Uberti 1862 Police

[wb78963]

I have one and it lot fun to shoot but check Duelist1954 for some advise on tuning, cap sucking (cap jams) and loading.

 

[hanshi]

I've been lusting after a Colt 1860 popo for years. 6-1/2" sounds perfect.

 

[Zonie]

I'm still getting an over rotation on my pocket police when I cock the hammer extremely rapidly. When that happens, usually the cylinder will back rotate and lock into place as the hammer falls, but not always. I've replaced the bolt spring (which helped a lot), and I've got the bolt sides smoothed up so they aren't binding, but I could still use a bit more spring pressure to bring the bolt up quicker. What's the most effective way to increase spring force?

Rather than changing the bolt spring, I would first try removing just a few thousandths of an inch worth of metal from the top face on the hand. It sounds like the hand is too tall so it is over rotating the cylinder when you cock the gun rapidly.

The amount of material that needs to be removed is very small so I suggest using a whet stone or some similar grinding tool that is used for sharpening knives.

 

[JimCunn]

I've considered that, but when cocking at normal speeds, the timing is perfect. I'm concerned that shortening the hand would result in the cylinder under rotating and failing to reach lock when cocked at normal speed.

 

[Mean Gene]

If it were me , I word just t week the spring just a little at a time and try it, the spring shouldn't break if you don't over do it.

 

[PastorB]

Cylinder hand a little to long, as others have said, take a LITTLE off at a time until it functions properly. I have had several of these guns, and still currently have one. The Uberti 1862 Police repro is notorious for cap jams, it will malfunction almost every shot. Six-shot nipples help some, but I believe the real problem is the too weak mainspring. Watch the video of Mike Bellevue (Duelist 1954) shooting this gun and you will see what I'm talking about. My experience with all 4 of mine mirror his problems, even with reduced loads. My favorite looking revolver, but rarely shot because of that problem. Just no fun fishing a cap out of the action after nearly every shot. Maybe you got one that will work, I've heard tell of such a thing, but have never seen it!

 

[JimCunn]

"Watch the video of Mike Bellevue (Duelist 1954) shooting this gun and you will see what I'm talking about".

I've watched him, he's very competent.

My hand and bolt timing are perfect when cocking at normal speed; it is rapid cocking that causes the over rotation problem due to slow bolt rise. If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the hand doesn't need to be long enough to rotate the cylinder into position when cocking slowly or at normal speed. Is that correct? If so, I'm not quite sure how that would work.

 

[Zonie]

Obviously the hand needs to be able to rotate the cylinder into a position to allow the bolt to engage the cylinder notch when the gun is cocked at normal or slow speed but it should be able to do this without overrotating the cylinder when the gun is cocked rapidly.

A very slight reduction in the length of the arm should be able to accomplish this without causing the cylinder to fail to move enough to lock up under normal or slow cocking.

Perhaps the best idea is to stop cocking the gun rapidly? These guns were designed to be used under normal conditions. I think that things like "fanning" the hammer to fire rapidly wasn't one of the design goals.

 

[JimCunn]

I don't think this particular hand can be shortened any further without causing a failure to lock at normal speeds. The only time I ever cock a percussion revolver rapidly is when testing the action, but I do think the action should operate properly at any speed. I don't recall ever fanning a gun in my life, though I've been shooting revolvers for about seventy years.. The obvious solution is to very slightly increase the force applied by the bolt spring.

 

[JimCunn]

Update - I slightly increased the bolt spring force, and it helped quite a bit. I'll probably do one more iteration of that and call it a day.

 

[M. De Land]

Sounds like the bolt drop may be a touch retarded and perhaps the hand a bit long.

 

[JimCunn]

Bolt rise is indeed retarded (not in timing, but in speed of drop). Hand is borderline too short when cocking slowly.

At the moment, when cocking rapidly I am getting about one over rotation in twenty or thirty that doesn't drop back into lock while the hammer is falling. On average, maybe another one or two over rotations that do drop back into lock as the hammer is falling.

 

[M. De Land]

Bolt rise is indeed retarded (not in timing, but in speed of drop). Hand is borderline too short when cocking slowly.

At the moment, when cocking rapidly I am getting about one over rotation in twenty or thirty that doesn't drop back into lock while the hammer is falling. On average, maybe another one or two over rotations that do drop back into lock as the hammer is falling.

The hand length is tied to the amount of free play (gap between cylinder end and barrel) face. If you tighten up the gap you should also gain positive hand throw. I'm wondering if the cam on the hammer needs a bit of relief (smoothing) to make the bolt drop sooner. Also check the bolt finger contact with the hammer cam for any burrs or roughness that may retard the drop. Also check the bolt window for any obstructions. The window can be lengthened a bit without effecting any bolt or cylinder notch fit if the bolt front is making a bit of contact with the window and retarding the drop.
Ideally your cylinder gap should be around .006 in my opinion and they still work fine up to about .010. Any larger and they should be set back.

 

[JimCunn]

"I'm wondering if the cam on the hammer needs a bit of relief a(smoothing) to make the bolt drop sooner".

Good idea, I may give that a whirl.
I haven't checked my cylinder gap with a feeler gauge yet, but by eye it looks to be about 0.002-0.003 inches. I'll check it with a feeler.
I did originally have some roughness on the side walls of the bolt window and bolt, but I smoothed that up early on.
Also a good point about the bolt finger to hammer cam contact.
Currently, I don't feel any bolt drag when it is cycled with the bolt spring removed, but the bolt spring force and the bolt drag are definitely the primary areas that could benefit from more work.
Thanks.