federal primers. It sets Winchesters off most of the time and if the screw wasn't butchered I think it would adjust where it functions like it should.

I have decided to just replace the main spring. I have several stock ones I can just tune until I get them right without the screw.

[Cliff Fendley]

Cliff,
Unfortunately, for a Uberti rifle made back in the 70s, almost none of the new build Uberti parts will fit.  the bolt/firing pin/extension rod
are all different as is the geometry of the frame.  The lever side springs are also quite different.

Unfortunately, there have been a number of folks who don't understand how to work on the guns and just manage to butcher them.  I have never been able to figure out why people thought it was a good idea to remove the Lever Safety as opposed to just tuning or
replacing the screw.  There were several discussions some years back on another board about removing the lever safety.  there were
those who just didn't understand how to make it user friendly.  MORONS.

Coffinmaker

PS:  There is also no rime nor reason to abuse the Main Spring Tension Screw.  It's a pretty simple idea.

Yeah removing the safety makes no sense. They removed the lever safety but still had the tiny pin through the bolt. An out of battery discharge on the 44-40 could have sent the firing pin extension into the shooters eye.

I have drilled and replaced the tiny pin with a larger one and got the lever safety operational again. The main spring was just too light so I had to tear it back down. Apparently they used Federal primers only. Federals work fine but about 1 out of 10 Winchesters won't fire.

I think I'm just going to replace the main spring and tune it accordingly rather than drill and tap the lower tang for another tension screw.