The good news was that my new Schofield arrived yesterday and I picked it up in the evening.  The bad news is that I am sending it back to Taylor's today because it has a problem with the hammer block safety not functioning properly.  The block does not drop out of the way, so the hammer never goes all the way forward.  I tried a few things, but I don't want to open the gun up and potentially void the warranty, so back it goes.

I had to tell some people who could understand the pain I feel--after all this time, I had the gun for just over 12 hours and never got to shoot it.  We'll see how Taylor's service is...

CC Griff

PS--Do I still get to be a BOSS member?  I do own a Schofield...sort of.  I'm just not a "shootist" at this point.

One of the very first things many Uberti Schofield owners do is remove the hammerblock safety.  The action is smoother without it, and it's there to comply with the requirements for importing guns into the US, as well as many state's requirement concerning a gun firing if dropped upon its hammer.  The Uberti made Russian also has the hammer-block safety.

With it removed, extra attention must be taken to never drop the loaded revolver.

I have a pair of Beretta Laramies, which IMHO, are very fine revolvers and easily my favorite ones to boot.

BUT

Both had the same problem your Schofield had and neither would work out-of-the-box. Once I removed the "safeties" they have performed flawlessly.

Flint's note about being extra careful not to drop them is very wise advice, however, once that is done.

Thanks, gents.  I had already shipped the gun back before Flint's reply.  Hopefully they'll fix it (without too long of a wait), then I'll think about removing the safety. 

The gunsmith at Taylor's said that they didn't used to have the safeties on their guns even though other importers did.  He said that other importers had requested the safeties, but that Taylor's hadn't wanted them.  He said that Uberti recently started adding them to all guns shipped from the factory...

My gun came back from Taylor's today--less than a week since I shipped it back!  They recieved it on Monday and must have shipped it back out on Wednesday.  That's better than I could have hoped.  It is all fixed now--I put about 20 rounds through it when I came home from work.  Now it's official: I'm a Schofield shootist at last.

CC Griff

Congrat's!!

Could someone point me in the direction of obtaining directions for removing the hammer block safety. My Uberti Schofields and New Model Russian function just fine as is, but my Laramie seems a bit finicky with this safety mechanism.
Thanks,
Bangor Dan

Open it up (carefully, you tap on the frame once the screws are removed with a wood mallet... the sideplate will pop up.  DO NOT pry) Pull the hand/pawl back out of its slot with a finger and wiggle the hammer  and hand together up off the pivot pin.  With the hammer removed, the hammerblock safety and its spring are exposed and easily removed.

I'm going to point out something here that's never been addressed.

Removal of the factory-installed hammer block (whether a 'needed' accessory or not) can put you into a world of hurt, should someone get themselves injured by 'your' revolver.

The first thing that'll happen after they confiscate the piece will be a detailed stripping of the weapon in order to see the relationship of parts and so on and so forth.

Once they see that you have 'knowingly rendered the weapon unsafe' - your life will change dramatically as lawyers line up to take everything you ever thought of owning.

This will happen even if the injured individual managed to damage himself all on his lonesome.

It's 'your' weapon - it's 'your' responsibility...

That being said - be certain to keep the hammer block and spring - and be sure to replace them when you sell or trade the piece.

Good Luck.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

St. George,
I do appreciate the "lawyer warning", and probably won't remove said safety device unless it simply won't allow for proper function with it in place.
My biggest problem is that I don't understand how the safety actually functions in my Laramie, and that when I full cock and then lower the hammer back down the tip of the firing pin is not visible in the gap between the cylinder and frame, so I can't imagine how it could hit a primer. I haven't had the opportunity to actually fire the thing yet.
I should note that I've been able to fire one of my Uberti Schofield's with absolutely no problem, and that when the hammer is lowered on this one the tip of the firing pin is always visible. Hope this makes some sense!
Bangor Dan

I finally found a supposedly new Uberti .44 Russian to look at in person at a local gunstore. It did not seem to have any kind of transfer bar/ hammer block to it. Are there some out there that don't have these type of safeties to them?

You're right, it can't be seen.  The Schofield latch spring is visible with the hammer cocked, but not the safety, and I don't see it looking into the Russian.  I removed mine, but I will pull a sideplate and look again, it might be deep enough to be invisible from the outside.

Flint, ever find that safety?

I've still been trying to find someone that can tell me if the .44 Russian Cylinder and the Cylinder on the Schofield are the same length. I can never find the two type of guns in the same place. I have a hard enough time find one example of either to begin with. I don't guess KY is a big market for any of these type guns. I've also been trying to find an Open Top in .44 SP with Navy Grips to look at. (I like to look at guns in person before I lay out the money for them)

Quote from: Kentuckian on April 09, 2009, 08:25:53 PM
I've still been trying to find someone that can tell me if the .44 Russian Cylinder and the Cylinder on the Schofield are the same length.

No! The Schofield cylinder is about 1/16 inch longer.

Joss is right, the Schofield cylinder (in 44, at least) is .06 longer.  The Uberti Russian cylinder is 1.50 inches long and the Schofield is 1.56 inches long.  An original S&W Russian, and a Model 3 (also in 44 Rus) cylinders are 1.42 inces long.

I don't know if the Uberti Russian chambered in 45 Colt is the same .06 shorter or not, it would be a tight fit if it is.

Uberti's longer than original Russian cylinder may mean they might have planned a 44 Special chamber ??

This does give the Uberti Russian a 1/16 longer gas ring, so it probably will handle black powder fouling better than the Schofield.

The hammer block safety and spring are too far down to really see without removing the sideplate.  It is a hammer block, not a transfer bar.

Someone asked about instructions for removing the safety.  Of course a person needs to consider whether that is a good idea, but for instructions, David R. Chicoine has written a couple of books that cover the issue well: Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West and Antique Firearms Assembly/Disassembly are two that I have used.

I should mention, however, that I had a hard time reinstalling the Barrel Catch/Stud Latch.  I don't know if it was just me, but the Stud Latch Spring just didn't want to engage properly.  This wasn't covered in the books.  I ended up figuring out a way to get it installed, but it might not have been the "correct" way (it is installed correctly, I just don't know if the method I used was correct).

Still learning,

CC Griff

Those latch springs can be a PIA to reinstall. As with most of the mechanical aspects of the inner workings on any S&W, it requires trial and error and common sense. Study all the components and their relationship to each other and their mechanic function and you can usually figure it out. That is why Chicoine didn't cover it in in detail as it would be difficult to explain in written words.

The spring tip  has to be pushed until you can get it to seat, or start to seat in the notch of the latch.  It takes more hands and fingers and a tool tougher than a fingertip to accomplish the task.  Once you know how to get the spring and latch aligned, it is a faster (but not easier) operation.

As I said, I don't know if it was the "right" way, but I pushed the spring slightly out of place towards the inside of the gun so that the tip wouldn't catch on the latch.  Then I seated the latch where it goes.  Cocking the hammer, I reached in with a small screwdriver and compressed the spring slightly and pushed it back into place so that it was properly aligned and the tip of the spring was in the notch on the latch.  It worked, but I had a sinking feeling that there was a better way...

CC Griff

Coal Creek, whatever works without damage, yoou got it back together, you're fine.