Fix trigger creep on Uberti Cattleman

[Bibbyman]

We've recently bought 2 pair of Uberti Cattleman SAAs.  The actions on three are just fine.  But one has noticeable creep in the trigger.

I remember reading in old gunsmith books that one easy fix for creepy trigger was to take a sharp center punch and make a mark under the full cock notch. The raised metal decreases the engagement.   Another way was to apply a drop of two-part epoxy below the full cock notch and then working it down until the desired engagement is obtained.

Has anyone tried these methods?  Have any other suggestions?

[cal44walker]

Both bandaid solutions at best. Yes, the solution is to reduce full notch engagement while watching out for the half cock notch so the trigger does'nt hit that on the way down. Metal removal with a file and polishing is the medicine. Any qualified gunsmith should be able to fix that without any problems and without a big bill if you don't have the experience to do it yourself.

cal44walker

[Bibbyman]

As I understand it,  changing trigger springs or just polishing is not going to help creep.   It won't go away by a breaking in wear process.   Am I correct?

The thinking behind building up under to seer notch to reduce engagement vs cutting away metal on the hammer is to avoid cutting through the hardened outer case exposing the softer metal underneath.   Would reducinng the notch depth by stoning remove the case harden layer?   

[Pettifogger]

Yes, the triggers and hammers are surface hardened but the hardening is only a few thousands of an inch thick.  Once you go through the hardening the parts will wear very quickly.  The two methods described in your original post are almost funny.  By dimpling the sear you have gone from full sear engagement to the trigger just sitting on the dimple.  I can't believe anyone that works on these guns would recommend such a thing.  You also have to be careful about reducing sear depth on the hammer.  The trigger sear angle is such that if you reduce the engagement to much (we are talking thousands of an inch) your trigger pull will go to heck in a hand basket.  Part of the sear angles include a breakaway angle so that when you pull the trigger the trigger breaks away from the hammer smartly.  Otherwise you run the risk of the tip of the trigger hitting the half cock notch.  Here's an old and proven way to reduce or eliminate creep in a single action.  Cock the hammer.  Then push forward on the hammer spur with your thumb.  This puts a load on the sear surfaces.  Then pull the trigger.  Do this about ten times and it will burnish the sear surfaces.  In many cases the creep will be completely gone and in almost all cases it will at least be significantly reduced.

[Bibbyman]

I'll have to look through my library and see who your almost laughing at.  This came up in my memory bank stored some 30 years back so maybe I just dreamed it up.  Gunsmith books are even older. I got one by George Nonte Jr on my nightstand right now.

The thumb pressure, burnish the trigger procedure - I've not heard of.  Looks like if too much pressure is applied,  you'd run the risk of breaking the top off the trigger or the hammer seer. 

How does smoothing the seer surface reduce creep?  My understanding is creep is a matter of excess engagement. 

[Pettifogger]

I'll have to look through my library and see who your almost laughing at.  This came up in my memory bank stored some 30 years back so maybe I just dreamed it up.  Gunsmith books are even older. I got one by George Nonte Jr on my nightstand right now.

The thumb pressure, burnish the trigger procedure - I've not heard of.  Looks like if too much pressure is applied,  you'd run the risk of breaking the top off the trigger or the hammer seer. 

How does smoothing the seer surface reduce creep?  My understanding is creep is a matter of excess engagement. 

Yep, but you have to have a heck of a lot of pressure to break steel with your fingers.  Use a sensible amount of pressure.  It's called "breaking" the hammer.  Creep can be caused by a combination of things.  Always do the easiest things first. "Breaking" the hammer is free and doesn't alter anything.  Try it first.  You might be surprised.  It not, it didn't cost you anything and you haven't altered any parts so you can then move on to something else.  When I do it, I hold the gun in my right hand with my finger on the trigger and push the hammer forward with my left thumb.

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy Bib,

I seam to remember a fix where you (or a good gunsmith) drills a hole in the hammer under the full cock notch. A pin is placed in the hole and dressed down to achieve proper sear engagement. I believe that some percussion rifle locks had an adjustment screw in them to adjust sear engagement.

That's my recollection of one fix that allows proper final sear engagement.

Reverend Chase

[Bibbyman]

I've been looking through some of my gunsmith books to find a reference.  But my library is scattered all over the house. And I my have read it in some magazine article years ago.  However,  I have been doing some Googleing and found very similar conversations on other forums. The "poorboy trigger job" was presented with a link to Jeff Quinn website. The drill and pin method was presented as was using JBweld.  Also added was a suggestion to use a spot of silver solder as a spacer. The advantage being that the silver solder would wear down and engagement would increase slightly over time.

In any case,  it's my wife's new gun and she's so proud of it she can see no fault.