Fitting replacement hand to Uberti Navy.

[mec]

I've had a run of luck regarding parts breakage but today The handspring snapped off level with the slot. Still got to shoot as the revolver funcitioned as long as I pointed it down to cock. Pointed leve or up, the cylinder wouldn't turn and it had back rotation on half cock.

These things are usually sold as a unit because the handspring is crimped into a slot in the back of the hand. Trying to remove the broken section usually winds up breaking the hand anyway.

So the SOP is to make the other hand look like the other hand. I used a caliper for length measurement and tried to match the angles and metal removal of the original I had to take a bit of metal off the bottom curve and did most of the removal on the front. The spare part was quite a bit overlarge and I wound up shortening it about 1/10th" Final fit was by trial and eyeball. I've done this a couple of times- once just for practice. It's not paraticularly hard.

I used a file, stoned the file marks smooth and finished with 600 g sandpaper.

 

[mec]

Modification for better spent cap handling. Particularly useful on the small pocket models.

 

[mec]

The tip of the hand is beveled on the left (out) side and sometimes tapered slightly toward the tip. The object is to reduce the length of the hand until it will push the cylinder into bolt lock-up without over running the stop.

The two "ears" on the back of the bolt should be spread enough to bear against the inside of the frame and the hammer just forward of the cam. The under-curve governs bolt release and can be further beveled if the bolt refuses to drop on half cock. The rear inside "ear" is supplied over-long and should be shortened until the bolt drops just within the lede for the cylinder bolt notches.

 

[crockett]

There are a lot of books on timing the Colt Peacemaker and the Navy 1851 uses the same parts so the procedure is the same. The hand on a Smith & Wesson has a mid notch, the top of the hand gets the cylinder moving and then, about half way through the process, the notch takes over, rotating the cylinder. I think the Colt actually uses the side of the hand for the final rotation of the cylinder. The cylinder should lock up just before the hammer goes into full cock, in other words, once the "pop" is heard,(as the bolt goes into position) you should move the hammer back about 1/4" for it to cock. More than that and you are putting stress on the internal parts. Some times you will get a worn hand where the gun cocks before the cylinder locks up. The leg on the bolt controls when it slides off the cam on the trigger. There's no harm if it slides off too early except it will wear on the cylinder and put an unsightly ring in it. Everything is interrelated so don't rush into the job. Read some books and do it right. If you are going to fit the hand you might as well do an action job at the same time.