Pistol grip modification possible on a straight stock Uberti 1876?

[Rowdy_Yates]

Pistol grip modification possible on a straight stock Uberti 1876?

[Abilene]

Well, it may be doable, but keep in mind that if you do damage the bottom tang, you will probably not be able to get another.

[greyhawk]

Yea, The lower tang is an integral part of the receiver.

Looking at my browning 71 a few days back - they kept the internal geometry of the tang same as a straight stocked 86 and added metal to the outside radius of the tang to give the curved effect - you could make a filler piece and screw/glue it to the original tang ? If you bend the original at the least you then need to change the geometry of the mainspring and its keeper pocket and the strain screw ---I can post a picture of the 71 setup later if you like?

[greyhawk]

It would take a longer spring for sure.

heres the browning setup - forget the coil spring - you have the Uberti flat spring? I had enough trouble with that one on my 76 - soon as I slacked the strain screw off enough to get the trigger pull down decent then the spring used tocreep forwards and pop out of the holder groove /pocket fixed that by grooving the back end of the spring and corrsponding notch in the upper side of the holder (didnt take much )

The curved lever on the 71 is way too much - all the other (delux) models have a nice gentle curve to the pistol grip / lever

[Boone May]

Here is what an original pistol grip 1876 looks like with the stock removed.   These were obviously different production from the straight grip versions.  In the Houze Winchester 1876 book he says it was a different contractor who made the pistol grip receivers.  As stated elsewhere, the lower tang is integral on the 1876.

Doug Turnball has changed original straight grip rifles to pistol grips during the restoration process.  I have no idea what it costs but it can't be cheap.