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1861 Uberti

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Festus

36 Cl.
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Just received a new Uberti 1861 Colt. Was a little disappointed at first. When I went to take the barrel off the arbor, it took a little force. After I got it off and went to put it back together, I couldn’t get even close to sliding together again. I ended up polishing up the end of the arbor with emery cloth and honed the bore a little before I could get it to slide back on. So I loaded it up and went to shoot it and only one cylinder would fire. The nipples were a little short, so I screwed in some slix-shots and it works good now. The cylinder has a slight bit of end play and seems to foul up the end of the cylinder a bit so as to make it difficult to cock it. Anyone else have similar problems? This is the fifth Uberti I have had and the first one I had to fiddle with to make it work.
 
Here are treatises on tuning the Uberti open top Colt Revolvers:
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Uberti_Open_Top_Revolvers_Part_1.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Uberti_Open_Top_Revolvers_Part_2.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Uberti_Open_Top_Revolvers_Part_3.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Uberti_Open_Top_Revolvers_Part_4.pdf

Best to read the Pietta Articles as well as they are referenced throughout the Uberti documents:
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_One.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf

Figure all Uberti Colts old and new have a short Arbors. Correcting that will solve the majority of your problems.

Here's a good BP C&B Revolver gunsmith with lots of positive reviews on youtube and other forums:
http://www.goonsgunworks.com/
He even installs a cap rake that will eliminate cap jams altogether.

All my C&B revolvers are Pietta's that I tuned up using the above articles. However, I have parts gun, I'm tempted to send him. The hand on that one needs some work.
 
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Just received a new Uberti 1861 Colt. Was a little disappointed at first. When I went to take the barrel off the arbor, it took a little force. After I got it off and went to put it back together, I couldn’t get even close to sliding together again. I ended up polishing up the end of the arbor with emery cloth and honed the bore a little before I could get it to slide back on. So I loaded it up and went to shoot it and only one cylinder would fire. The nipples were a little short, so I screwed in some slix-shots and it works good now. The cylinder has a slight bit of end play and seems to foul up the end of the cylinder a bit so as to make it difficult to cock it. Anyone else have similar problems? This is the fifth Uberti I have had and the first one I had to fiddle with to make it work.

Yes, PaPaBruce posted having 1 nipple that was too short on a new Uberti 1861.--->>> https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/need-advice-on-a-uberti-1861-pistol.113614/

By saying "The nipples were a little short...", do you mean that they were too short to be able to fire without changing them out?
And even now the original nipples won't work because they're too short?

Where was it purchased from?
 
Ordered it through Midway. The nipples are visually shorter than the slix-shots except for one. I have fixed short arbors before, the thing that irritated me was how tight this one was. They must have pounded it together with a mallet when they assembled it. I did some more polishing on the arbor and the bore and it seems to be pretty good now. Now I will address the short arbor and should be good to go.
 
I bought an Uberti Colt 1860 from Dixie. Could not get the barrel off at all, lots of cylinder end play, sent it back. The replacement was good, no issues.

Some time later, not sure how many rounds but certainly not heavy use the bolt would slip off the hammer prematurely and I was unable to rotate the cylinder to load. I bought a less expensive replacement hammer from Dixie and hand fit the bolt leg to get it going again.

I also have an Uberti 1858 Remington, no problems with it, however it spends it's time on the shelf, I like the Colt better.
 
Sell it and get a Remington.

Thank me later, kid.
Piffle. If you gave me a Remington I’d immediately sell it and buy the 1860 Army or trade up for a Ruger and I’d thank you right now... The NMA is a fine weapon, no doubt, but it just doesn’t fit my hands. The Colt does, and to date nobody’s ever made a more natural pointing sixgun.
 
Here in UK that baby would be right back where it came from, with a full refund. You didn't buy a 90%-finished revolver kit, but you did buy a merchantable item that is NOT fit for purpose.

Luckily for you guys in the USA that entails little or no paperwork. whereas here in UK it's a whole new pistol and re-application, even on a one-for-one, that can take months.
 
I bought an Uberti Colt 1860 from Dixie. Could not get the barrel off at all, lots of cylinder end play, sent it back. The replacement was good, no issues.

Some time later, not sure how many rounds but certainly not heavy use the bolt would slip off the hammer prematurely and I was unable to rotate the cylinder to load. I bought a less expensive replacement hammer from Dixie and hand fit the bolt leg to get it going again.

I also have an Uberti 1858 Remington, no problems with it, however it spends it's time on the shelf, I like the Colt better.
I suspect they sent it over to Pedersoli to be assembled in the drunk-monkey room. It's odd to hear these experiences, as I have a Uberti Remington Navy that is so absolutely perfect and accurate that it is scary. However, I did get it from a friend, who was a friend of Uberti's daughter, long ago when she was the U.S. sales rep. So it is probably a "ringer". I received it still new-in-the-box.
 
This was the first somewhat disappointing experience I have had with a Uberti. After a little tinkering it works good. It should work right out of the box though. I have a couple Piettas that I never had trouble with either. In the future I won’t buy one until I can look at it though.
 
Just received a new Uberti 1861 Colt. Was a little disappointed at first. When I went to take the barrel off the arbor, it took a little force. After I got it off and went to put it back together, I couldn’t get even close to sliding together again. I ended up polishing up the end of the arbor with emery cloth and honed the bore a little before I could get it to slide back on. So I loaded it up and went to shoot it and only one cylinder would fire. The nipples were a little short, so I screwed in some slix-shots and it works good now. The cylinder has a slight bit of end play and seems to foul up the end of the cylinder a bit so as to make it difficult to cock it. Anyone else have similar problems? This is the fifth Uberti I have had and the first one I had to fiddle with to make it work.

Sometimes I wonder if the smaller Unerti percussion revolvers are made in a different factory than the larger revolvers are.

I have had very good luck with the Uberti 1851 Navy and 1860 Army, but the three little five-shot Pocket Navies I have bought have been real pains.
One of them I have decided to use as a spare parts set.
 
I just got an Uberti Dragoon. Similar barrel removal issues. Haven't had chance to shoot yet.
 
I have a L.Pietta 1860 and have never had a problem with it. The only Uberti I own is a 4 3/4" bbl 1873 peace maker .45 Long Colt. It is a real shooter, also without any problems. I do like to load it with black powder cartridges as I love all the smoke from black powder. I just wish I could remove the "Cabellas" stamp from the bbl without messing up the old time finish that was applied to the pistol.
 
Had the same problem dismounting the barrel on a recently purchased Uberti 1860 Army. Had to remove a fair bit of the arbor diameter to get a proper slip fit into the arbor bore on the barrel assembly.
Other than that no problems and the revolver is one of my better shooters.
I will agree with the OP that a too tight arbor should have been corrected at the factory.
 
Just received a new Uberti 1861 Colt. Was a little disappointed at first. When I went to take the barrel off the arbor, it took a little force. After I got it off and went to put it back together, I couldn’t get even close to sliding together again. I ended up polishing up the end of the arbor with emery cloth and honed the bore a little before I could get it to slide back on.

The issue of an extremely tight arbor is now becoming a pattern with the Uberti Dragoons and Walkers.
2 people with 3 new Dragoons and a Walker have just posted elsewhere that they couldn't resolve a tight arbor issue without polishing or filing the arbor.
A 3rd person with another new Walker can't get his back together, it's stuck and unable to mate with the frame.
What he describes appears to be the same problem of having a tight arbor but he's sending it out to get "Goonerized" anyway, and is still unfired.
But there's enough reports from owners of new Uberti Colts to see that its not only a single isolated case.
 
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My Uberti Walker was perfect when I got it. The arbor was short but , it worked fine right out of the box. I had to tap on the loading lever to get my 1861 apart and couldn’t get it back together for nothing. After some polishing on the arbor and the bore I was able to get it on far enough to get the wedge in. They had to have pounded it together at the factory and that is why I was disgusted. I also have a couple of Piettas which I haven’t had trouble with. Thinking maybe trying another? How is the arbor length on the Piettas?
 
How is the arbor length on the Piettas?

I have not read any complaints about the Pietta arbor lengths and that's why many people prefer to buy them.
Their arbors seem to have very exact tolerances and I can't recall ever hearing about anyone needing to shim one or polish one.

Uberti seems to be living off their reputation and by making models that no other companies do.
If they lose their reputation then their market share will shrink too.
 
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