Uberti 1873 rifles

[MJN77]

Will it beat itself to death in normal use? Probably not.

And trust me, a tuned firearm is a pleasure to operate, whether you are competing with it or not.

But I say again, there is nothing like operating a rifle that has been properly tuned vs one right out of the box. It just feels nice

The Uberti was tuned by one of the top gunsmiths in the business. It operates like liquid gold.

So, to reiterate,

no, you do not NEED an action job. Unless you WANT one.

I will add, that it doesn't hurt to smooth the innards of your rifle. I have done so on a few revolvers and a couple of rifles. There are different methods and tools to use. I always use a really fine grit sanding sponge from the auto section at Wal-Mart. It isn't hard to do, and for someone new to this type of firearm, it gives you knowledge about the inner workings of your rifle.

P.S. My stock, un-tuned Uberti 1873 rifle I bought from Dixie Gun Works takes one finger to work the lever and is quite smooth as it came from the factory.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

FWIW, I have owned and shot Uberti guns for going on thirty years and I have never had an action job or anything else done to my guns to slick them up.

I will add, that it doesn't hurt to smooth the innards of your rifle. I have done so on a few revolvers and a couple of rifles. There are different methods and tools to use. I always use a really fine grit sanding sponge from the auto section at Wal-Mart. It isn't hard to do, and for someone new to this type of firearm, it gives you knowledge about the inner workings of your rifle.

So which is it? Are you saying you have not paid anybody to work on your guns, but you have done a little bit of slicking up of them yourself?

P.S. My stock, un-tuned Uberti 1873 rifle I bought from Dixie Gun Works takes one finger to work the lever and is quite smooth as it came from the factory.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'takes one finger to work the action'. Does that mean that flicking a finger will work the lever, or does that mean that pushing the lever with one finger of your hand will work the lever? Does that include cocking the hammer?

Not meaning to be argumentative, just want a slightly better explanation. There really is no subjective measurement of how much force it takes to work the lever of a rifle.

For what it's worth, I bought my Uberti 1873 used and had to undo some internal butchering that some clown had done to it, including replacing the hammer and trigger because he had filed them down so badly. I bought my Uberti Henry brand, spanky new from Dixie Gunworks and it definitely benefited from an action job by the same expert who worked on my '73. Even so, it takes more than one finger to work the lever.

 

[MJN77]

So which is it? Are you saying you have not paid anybody to work on your guns, but you have done a little bit of slicking up of them yourself?

Well, it says right there,

I have done so on a few revolvers and a couple of rifles.

I have owned ten or so Uberti rifles and about two dozen revolvers over the years and have smoothed three revolvers and two rifles that were exceptionally rough. One revolver, a Uberti factory "Remington conversion" from Taylor's felt like it was full of sand. None of the others needed it. The 1873 in the pic above is as it arrived from Dixie. And no, I wouldn't pay someone to do it for me as I do not believe it is necessary to slick up every gun for general use, although every once in a while you will encounter one like that Taylor's conversion. Even you pointed out that your original 125 year old Winchester has stronger springs than your "slicked up" Uberti, and it hasn't beaten itself up, has it?

Not quite sure what you mean by 'takes one finger to work the action'. Does that mean that flicking a finger will work the lever, or does that mean that pushing the lever with one finger of your hand will work the lever? Does that include cocking the hammer?

What I mean is, that with one finger, you can cycle the action, hammer and all, with little effort. The only Uberti I ever had that had a really heavy action was an old steel frame henry from Navy Arms. Working that lever was like arm wrestling a gorilla. None of the other rifles I have handled were even close to that heavy. I'm not trying to be argumentative either. I just use these guns as real working guns, whereas most buy them as "range toys", "plinkers", novelties or for competition guns and have them turned into something that isn't all that close to "stock". In my personal experience, excluding the occasional lemon, most Uberti firearms will do what it is supposed to do out of the box without an action job and it will not beat itself to death doing it.

 

[stubbicatt]

Hm. Reading these postings has me convinced that a new piece is the way to go. No telling what sort of amateur gunsmithing a DPO may have attempted on a used gun. --Not that I'm insulting anybody here, but Bubba *may* have owned a piece I'm interested in, and he may have worked his magic on it sorta like the DPO did in the case of Driftwood Johnson's previously owned, and gently Bubba'd, 1873 that required parts replacement.