Question #2, What is the Hammer Safety Bar Pin on Uberti 1875?

[Chili Pepper Kid]

How does this contraption work? 


     Chili Pepper Kid

   

[Harley Starr]

How does this contraption work? 


     Chili Pepper Kid

   

It works best if you keep the hammer down on an empty chamber. Personnally I don't see any use for it, not to mention that it looks ugly when compared to an authentic 1875, which is a work of art if you ask me.

[Chili Pepper Kid]

When I put the VTI light spring in the gun this evening sum how this pin is now sticking out the side of the hammer. Can't figure it out.

    Chili Pepper Kid

[Montana Slim]

Haven't looked at mine in a long time, but here's my take on the operation of the mechanism:

The safety bar acts as a block to prevent the hammer from falling far enough for the firing pin to hit the primer.
The safety bar is raised (protrudes) when the pistol is drawn to the first notch in the hammer. The pressure from the mainspring overcomes the spring on the safety block and causes it to protrude (safe).

Regards,
Slim

[Shotgun Franklin]

This is very likely an ATF required 'safety'.

[Flint]

A safety is required in order to import a weapon.  That's also why there is a safety on the Winchester 92.  Not sure how Uberti got past the rule with the Henry/66/73.  Maybe the letter of the law only applies to handguns.

When Bill Ruger first met Aldo Uberti, he remarked "So you're the man who invented a safety for the single action", or words to that effect.

[Professor Honeyfuggler]

Strictly speaking a transfer bar is not a safety. It's a "safer." A safety locks the action to prevent firing, whereas a transfer bar prevents the energy transfer from hammer to firing pin unless the trigger is pulled... in theory. There have been a few reports of accidental discharges from dropped weapons with transfer bar systems. But relatively speaking, it is far safer than a gun without one.

Uberti satisfied the import requirements on revolvers like the Cimmaron P series by adding a second groove to the cylinder pin that allows it to be pushed about 5/16" further back than normal. In that position it projects out the back so it blocks the hammer from falling all the way. Of course if the retaining screw on the cylinder pin is not cinched down tight, it might be poissible for a falling hammer to push the pin forward and fire the weapon. But it was enough to satisfy the US restrictions.

Besides the import requirements, gun manufacturers are also responding to increased insurance costs and rising market interest in "safer" guns. In the US gun manufacturers are exempted from Product Liability regulations, but not so in many other countries, and in our litigious culture even a groundless lawsuit can cost big bucks to defend against. So many designs are getting safety mechanisms added for CYA purposes. And also to be more attractive to new shooters who are nervous about buying "guns without safeties."

Heck, you should see the looks on non-shooters faces when I try to explain my SA/DA semi-automatic pistol's "no safety" decocked one-in-the-chamber design to them.