Question about Uberti 1866 Yellowboy 38 special

[Mad Miles]

Howdy,
I was looking at pics of a Uberti 1866 Yellowboy rifle and wonder if it is indeed an 1866 replica or a brass replica of a different model.  The side plate looks like an 1866 but it has a finger lever safety, like the 1873.

I also noticed the Uberti 1866s sold in North America have a lever retainer behind the lever to keep the lever in the up position and must be rotated out of the way before use.  This rifle does not have that.
The person in possession of the rifle at this time says the original owner of the rifle bought the rifle in Italy and brought it to Canada when he immigrated.
Perhaps Uberti made the 1866 with a lever safety for sale in Italy only, or perhaps it's a 1873 Yellowboy that isn't offered in North America?
Any thoughts?

[Abilene]

Howdy MM.  That is an older gun.  The earliest reproductions had that lever safety.  They also have a short carrier (measure the mortice opening in the frame for the carrier.  Modern = 1.6", older = less than 1.6").  The internals are different sizes and there are no factory nor aftermarket parts for those older guns.  If it is in good shape, priced low, and you just want it for plinking, then okay.  Otherwise...

[Coffinmaker]

  PLUS ONE for Abilene 

The rifle pictured is a very early example of the Uberti 1866.  Those guns had a version of the Trigger Block Safety from the 1873 that was not carried forward.  Uberti then added the Lever Latch and as mentioned by Abilene, those guns had a short Carrier Block, Breach Block and other internals.  There are NO replacement parts for those early Rifles.

Using them hard as in CAS is NOT a good idea at all.

Play Safe Out There

[Mad Miles]

Ah hah!
Thank you for the information.
Learn something new every day, now I'm good until tomorrow.