Any of you shade tree gunsmiths out there

[The Pathfinder]

Ever change the barrel on a Uberti 1875? Stumbled on a frame cheap (14XXX described as EMF) and with the array of parts I'd collected over the years decided to try to DIY a '75. Dumb.  I know, but how can you resist a challenge?  Most of it is easy, other than I can't get the new or old hammers I have to slide into the frame, from the top or the bottom. The spurs seem longer than on my factory assembled guns, yet I know for sure one of them came off a factory nickeled gun and the other is a dead match to it. I'll figure it out.

Biggest problem I have is getting the barrel on. Have both an old barrel (post sight) and a new barrel (blade sight), neither will screw in more than half way before they bind up. Don't see any sign of taper anywhere and the threads all look good. Is this a case where I need a gorilla to help (like the one Uberti uses to set their screws in) and should be considered normal? Or should I consider just going and getting drunk before I try any other projects? 

[hellgate]

Don't attach the hand to the hammer before you try to push it down into the frame. Push the hammer down into the frame and THEN attach the hand to the bottom of the protruding hammer using that teeny little screw that holds it on. Then elevate the hammer into screw position. I know nothing about the barrels.

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings My Good Pathfinder -
Congratulations, a fellow after my own heart, taking on Ginats and Ogres, tilting at windmills and blah blah blah....

Regarding the barrel: I suggest that you might make a cerrasafe or hard wax casting of the frame threads!
Once removed, This, along with a caliper and thread guage will tell you all that you need to know!

I myself have discovered tiny differences in what seemed to be otherwise identical threaded barrels, and finally took a casting
of the threaded frame in question ( a non-disclosed Italian replica )  and found out the actual dimensions and tpi, which were... special..

hope this helps
profmarvel

[Coffinmaker]

I'm not exactly "Shade Tree" and am sorta "Retired" but ...........

TEQUILA 

You may still not be able to get the barrel on, but after two or three, it won't make any difference 

Coffinmaker

This missive contains little if any really useful information and may therefore be ignored.  Helicopters don't actually fly.  they beat the atmosphere into submission

[Professor Marvel]

Oh, and are you absolutely certain all parts re Uberti?

for example, I have several Italian 1858 frames, more 1858 barrels, and with the plethora of makers the mix has confounded me.
ASM for example, seems to have offered "different " dimenssions, whilst Uberti changed dimensions at some year, Armi San Paolo
was at one time almost "inch-like" , and Palmetto was a creature unto itself .....

matching internals of anything before ~ 1985 or 1990 can be a nightmare....
that's why I had settled on "only Pietta Remmies" ... until "realy good impossible to pass up deals" overwhelmed my senses.

yhs
prof confused

[Coffinmaker]

Perfesser .....
Approach your pile of almost and maybe Remington bits and pieces ... slowly.  Schhhhhhhhh!  Vewy Vewy quietly.  We ar hunting wemmingtons!!  STOP!!
Apply the Tequila!!  If the parts are still confusing you .. Apply another Tequila.  Repeat as necessary until ALL the parts seem perfectly normal. 
Then turn around and abandon the room, laughing hysterically, cause those malevolent parts are just waiting to ambush you at some future juncture.
Dont venture back in there without a weapon of mass defense.  like a Street Shovel 

Coffinmaker

[The Pathfinder]

    

Thanks, guys. As for the hammer, no hand attached. As far as the parts go they are all supposed to be Uberti, at least the barrels and the frame carry Uberti markings, and the cylinders are definitely 1875 style cylinders. Not Tequila, Bourbon I think. I'll let ya know.

[willy]

Seeing as you got the barrel part way screwed in,,,I'd screw it all the way!!!,,,If you want it to go a bit easier,,Heat just the frame before screwing the barrel in... What have you got to lose?..

[hellgate]

I was told years ago by Tom Ball who accurized many 1863 NMA ('58) Remingtons for the N/SSA that the Ubertis were epoxied and you had to heat the fram to loosen the adhesive in order to turn the barrel. I was conversing with him on a Remmie that needed windage adjustment so I was turning the barrel a few degrees. I don't know about the 1875s though.