My Smoke Wagon and the Uberti Retractable Firing Pin Safety.

["Big Boston"]

I've already posted about the purchase, this post is for what I found out about it and how it works. Before purchase research was not entirely fruitful, it took an email to Taylors to determine that the gun I was about to buy was equipped with this safety. The safety is cleverly hidden in the clock works, but there is a pretty easy way to determine if your Uberti has it. Make sure the firearm is unloaded, take out the cylinder, close the cartridge gate, and lower the hammer. Point the barrel towards the sky. Is the firing pin sticking out of the frame? can you push it back into the frame? If the firing pin falls or pushes into the frame, pull and release the trigger. If the safety is working properly, the firing pin will pop in and out of the frame. 

 

My Smoke Wagon is in the video, and I had to do a bit of tuning to get the safety to work as designed. I wasn't able to find any helpful info online, a few complaints, but not an explanation I could understand. 

 

This diagram shows the pieces. #689 is the plunger, and #270 is the spring that keeps the plunger in the lower or safe position. #98 is the retractable firing pin. Until the plunger is forced towards, and slides in behind  the firing pin, it will not reach the primer when the hammer falls. It will touch the primer, but the inertia will not set off the primer. The firing pin just flops back a forth in the hole it is sitting. the top #111 is a pin that keeps the firing pin from falling out, limits the firing pin travel. The lower #111 is the pin that keeps the plunger in and limits its travel. The plunger is activated by the trigger, #10, which is unlike the "normal" trigger. The normal trigger does not have the boomerang shaped part you see on the side of the trigger. When you cock the hammer fully, there is no contact between the  plunger and trigger. After the trigger is pulled the hammer falls, and just before the end of the stroke, the plunger contacts the tip of the boomerang shaped part of the trigger, if your finger is still pulling the trigger back. The plunger is wedged in behind the firing pin, and it will strike the primer with the full force of the inertia of the hammer. 

 

So, why did I feel compelled to learn how this safety works. When I test fired my Smoke Wagon I experienced a FTF, a light strike. I own Vaqueros, they have a transfer bar, I know how to pull a trigger. I felt compelled to get to the bottom of this issue. My guns issue was that the plunger was jamming up against the firing pin, and instead of locking it in the forward position it was holding the firing pin retracted, and the plunger was knocking my trigger finger forward. 

 

IMHO a pretty poor design, and it relies on some pretty precise fitting and parts mating to work smoothly. I deburred the ramp on the firing pin, and increased the approach angle, and now it seems to work as designed. A Ruger has a spring loaded firing pin, if the transfer bar is not in position, the firing pin does not move. In the Uberti, the firing pin just flops in the hammer, and if the plunger is not in proper contact with the trigger, the inertia of the hammer is not connected to the firing pin, but the pin can still contact the primer, but without enough inertia to set it off. I'm not impressed. 

 

I'll be putting a drop of oil on the firing pin, and hope enough seeps down to keep the pin and plunger lubed. 

 

Addendum: My pre-owned but hardly used Smoke Wagon has other issues. The issue requiring warranty is the cylinder. It has one bad chamber that has a full circumference groove that prevents a fired case from being extracted. It looks like a chip got caught in the reamer on its way out. Not something I can fix. The other issue was a very unreliable sear, something I probably shouldn't have fixed, but I fixed it anyway. The sear surface on the trigger was rough, burred and rounded. The hammer needed to be pulled back hard, hard enough that you could see the three screws move. Yes, all the screws were loose, barely finger tight. The sear surface is fairly deep, hence the signature long creepy trigger. I did not "tune" that out. The metal didn't seem that hard, reducing creep wasn't the priority, having a reliable 3rd click was. 

 

Trigger pull is light, about 2 pounds max. 

 

I've marked the errant chamber and leave it empty. The narrower grips make the gun feel right. The gun feels lighter than my Vaquero, but the scale tells me it is only about 4 ounces lighter. This Smoke Wagon is of recent manufacture, I'm blaming the poor workmanship on COVID. The poor safety design, I blame Uberti for that. 

 

I hope this helps you understand your own Uberti if it has the Retractable Firing Pin Safety.  

 

Big Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

There is a Youtube video from Uberti that has been out since that safety came out.  It is animated and shows very well how the system works.   I would say the easier ways tell if you have a 3 click gun is just cock the hammer and grab the firing pin with the finger and thumb and see if it moves forward and backward.  Another way is because the gun has 3 clicks. 

I wouldn't want one myself.  I bought a couple of the old style hammer/trigger sets from Taylors to have on hand should I run across a gun that I like otherwise.

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Last year when it was obvious they were going to go this way with all their guns.

I purchased two hammers and two triggers for  some future endeavors.

We never know what guns the future may hold .

So Saith The Rooster 

["Big Boston"]

If you look carefully at the video, at the 0.37 mark, the animation does not mimic what really happens, at least not in my Smoke Wagon. 

 

With the cylinder void of any live ammunition, I cock the hammer. Now I lower the hammer slowly while keeping pressure on the trigger. The firing pin only starts to move in the hammer when the firing pin is about 3/8" away from where it would strike the primer, if the gun was loaded. 

 

I only have one gun with the RFPS, how does its operation compare to yours? Is mine activating soon enough? Is there a spec for this?I'm looking for input from shooters that actually own and shoot one of these with the RFPS still installed, or a gunsmith that has fixed some of these. 

 

BB

 

PS: There seems to be an underlying opinion that this feature is not really what the shooters want. Do we as consumers have no power? When I buy a replica, in most instances, I want it to be a copy, not a looks similar tribute with major function differences. 

 

Beyond my pay grade, but I'd sign a petition. 

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

9 hours ago, "Big Boston" said:

... Do we as consumers have no power? When I buy a replica, in most instances, I want it to be a copy, not a looks similar tribute with major function differences. 

 

Beyond my pay grade, but I'd sign a petition. 

 

Your power is in your wallet.  You can buy a Pietta and tell Uberti that you did it and why.  However, they sell virtually everything they can crank out at the factory so they really don't care, plus the safety system probably saves them a ton in liability insurance costs.

[portugeejn]

Just my 2 cents, but Beretta = more corporate lawyers & more corporate lawyers oftentimes = stuff like the retractable firing pin. Rooster Ron is correct in his thinking. I’d buy some hammers & triggers while available.

moderators, if this makes the thread too political or divisive feel free to delete my post. 

[Old Man Graybeard]

I have ONE with the safety firing pin. I had trouble in the middle of a state championship. Mine is a shortstroked version. You cannot get the four click conversion for it...only the standard stroked ones. I will now n

probably never buy another Uberti revolver.I have now gone to all Ruger and not look back.