73 rifle smoothing

[Straight Stock]

I acquired a used Uberti '73 rifle in .357. It was made in 2019, and seems a little stiff in the following ways:

 

1. When the carrier is moving upward. It does move smoothly, but there's that extra "oomf" required on the lever to make it move upward. Almost like a 2-stage stroke, if that makes sense. Maybe the bolt extension is getting too much pressure from the hammer?

 

2. As the lever is closed and the bolt goes into battery. I can feel resistance, and hear a slight scraping sound. I don't know if its the bolt extension rubbing on the inside of the receiver and/or if its the bolt rubbing inside the carrier. I notice on the top of the bolt some of the blueing (or whatever finish) is beginning to wear off.

 

Where do I need to look to smooth things up? I plan to put a set of whisper springs in eventually. I should also state I sanded the insides of the receiver side plates and removed the swirl marks from machining. Lots of FP-10 lube went on all the moving parts too.

[Cypress Sam, SASS #10915]

The first part of the lever stroke begins to move the bolt back and the firing pin extension begins to cock the hammer.  The lifter doesn’t begin to rise until the bolt is far enough back to clear the lifter.  Try cycling the gun with the hammer cocked and see if you still have the resistance.  You can also cycle the gun with various parts removed to isolate where you have binding or resistance.

 

One caution though:  Using sandpaper is not a good idea.  It can leave ripples in the metal.  What you need for a good smooth feel is for the metal surfaces to be perfectly fair (flat, no ripples).  For that, you need good quality stones of progressively finer grit, like those Brownells sells.

 

It is also possible, or even probable, that the rifle is poorly timed, especially if it has been worked on by a previous owner.  It would probably be a good idea to get it evaluated by someone knowledgeable about ‘73’s.