Uberti 1873 cattleman hellp need

[captainbarred]

hey all,

new guy here looking for some help!

I have a Uberti 1873 cattleman that I picked up used from the local fun shop.  The pin that held the firing pin in place was EXTREMELY loose(almost falling out, I know the firing pin needs to be loose, but this was way too loose).  I ordered a new pin and firing pin from Numerich and replaced it.  Now it wont fire.  Looks like the firing pin is too short.

I called Berretta and they checked the SN and found that the gun is an Italian Import from before they bought the company or something like that so they could not help me.

Does anyone know where I might be able to find the correct pin??

Also, The cylinder is slightly off whack, so rotating it when loaded it gets hung up on the back of the rounds, any idea on fixes?  Am I better off buying a new gun?  I hate doing that though as the Uberti isn't worth anything trade in and I hate keeping a non-functioning gun on my pistol permit.....

Thoughts???

[Four Eyed Floyd]

Gunsmith!
There are several on these pages, check in the gunsmithing forum. 

[captainbarred]

Thanks, I'll hit up the gunsmith section

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I don't quite understand when you say the 'pin' that holds the firing pin in place was too loose. The firign pin is held in place by a rivet that goes through the hammer and fastens the firing pin in place. It either holds the firing pin in place, or it doesn't.

If I was you I would call up VTI gunparts and explain the problem to them. Hopefully they can fix you up with the correct firing pin for your particular revolver. There may have been different firing pins available over the years. You can reach VTI gunparts here:

http://www.vtigunparts.com/

Incidentally, a firing pin should protrude a minimum of .045 through the recoil shield and a maximum of .056. You can lay a drill bit on the frame to get a reasonable idea of how much your firing pin is protruding.

Regarding your cylinder, check for a raised burr around the hole in the frame where the firing pin is. It is very common with Italian replicas for the firing pin to raise a burr. Some say it is from excessive dry firign, but I have experienced this and I never dry fire revolvers. A raised burr can interfere with the heads of cases in the chambers as the cylinder turns. Colts have a hardened insert pressed into the frame to prevent this from happening, but the Italian replicas do not. Every time the firing pin falls, it drags a little bit of metal from the frame through and eventually can raise a burr. You can remove the burr very carefully with a sharp file, by carefully laying the file flat on the recoil shield and carefully drawing it across the frame. It should only take a few very careful strokes.