[HIKayaker]

I recently picked up a Navy Arms 1866 (Uberti) for cowboy action shooting. It was used, and an old model, with a three digit serial number in 38 special.

The action is very slick, but some of my reloads hang on chamber entry for the last 1/8 inch. These are also difficult to extract. Factory loads have no such problems.

I know it's tempting to blame the reloads, but consider. I've been reloading for 40+ years. These same rounds load and eject without problems in my Cimarron Model P single actions, my Marlin 1894, and my friend's 1866. My last reloading step puts all rounds through a Lee Factory Crimp Die which carbide sizes the loaded round. These are 125 gr lead ahead of 3.5 gr of Trailboss which should push out at about 800 fps. I know that the cartridge base is typically not resized during reloading. I need this 1866 to work with reloads.

Has anyone else out there seen tight chambers on a/an Uberti 1866 clone? What do you recommend? What is the best way to polish out the chamber mouth about an additional 0.0005" ?

Thanks,

HIIKayaker

 

[zb338]

Are you setting the sizing die all the way to the bottom? Is a factory crimp die
also a resizing die?

Zeke

 

[HIKayaker]

Zeke,

Yes, both resize dies and factory crimp dies are set to the bottom. First station is the carbide decap/resize die. Final stage is the factory crimp die. The Lee factory crimp is a collet crimp rather than a taper or roll crimp. In addition it has a carbide sizer at the inlet which assures the loaded round is within specs.

HIKayaker

 

[HIKayaker]

Follow Up

Turns out the basics are still the basics.

I gave the chamber a really good scrubbing that removed a lot of lead and powder residue. Now the rounds will chamber as they should. So the problem wasn't the chamber size after all.

Lesson to myself: Give every used gun a good cleaning before shooting it. And if not, at least give it a good cleaning before making repairs.

HIKayaker