New guy with a project

[rickomatic]

Hey guys, new guy here. Long time gun nut, new to this forum. Probably not proper protocol to hit the ground running with a huge post, but from my lurking here it seems to be a place with a lot of valuable knowledge. So, with that being said....
I recently embarked on what some call a fool's errand of putting together an 1873 from parts and pieces. I know, I know I can probably get one complete for the same or less money, but I just really like the challenge and the satisfaction of knowing tha I "built it myself". Over the years I've already built a couple AK's and a couple AR's. So, I'm not a newcomer to amateur smithing. I assembled a bunch of parts and pieces, both vintage and new replacement over the past month or so.
So far I've gotten everything for a working receiver except the dust cover. I put those parts together and already have some satisfaction of accomplishment. However, I have come up against one thing that is perplexing to me. The right side (loading gate side) toggle link hangs up on the carrier lever spring and won't allow the lever to fully cock. If I remove that spring, the lever goes through it's full motion. When the lever is closed the little pin, or nub on the backside of the carrier lever spring rests just behind the notch in the carrier lever. Is this correct? That position makes the spring just high enough to bind the toggle link. With that toggle out, that nub falls into the notch at full cock during the cocking motion of the lever, but rides back upon the forward swing of the lever. I 'm pretty sure I must just be missing something pretty obvious, but I'm just not seeing it. Any ideas?

[Abilene]

Welcome Ricko,
Well, I don't know about all the notches and such that you are mentioning without looking closer, but on an Uberti if the screw holding the carrier spring in place is loosened too much, such as is done sometimes for lightening the action, the spring will hit the loading gate stop tab as you mentioned.  The spring rises in the frame as the screw is loosened.  Can you tighten that screw to lower the spring?  Is it an orignal spring or a repro?  Also make sure the spring is seated well against the frame at the mounting point.

[rickomatic]

The screw is plenty tight and the spring is tight against the frame at the mounting end. I'll have to try and get a picture showing what I'm referring to.

[rickomatic]

Ok. I went and played with it a little more. Trying to tighten the spring screw I managed to strip the threads...sheesh. The good news is, I went at the top of the spring screw and the bottom of the toggle link that were binding either a needle file just enough to smooth them up. Then a squirt of Ballistol and gave the lever a sharp thrust. And she went. Worked it a bit more and it seems to be loosening up. So, I'll order up a new screw and maybe a new spring. Can't tell yet whether I buggered those threads too, or not.
I had heard that back in the day, these rifles were all pretty much hand fitted and assembled, so possibly those slight tolerance differences needed to be "worked out" . That would make sense since I 'm assembling this from a mix of old and new parts. That's part of what I love about this. The learn as you go system .

[Forty Rod]

rocko, I did a Winchester '92 from parts and pieces back in 1979.  A freind did the same thing so we had  some support on finding stuff and putting it together.

He got his up and running pretty quickly, but mine was a project wrought with pain and frustration.  Once together it shot very well.  I had it refinished and sold it.

I wouldn't do it again, but I truly wish that hadn't sold that rifle.

Good luck.  Send pictures.