Just ordered a Uberti Walker

[Teddydog]

I have really wanted one of these for a long time. I have 5 or 6 other cap and ball revolvers that I have been shooting on and off for nearly 35 years.

Last night I found the best deal I have seen on one of these in MANY years. $269.99 + $25 shipping. Oh, the GB seller has more at this price. I don't know if links to active sales are allowed here, so I'll just give the GB Auction number: 778258078

My understanding of many years is that, in general, Uberti guns > Pietta guns > old Armi San Marco guns. I have them all.

ASM/CVA 1861 Navy .44 brass frame was first (1985)
ASM/CVA .31 Colt Wells Fargo brass frame was next (1988)
Pietta 1851 Navy .36 steel frame (2000)
Pietta 1858 Remington .44 steel frame (2000)
Pietta 1862 Colt Police .36 steel frame (2017)
NAA Mini C&B .22 steel (2018)

So it looks like I've not had a Uberti C&B before. I do have Uberti cartridge guns, though (we won't talk about them).

What am I in for with this Uberti Walker that is on the way? Hopefully grins, smoke and rapid decline in my supply of caps, balls and FFF.

Rob

 

[necchi]

What am I in for with this Uberti Walker that is on the way?

Nothing but grief, that was a bad choice!
But I'll lend a helping hand,, just send it off to me when you get it and I'll reimburse your loss.
Take paypal?

 

[Zonie]

What are you in for?

Well, if you don't have a really really strong arm, you are going to find the Walker is a very heavy pistol.

Unloaded it weighs in at 4 1/2 pounds.
Loading it with 6 full power loads will add another 3/16 of a pound so it will have a total weight of around 4 11/16 pounds or, 4.67 pounds.

Because the original design had a poor method of keeping the loading lever locked under the barrel you will probably find the loading lever will drop during recoil and because that moves the loading ram into the cylinder chamber it tends to lock up the guns action.

On the plus side, it is an awesome gun and it was used in more than a few military incidents in our countries history.

More than a few people will say things like, "HOLY S%#* ! What is that thing?"

All in all, you are going to have a lot of fun shooting it. Before the modern magnums, it was one of the most powerful handguns in common use. :thumbsup:

 

[Juice Jaws]

What am I in for with this Uberti Walker that is on the way?

Nothing but grief, that was a bad choice!
But I'll lend a helping hand,, just send it off to me when you get it and I'll reimburse your loss.
Take paypal?

I am always amaze at how thoughtful people are on this forum.

 

[Teddydog]

What am I in for with this Uberti Walker that is on the way?

Nothing but grief, that was a bad choice!
But I'll lend a helping hand,, just send it off to me when you get it and I'll reimburse your loss.
Take paypal?

Hmm. Well, uh...No. Get your own! There are more where this came from.

Rob

 

[Redstick Lee]

even with a Uberti, don't start out with charges over 40 grains.......the Walkers do still tend to blow up chambers occasionally under the full 60 gr. charge.

work up 5 grains at a time from 40 until you're satisfied w/the accuracy.

if your loading lever is floppy, which it shouldn't be, just chisel an ever so small divot into the screw edge of your pivot eye.

ENJOY!!

 

[Zonie]

even with a Uberti, don't start out with charges over 40 grains.......the Walkers do still tend to blow up chambers occasionally under the full 60 gr. charge...

Interesting. :hmm:

I have never heard of a modern reproduction of the Walker blowing up its cylinder.

I have no doubt that if one was loaded with smokeless powder of any kind, it would blow up its cylinder but loaded with black powder or a suitable synthetic black powder?

I've always gone under the assumption that the limited size of the chamber on any reproduction makes overloading the pistol with a suitable powder to a dangerous level impossible.

Maybe you know of a case where overloading a C&B revolver with black or a suitable synthetic black powder has blown up the cylinder?

Now, historically, yes, the original Walkers did sometimes blow up their cylinder.
That weakness was due to the Whitney company that made the Walkers for Colt, using inferior iron to make the cylinders.

The incidents also made Colt hypersensitive about using high quality materials and proof testing all of the guns his company produced.

 

[rodwha]

Actually yes.

I designed a few conicals with wide meplats for hunting. I had threads on various forums talking about the designs of which one was heavy and meant for my ROA thinking I’d be moving to VA and having the potential to hunt bears and so I made one with very long driving bands and heavy for its size knowing the ROA can handle the pressure, which was increased on purpose hoping it would help bring up the velocity as this 285 grn chunk of lead would take up precious powder capacity. A fellow was interested in these and I sent him some and he decided to try one of those in his Walker with 52 grns of Pyrodex P and it blew the chamber open.

I noticed he has been shooting many BP pistols so I doubt he used smokelsss or even confused it, though several people commented on it looking like it may have been (who’s to say?). He was the 3rd owner of an ASM and several people also commented on their reputation for having quality issues, as well as not knowing if it was ever abused or neglected prior.

Quite frankly he loaded a heavy load of a somewhat energetic powder with a very heavy bullet designed to increase pressures. It is possible it was purely because of this or could have even been poor quality and/or issues created from previous owners that weakened it. Regardless it gave out.

Luckily he was ok, but shaken, and the rest of his pistol was serviceable and he found another cylinder.

This was the issue Mr Eames would dog me about, though he wasn’t privy to all of the info and made assumptions to make his point.

 

[Darto]

https://bit.ly/2KDvcRQ

Above is not defarbbed of course, but I bought a used defarbbed Walker here in the classifieds. Been using full loads, maybe will back off just a bit using a couple wads for filling.

 

[BillinOregon]

Teddy, expect a very well-made and well-timed revolver. I have one too, that I have yet to shoot.

 

[Zonie]

The company which made my Walker wasn't proud enough of it to put their name on it but it's a good one.

There was a time I owned a lot of C&B revolvers so I took them to the shooting range one day to see how accurate they were.

I did the shooting at 25 yards, resting my hand on a sand bag that was placed on the shooting bench. I sit on a bench chair so every shot was stable and used a "dead center" sight picture when I squeezed off each shot.

Out of over 14 pistols, only 2 shot to the point of aim.
Most shot at least 3 inches high but that Walker hit dead center with each shot.

Hopefully, your new Walker will do the same.


As a side note, the original Walkers cylinder was left in the white.
Knowing this, I wanted my pistol to look as authentic as possible so I removed the bluing from the cylinder with a gun bluing removing solution.

Here is a picture of the results of this.

 

[Redstick Lee]

i've seen video links in the 1858 Remmy forum showing Uberti Walkers splitting the siamese sections between the chambers, and blowing out sidewalls w/60 gr BP loads.......one guy there blew up a brand new one with only 40 grains his 1st time out with it....

don't know the people personally, but have watched several videos closely.......probably a lineup of them on youtube under "Walker copy fails"

it's invaribly blamed on poor castings used for the cylinders....air pockets & cracks internally

 

[nkbj]

Anyone hear of the cylinder gap increasing on a reproduction Walker? Or maybe length increase of the cylinder pin (arbor)? Or unreliable hammer strikes on the caps becoming a problem (again, due to changes in dimensions)?

 

[Zonie]

No offence intended but I Googled lots and I watched lots but the only thing I saw was some C&B revolvers blowing up because of chain fires and some of those suppository type pistols remnants most likely caused from loading smokeless powder.

Without better proof, I'll stick to my comments about the Walker and other black powder C&B guns being safe.

 

[Redstick Lee]

I didn't say they weren't safe.......but I know what I saw on the other forum multiple times.....
not worth arguing about as it's not my hand at risk.

I shoot a steel frame 1858 Uberti copy almost weekly and love perc. revolvers......hell, my Sheriffs model is the most accurate handgun I own.

 

[Redstick Lee]

check your recoil shield (back of your frame) for "bite marks" from the ratchet....full power rounds over time can actually drive your ratchet into the shield, causing almost irrepraible damage.
or, it could just be ratchet point wear, which a good spot welder and file/stone can fix.....or a replacement cylinder would too.

 

[nkbj]

So did you ever hear of an increase in cylinder gap, the arbor stretching or unreliable ignition due to changes in dimensions?

 

[Redstick Lee]

yes.....to the point of severe "spitting" and failure to ignite caps.
in the above post I listed the most common reason it happens.
arbor stretch does occur but more often it's either ratchet pounding of the shield.....or simply a worn out wedge

 

[Choctaw]

The Walker is the perfect weapon for whacking surly bartenders. :thumbsup:

 

[Teddydog]

Thanks for all of the discussion so far, folks.

Rob