Loading lever catch, New Uberti 1861 Navy Civilian

[brownie]

One more thing I forgot mention during my "review" of the subject gun, the loading lever catch has a spring that seems to be about five times heavier than it ought to be. Comparing its resistance factor to my two other 2nd Gen. Colts, and my Uberti '58 Remington, it takes far more pressure to retract the catch to release the loading lever.

Therefore my question is; has anybody ever encountered this issue, and created a fix for it? 
I can envision driving out the pin and snipping a coil or two off of the spring or maybe just get a hardware store replacement.
I can see were this operation would require great care so as not to allow the catch to go flying into some obscure corner of your shop never to be found.
Thanks,
Brownie

[Navy Six]

Just a thought before you do anything. When shooting my Uberti 61 Navies with round ball and 18grs of 3F Swiss I never have a problem with the loading lever. The same 18 gr load using a 130 gr heel bullet(Accurate Molds) the lever will occasionally drop. Same thing with Uberti 1860 Armies.  No problem with round ball but a 200gr+(I forget the exact weight) heel bullet (again Accurate Molds) will sometimes drop the lever. Now, those times the lever dropped, did I neglect to seat it all the way? If so then Mea Culpa but the fact is the levers only drop when using the heavier bullets.

[Hawg]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it.

[Bishop Creek]

I have discovered that it is better to have a loading lever that is too tight as opposed to too loose.

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello brownie,

If it is really to tight, I'd try a replacement rather then cut your original.
By going this route, you can always go back to what it was.

AntiqueSledMan.

[ShotgunDave]

I have discovered that it is better to have a loading lever that is too tight as opposed to too loose.

THIS


It may be a tad inconvenient to lower the lever, but that's way better than having it drop on every shot.


Just my .02

[brownie]

 I'll put a few more rounds through it this summer before I make any changes of any kind, just to get more familiar with it.
Thanks for the input.

Brownie

[StrawHat]

Small parts and springs that launch them into a different time zone?  Get a large zip lock bag and take it apart inside the bag. Or the bag from dry cleaning.

Kevin

[brownie]

Good suggestion, I once lost the main spring keeper from a Ruger Single Six because I failed to use the plastic bag idea. After looking in everywhere in the basement without luck, I just made a new keeper!  Thanks for the suggestion StrawHat.
Brownie

[bigted]

When loading, I only need to unlatch the lever once per loading sequence. I lower the lever at the beginning and put the rammer in the first empty cylinder chamber. This does two things, first off it holds the cylinder in place so I have full access to the next hole for loading with no turning till I am ready to put it under the rammer for seating either the wad or bullet. Second thing that happens is eliminating the need to fight the latch for every chamber.

I have always done this in this manner and I recommend it to everybody for the reasons listed above. When the latch is stubborn, I am comforted by the fact that first off I am fairly certain that that sticky latch will hold the rammer handle up under whatever recoil I happen to load. Second only once per cylinder loading do I need to fight it.

If the latch is smooth, file some small V notch's in it for a better grip 

[Navy Six]

Good advise on the loading technique, bigted. I find it the easiest way to keep track of things, especially at a Cowboy match where distractions during loading can sometimes happen. 

[Hawg]

I don't latch it every time but I don't drop the ram in a chamber every time I load a chamber either.