Anyone have a "floating firing pin" Uberti SAA replica?

[RRio]

I had one in the shop and made some drop in "safety deletes" for them.  Just remove the pin that holds the spring and plunger in the hammer, remove the spring and plunger, drop in the S.D. and replace the pin to keep it in place. Much cleaner and faster than JB.  It allows you to re-install the safety device if you ever want to sell it or carry it with 6.

Mike

That sir, is a very good idea!   

[45 Dragoon]

Thank you sir!

Mike

[Coffinmaker]

I personally don't like the idea of a Floating Firing Pin.  Lucky for me, I retired before they became an issue.  I personally wouldn't purchase any SA with a Floating Firing Pin.  I can't comment on the reliability as I haven't heard any documented examples of a failure to fire.

PIETTA.

STUPID People are Hazardous to yer Health

[Virginia Gentleman]

I am going to replace mine with a standard hammer etc. 

[DarkLord]

I call it the "Peek-a-Boo" firing pin, because if you look through the frame window of an unloaded Uberti and pull the trigger, the firing pin will peek out, and then retract. 

I think its a VERY slick solution to the problem, and it doesn't bother me in the least.  I bought a stainless Cattleman for my son and it has the Peek-a-Boo firing pin.  He does old west reenactments as his full time job, so that revolver gets nothing but horrendous abuse, and she's humming right along. 

But I get that people want the realism of the originals and there's nothing wrong with that. 

[lv2tinker]

I had one in the shop and made some drop in "safety deletes" for them.  Just remove the pin that holds the spring and plunger in the hammer, remove the spring and plunger, drop in the S.D. and replace the pin to keep it in place. Much cleaner and faster than JB.  It allows you to re-install the safety device if you ever want to sell it or carry it with 6.

Mike

45 Dragoon;
I have S.A. Cattleman II 45 Colt/45 ACP with the RETRACTING FIRING PIN and it was working great for about 200 rounds then I suddenly started getting light primer strikes. Less than half the depth of the previous rounds. Last 6 rounds only one would ignite, the other 5  were lite strikes.
     Took it to the shop, dismantled and cleaned it and found that the Trigger Bar was not pushing the Transfer Bar up far enough to get full firing pin extension but was only pushing it about 1/2 way out resulting in the light strikes. Even took the Transfer Bar out, cleaned & de-burred it, but it appeared to be working properly.
     Could find no wear, broken parts or anything that was causing this. Any ideas/suggesting's, what to look for would be greatly appreciated!

Al

[Coffinmaker]

Tinker 

First a CAVEAT: I ain't 45 Dragoon.  I'm da odder Mike.  The older better looking one.  It sounds to me as if there is some wear on the op-rod to the firing pin.  My other CAVEAT:  I think the retracting firing pin is STUPID.

Suggest:  Contact Mike Brackett (Da udder Mike) at GoonsGunworks and see if you can source his Safety Delete parts for your SA.  Or:

Contact Taylors & Co. for the parts to retro fit your Cattleman II to the prior Hammer/Trigger/Firing Pin.

Play Safe Out There.  People be Hazardous to Yer Health!!

[lv2tinker]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

[lv2tinker]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Update:

I checked Taylors & Co. for the parts to retro fit my Cattleman II but they were out of stock & were on back-order.

So I got to thinking (should do that more often) what would/could be one of the causes of light strikes??? How about a weak main spring?

So I pulled out my 'ol Trigger Pull Scale & checked out the force it took to chock the hammers on my following Revolvers:

Cattleman II .45/45 APC= 3.5 lbs.   Lots of light strikes, misfires.
Frontier .357 Mag ===== 3.0 lbs.   No misfires but shallow dimples,
Older Uberti .45 Colt === 5.15 lbs.  No light strikes. (Normal dimples).

I swapped the main spring from the Uberti to the Cattleman II and low and behold, it went "bang" every time. 50 rounds of .45 APC, 25 rounds .45 Colt.

Ordered two Main Springs from Taylor's & Company to replace the lighter ones.

And now I'm "Happy as a clam at high tide".

Lv2tinker

[cpt dan blodgett]

Just ordered 2 5.5 Inch 44-40 cattlemen.  If and when they arrive will post how much I like/dislike the look, feel and function of the floating 3 click hammer and what if anything I will do about it.  Thought I was smart staying out of the Taylor Tent at EOT less than a week later on the phone with them what the heck?

[cpt dan blodgett]

Took my brand new shiny 5.5 inch cattlemen in 44-40 to the range Wednesday. It has the much maligned floating firing pin. Pistol clocks just fine. Was it 3 clicks or 4 in  I did go boom every time with cci large pistol primesall the excitement I  kinda lost count. It did go boom every time with CCI large pistol primers. Groups centered left and right ab9ut 2 inches low with 6.4 grains of A#2 under a 200 grain desperado bullet. Is it a true authentic 1873 colt revolver. No it just looks like and shoots just fine even with the floating firing pin and only 3 clicks

[RRio]

Abilene!!

Say it isn't so!!  PLEASE!!  That is just SO INSANE!!  Also STUPID.  And DUMB!!  Have Uberti lost their collective minds??

Coffinmaker

In a word... ...YES.    I just bought 2 Pietta that are awesome right out of the box.

[cpt dan blodgett]

Follow UP  I obtained an older model Uberti with floating firing pin.  The ones with 4 click hammer and slots in the hammer where one can see the strut and some of the other mechanizm in the hammer.  It has functioned flawlessly with my reloads using CCI large pistol primers.  The older pistol hammer cocks noticeably easier than the brand new cattleman II.  It also has a lighter trigger pull.  I did notice when I had the grips off a washer between frame and the mainspring.  Have not had the grips off the brand new gun to see if the washer is user installed or factory.

The new model I received and posted about in this forum was working well until stage 5 of the May match went bang click click click click on both state 5 and 6.  After match I cleaned it really well.  I am guessing some of the Arizona grit got into the firing pin channel of the frame preventing firing pin from properly impacting.   After cleaning the pistol worked flawlessly for 50 rounds fired by 5 different shooters and also worked flawlessly in the June ACSA CAS match.

[cpt dan blodgett]

Actually have a current production model that intially was a bit unreliable 2 stages ok then to stages bang click click click click.  Was going to send back to taylors but on the off chance it would help cleaned and put a lot of lube on firing pin and hammer hoping drenching the firing pin would also lube the safety mechanism.  Seemed to have worked shot a match and a couple of boxes of ammo without a hick-up.  Also got an older floating firing pin model of the wire. can see the rod etc thru slots in the hammer.  It has a lighter cocking force but has functioned flawlessly.  They both seem to work just fine and was it 3 clicks or 4 in all the excitement I lost count, do you feel so lucky as to stand in front betting on a misfire?

[2TM101]

I just got a Cattleman 2 last week.  Its one of the conversion models that uses both .357 and 9mm.  My motivation was that I was going to use Black Powder 9mm in it because I have an unlimited supply of 9mm brass.  Consequently I would not have to clean up a bunch of grimy cases, I could just leave them there and use new once-fired brass for all my loads.

I have no issue with the firing pin - at least not yet.  But my 9mm reloads will not chamber in this thing.  They chamber and fire fine in my Glock 17 (that got some odd looks) but will not seat deep enough in the Uberti 9mm for the cylinder to turn.  Factory ammo seems to be OK but I never use that anymore.

[Abilene]

I just got a Cattleman 2 last week.  Its one of the conversion models that uses both .357 and 9mm.  My motivation was that I was going to use Black Powder 9mm in it because I have an unlimited supply of 9mm brass.  Consequently I would not have to clean up a bunch of grimy cases, I could just leave them there and use new once-fired brass for all my loads.

I have no issue with the firing pin - at least not yet.  But my 9mm reloads will not chamber in this thing.  They chamber and fire fine in my Glock 17 (that got some odd looks) but will not seat deep enough in the Uberti 9mm for the cylinder to turn.  Factory ammo seems to be OK but I never use that anymore.

Obviously there is an issue with your reloads.  Check to see if the empty brass will chamber okay after sizing.  If not, then maybe there is a bulge in the brass near the base, like it has been fired in a not fully supported chamber.  I had a convertible .45 Vaquero once and turned out it was sensitive to the case length, as the ACP chamber headspaced on the case mouth.  About ten percent of my brass was too long.  Once I figured out that problem, I started measuring the brass length before reloading.

[DeaconKC]

2TM101, has thee brass been fired through your Glock previous to this? If so, it will have a bulge at the base of the case. Glocks are notorious for this. You will need a full length resizing die to iron that bulge out. And even though they are carbide, give a spray of lube. Trust me on this.

[Major 2]

Ditto to Deacon's statement... I had Glock 17 (note: HAD) don't get me wrong fine gun...BUT
when I tried to reload factory once fired brass, low and behold it would not cycle in my
P38 or and especially 09 Luger.
I did not have any idea Glocks are notorious for the issue he states... but I soon learned.

I had a choice, buy the Die or not use the brass.
I had a third option, to trade the Glock off for a Springfield Armory 1911 45ACP Operator and haven't looked back. 

I reload my brass, now fired in the two 9MM German pistols & my Frenchy MAB "Pas de problème".

[Tronicst1]

Lee Bulge Buster

[Oregon Bill]

Hmmm. Just posted in the Clone forum that my new three-click Uberti Model P is giving quite a few light strikes. Cimarron advises that I am not pulling the trigger correctly. Odd to start pulling triggers incorrectly after 70 years doing it.