Lockup question

B

Branko

New member
Recently I bought a 2014 make Hege-Uberti NMA for competition. It is very nice, Lothar Walther barrel with progressive twist, action has been worked on a bit and is slightly smoother then the Uberti with a slightly stiffer mainspring. Handling it clean, it has "bank vault" lockup while the Uberti has a bit of horizontal play.

However, after 30 or so shots when it gets nicely fouled, it does not lock up properly every time. It is like the stop raises too late and I need to turn the cylinder a touch back so it locks, or to the next chamber.

This also happened to the Uberti after 3+ months of shooting without cleaning the internals which were full of oily gunk, which I can understand and it went away after cleaning. However I did not expect this after only 30 rounds. Is this a necessary consequence of tight lockup with minimal tolerances when combined with the messy nature of BP shooting?
 
Yep, it appears you done answered your own question. :)
Everything has its upside and downside.
If the rules allow, try some Hodgdon 777 - it burns very clean, nearly as good as smokeless.
 
I have bolt blocks in my single action Colt clones. The result is a tight lock up but not much room for that black sludge. You might use a shot of Balistol or even carb-cleaner in lieu of a range tear down, you mam have to remove the trigger guard. Remington is nice with 1 screw.
 
You're right, it was a slight timing issue. Took it apart and tried a bit of amateur smithing.

Polishing the engagement surfaces and sides of the bolt, stoning the top of the mainspring (it wasn't straight for some reason) and top of the hand (it wasn't smooth) resolved it. Lockup is no longer exactly bank-vault tight, but it's still tighter then the Uberti. Interestingly, there's no perceptible hammer over-travel now.

Ordered myself a set of spare parts and screws since they share parts and it'll be good to have them on hand.
 
Interestingly, there's no perceptible hammer over-travel now.
Click to expand...

Take the cylinder out and there will be. The cylinder is locked by the bolt and the hammer is stopped by the hand.
 
Polished both sides of the bolt? Besides fitting through the window, make sure that the bolt fits each of the cylinder notches. If it does, then I wouldn't polish the bolt.
 
Well, you're right, that was not strictly needed on second thought. Regardless I did not remove much material, it's not like I took stones or a file to it.

I'll have a set of spare parts by the weekend so I can experiment a bit, though :)
 
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