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1873 rifle problem


Fightin Frank, #25428 Life

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Need some ideas on what might be the issue me or the gun lol. at the NE regional I had like 6-7 rounds with my rifle where it went click. Sometimes I jacked the round but when I did think of it I pulled just bakc the hammer and it did fire. Now it seems to happen when multi shots on a single target when I go a bit fater. I looked at the gun and see if some how when I cycle maybe the hammer comes bakc down with the bolt but in slow action it doe snot seem to happen. Any thoughts? I have never taken the bolt apart i nthe probably 10 years. It has a action job but not short shtroked.

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Several thinks to look at!

 

Are your primers seated far enough, you know you need to arm the primer before it will go bang.

 

Check to see if your lever safety is working properly if you have one, sometimes the spring goes bad.

 

Check your trigger sear, it may need filing and re-adjusting.

 

Check your bolt and firing pin, make sure no dirt and spring is in good condition.

 

Check your bolt extension for wear on the hammer.

 

And finally if it only happens on dump targets, maybe your not cocking the lever all the way.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Big Iron Buster

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Several thinks to look at!

 

Are your primers seated far enough, you know you need to arm the primer before it will go bang.

 

Check to see if your lever safety is working properly if you have one, sometimes the spring goes bad.

 

Check your trigger sear, it may need filing and re-adjusting.

 

Check your bolt and firing pin, make sure no dirt and spring is in good condition.

 

Check your bolt extension for wear on the hammer.

 

And finally if it only happens on dump targets, maybe your not cocking the lever all the way.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Big Iron Buster

 

Big Iron Bob,

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Back of the leaver there is a mainspring adjustment screw. If you turn it to the right it will increase the pressure on the main spring giving you a harder hammer strike, and more reliable ignition of primers. If the mainspring is set to light the hammer does not hit hard enough to give reliable primer ignition.

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Big Iron Bob,

 

On the last one which is what folks said at the shoot I coudl not see how working the action slowly that it would eject a round feed a new one and not cock it, that was what I was suspecting.

 

How do I check the bolt/spring etc? Is it not pinned? Was afraid to take it apart and not get it back together lol

 

They are federal primers but you just made me think of something. Use to have an issue with primers seated too deep not goign off i nthe rifle at times so pick ones that are totally flush to the head stamp usally. And use the healy seated ones fo rthe pistols.

 

The guy who did the action job took out the lever safty.

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On the last one which is what folks said at the shoot I coudl not see how working the action slowly that it would eject a round feed a new one and not cock it, that was what I was suspecting.

 

How do I check the bolt/spring etc? Is it not pinned? Was afraid to take it apart and not get it back together lol

 

They are federal primers but you just made me think of something. Use to have an issue with primers seated too deep not goign off i nthe rifle at times so pick ones that are totally flush to the head stamp usally. And use the healy seated ones fo rthe pistols.

 

The guy who did the action job took out the lever safty.

 

Fightin Frank if you are not used to taking down a 73 I recommend you have a gunsmith do so. There are a lot of little parts and can be confusing to some.

 

Yes the bolt has a pin or keeper holding the bolt and bolt extension together. You must take them apart to get to the firing pin and spring.

 

Reason I ask about primers being armed,if primer pocket is deep and you seat the primer flush you may not have armed the primer yet. Primer needs to be 2-3ths below flush.

 

If you have no lever safety you may be putting pressure on the trigger and hammer maybe following the bolt when levering to close the action. This would chamber a round but have to re-cock the hammer to fire. This happens a lot on dump with no safety spring installed.

 

If you have standard main spring, as suggested tighten the spring if you are getting light hits on primers.

 

Big Iron Buster

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Another thing to check is the trigger return spring. If the screw is loose or the spring is weak/broken, it will not catch the trigger sear. Lever the rifle repeatedly and see if the hammer will sometimes follow down the bolt. Turn the rifle at different angles to see if that effects it. The symptom is very similar to a worn sear.

 

I learned about the trigger return spring at the U.S. Open where my screw had come loose. Of course, those who know me are not surprised to find I had a screw loose. :rolleyes: This past weekend at our state championship, the spring broke. So, a few weeks ago I didn't know there was such a thing as a trigger return spring and now I'm an expert. We'll actually, I've just stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Well, the truth is I haven't done that...but there is a cheap hotel down the road and I did stay there. :D

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Another thing to check is the trigger return spring. If the screw is loose or the spring is weak/broken, it will not catch the trigger sear. Lever the rifle repeatedly and see if the hammer will sometimes follow down the bolt. Turn the rifle at different angles to see if that effects it. The symptom is very similar to a worn sear.

 

I learned about the trigger return spring at the U.S. Open where my screw had come loose. Of course, those who know me are not surprised to find I had a screw loose. :rolleyes: This past weekend at our state championship, the spring broke. So, a few weeks ago I didn't know there was such a thing as a trigger return spring and now I'm an expert. We'll actually, I've just stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Well, the truth is I haven't done that...but there is a cheap hotel down the road and I did stay there. :D

 

 

Well the first couple times I did get the round bakc that I did jack out it it looked real light primer hit but later I tried to just hand cock the rifle and it fired each time.

 

I have taken the gun apart al lthe way to the point of taking the bolt apart. had carrier etc all out, was not sure about the bolt as have taken like mauser 98 hones and they are hard to get recocked/etc bakc together at times.

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well I did just notice that the lever safty is working but I recall the guy removed the spring but with trigger pulled hammer will not come down until lever up.

 

Now I have another 1873 and have noticed some differance. On the problem 73 the hammer when resting on fireing pin spring back if I push it all the way down and springs back. On the other gun with no issues the pin stays down. Now the other doe snot have a real action job just a fighin Frank lighten springs job. lol

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Well the first couple times I did get the round bakc that I did jack out it it looked real light primer hit but later I tried to just hand cock the rifle and it fired each time.

 

I have taken the gun apart al lthe way to the point of taking the bolt apart. had carrier etc all out, was not sure about the bolt as have taken like mauser 98 hones and they are hard to get recocked/etc bakc together at times.

 

 

Another diff/observation. On problem child when leverging/cocking the firing pin pertrudes out the bolt but on the other one it does not.

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Frank, I had this happening to me last year. I was getting light primer strikes and jacking out a live round at times. Turns out it was oerator error and a weakened mains spring. Muscle memory was me jacking out a live round after a light primer strike. Hangin' Dog showed me why is was the main spring. I can't really explain it, but I replaced the spring and, it works great now.

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Tighten the hammer spring adjustment screw (the small one in front of the hammer screw) to increase hammer tension. It can back ut sometimes causing light primer strikes.

 

well the dude that did my action job like 7-8 whatever years ago took that screw out lol

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well the dude that did my action job like 7-8 whatever years ago took that screw out lol

 

Does the hammer spring screw turn at all? If the person that performed the action job removed the tension screw, they might have just backed the hammer spring screw out and adjusted tension with it instead. If it will turn, then this is what was done and tightening will increase hammer tension.

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if main spring has good tension, check your firing pin length just lift your carrier enough to press bolt against it and see how far it comes out of the bolt. if this looks good you might need to check your head space. It can go bad over time

from wear. one way to check it is to take a empty brass and put a piece of electric tape on it then try too close the action on it. if you can fit more than 1 or 2 pieces of tape on the head and still close the action your head space might be loose. I'm not a gunsmith but these are some things I've run into.

BT

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Does the hammer spring screw turn at all? If the person that performed the action job removed the tension screw, they might have just backed the hammer spring screw out and adjusted tension with it instead. If it will turn, then this is what was done and tightening will increase hammer tension.

 

 

No he ground it down and the other screw is tight

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Another diff/observation. On problem child when leverging/cocking the firing pin pertrudes out the bolt but on the other one it does not.

 

Weell , Cycling the action with the firing pin protruding from the bolt-face would not be conductive to a warm , fuzzy feeling for this Cowboy. May not ever cause a problem , but why take the chance??

A two-cent observation , Rex :D

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Frank, I had this happening to me last year. I was getting light primer strikes and jacking out a live round at times. Turns out it was oerator error and a weakened mains spring. Muscle memory was me jacking out a live round after a light primer strike. Hangin' Dog showed me why is was the main spring. I can't really explain it, but I replaced the spring and, it works great now.

 

Yup. You might need a new mainspring sho nuff. They do wear out after thousands of rounds, especially if they have been "lightened". Happened to me. I was getting one failure to fire just about every stage. New mainspring and voila fixed it right up.

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Well,

 

Just experienced similar problem at last shoot. Fix,disassemble and clean the bolt/firing pin assembly. Amazing how much better the firing pin works once cleaned.Requires less hammer spring pressure as well.

 

Regards, Keystone

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Howdy

 

The guy who worked on this gun for you did not do you any favors. A big red flag went up when I read he had removed the safety. An even bigger flag went up when you said the safety was still there, but he removed the spring. The stock spring that operates the safety on the Uberti '73 is a very stiff spring, heavier than it needs to be for the safety to function properly. When left in, the heavy spring forces shooters to squeeze the lever harder than should be necessary in order to allow the trigger to fire the gun. The wrong approach is to remove the spring. A bunch of years ago this was popular with the misguided thought that gravity alone would make the safety function. Unfortunately, gravity alone is not reliable in making the safety function properly, a bit of dirt can hang up the safety and prevent it from doing its job. Today there are replacement springs that are available to replace the stock Uberti spring so that the safety functions properly without needing unnecessary force to squeeze the lever shut. The spring should never be removed.

 

Red flag #2 went up when you say the firing pin does not retract. It sounds to me like he may have removed the firing pin return spring, a small coil spring that surrounds the firing pin. The firing pin is supposed to retract, it is not supposed to remain exposed when the bolt is opened. Some smiths removed this spring in another misguided effort to reduce the force required for the hammer spring to fire the primer.

 

Red flag #3 went up when you tried to describe what he did to the mainspring tension screw. I don't understand what you mean when you say he ground it down, but no screw should have been ground down so that it cannot be used.

 

Frankly, it sounds like you are poking around in the dark trying to find an answer. It may be this, it may be that. Sounds like the gun was functioning fine for a long time, then recently it has become unreliable. Often times, failures like this are not the result of just one thing going wrong, they are often the result of a cascade of several things, each one of which might not have caused a problem, but working together in concert they wind up causing the gun to become unreliable.

 

It sounds to me that you have a rifle that was tuned to within a hair of being unreliable, and now that some time has passed dirt, fouling, weakened springs, loose screws and maybe some other things may have all conspired together to make it unreliable.

 

You are probably not going to like it, but my suggestion is to stop poking around in the dark and send it off to a really good smith who is thoroughly familiar with these rifles and how they are supposed to work. And I do not mean somebody who only specializes in cowboy action jobs to make the guns as easy to shoot as possible. Somebody who will take it apart and go over it with a fine tooth comb to find out exactly what is going on.

 

Manatee comes to mind.

 

If nothing else, the safety spring should be replaced with a lighter aftermarket spring, and somebody should see if the firing pin return spring has been removed. These are safety concerns. The firing pin return spring should be replaced if it has been removed. The hammer full cock notch and sear should be examined for wear, the timing should be inspected, and the hammer spring should be examined to see if it is installed properly and is delivering enough force to reliably fire primers with the firing pin return spring present.

 

P.S A good cleaning inside and out probably would not hurt either. Sometimes just the accumulation of a lot of fouling, or hardened oil down inside the gun can make a highly tuned gun unreliable.

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Back of the leaver there is a mainspring adjustment screw. If you turn it to the right it will increase the pressure on the main spring giving you a harder hammer strike, and more reliable ignition of primers. If the mainspring is set to light the hammer does not hit hard enough to give reliable primer ignition.

 

The "other" screw in the mainspring, the one that attaches it to the receiver can strip out and cause a similar problem. I replaced the screw on mine and had no more problems.

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All great answers but I do Have One thought. Have you changed primers? Buddy had a totally reliable Cody 66 that just stopped working. I took it apart and gave it a good cleaning sice he shoots BP and it ran like it was supposed too, sent it home. Next match 50% miss fires........Oh He says did I mention I just changed to CCI Primers? Gun is 100% with Winchester's or Federal's just won't do CCI's.

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Howdy

 

The guy who worked on this gun for you did not do you any favors. A big red flag went up when I read he had removed the safety. An even bigger flag went up when you said the safety was still there, but he removed the spring. The stock spring that operates the safety on the Uberti '73 is a very stiff spring, heavier than it needs to be for the safety to function properly. When left in, the heavy spring forces shooters to squeeze the lever harder than should be necessary in order to allow the trigger to fire the gun. The wrong approach is to remove the spring. A bunch of years ago this was popular with the misguided thought that gravity alone would make the safety function. Unfortunately, gravity alone is not reliable in making the safety function properly, a bit of dirt can hang up the safety and prevent it from doing its job. Today there are replacement springs that are available to replace the stock Uberti spring so that the safety functions properly without needing unnecessary force to squeeze the lever shut. The spring should never be removed.

 

Red flag #2 went up when you say the firing pin does not retract. It sounds to me like he may have removed the firing pin return spring, a small coil spring that surrounds the firing pin. The firing pin is supposed to retract, it is not supposed to remain exposed when the bolt is opened. Some smiths removed this spring in another misguided effort to reduce the force required for the hammer spring to fire the primer.

 

Red flag #3 went up when you tried to describe what he did to the mainspring tension screw. I don't understand what you mean when you say he ground it down, but no screw should have been ground down so that it cannot be used.

 

Frankly, it sounds like you are poking around in the dark trying to find an answer. It may be this, it may be that. Sounds like the gun was functioning fine for a long time, then recently it has become unreliable. Often times, failures like this are not the result of just one thing going wrong, they are often the result of a cascade of several things, each one of which might not have caused a problem, but working together in concert they wind up causing the gun to become unreliable.

 

It sounds to me that you have a rifle that was tuned to within a hair of being unreliable, and now that some time has passed dirt, fouling, weakened springs, loose screws and maybe some other things may have all conspired together to make it unreliable.

 

You are probably not going to like it, but my suggestion is to stop poking around in the dark and send it off to a really good smith who is thoroughly familiar with these rifles and how they are supposed to work. And I do not mean somebody who only specializes in cowboy action jobs to make the guns as easy to shoot as possible. Somebody who will take it apart and go over it with a fine tooth comb to find out exactly what is going on.

 

Manatee comes to mind.

 

If nothing else, the safety spring should be replaced with a lighter aftermarket spring, and somebody should see if the firing pin return spring has been removed. These are safety concerns. The firing pin return spring should be replaced if it has been removed. The hammer full cock notch and sear should be examined for wear, the timing should be inspected, and the hammer spring should be examined to see if it is installed properly and is delivering enough force to reliably fire primers with the firing pin return spring present.

 

P.S A good cleaning inside and out probably would not hurt either. Sometimes just the accumulation of a lot of fouling, or hardened oil down inside the gun can make a highly tuned gun unreliable.

 

 

FYI he did not groud down the screw but the main stpring to the point that the tention screw did not touch it. got a new main spring (a lighten one from a recommend source) and a tention screw. Just shot it today for 6 stages with no malfunctions.

 

FYI I cleaned the gun thoughtly except I did not remove the fireing pin form the bolt (looked like migth be tought) but took out the carrier lever etc everything else.

 

This action job is old probably cira 2001 and nothignhas been done to it since. It's before short stroke kits where that popular.

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All great answers but I do Have One thought. Have you changed primers? Buddy had a totally reliable Cody 66 that just stopped working. I took it apart and gave it a good cleaning sice he shoots BP and it ran like it was supposed too, sent it home. Next match 50% miss fires........Oh He says did I mention I just changed to CCI Primers? Gun is 100% with Winchester's or Federal's just won't do CCI's.

 

Nope same primers, federals. In fatc when I got the gun back like 10 years ago it woudl not fire and I called the guy like XXX and he said yur using federal primers arn't you? NOOOOO CCI, had no idea. Loaded feederal and really never had an issue except ever couple years I woudl take out the main spring and rebend it as woudl get light primer hits.

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