Howdy
Every time I see that video I get annoyed about how many errors are in it. If somebody is going to take the trouble to post something, why don't they have somebody who knows what he is looking at check the narration?
I will say the view of the frame being hammer forged and the subsequent shots of subsequent machining operations are very good.
Other than that, the video is chock full of errors.
Where to begin?
Did anybody notice the opening shot was of a cheap, die cast dummy pistol, not a real revolver? Why in the dickens did they put that in there?
The comments about machining the cylinder are completely wrong.
Yes, the backstrap and one piece grip are sanded down to fit as a unit so the grips match the metal perfectly. That is why the serial number of the gun is written on the grips, so the correct ones can be reassembled when the grip frame is sent to another department for blueing. That is how Colt always did it and that is how Uberti is still doing it. It is a manual operation, and the one piece wooden grip is matched to the backstrap and probably will not fit another one properly.
Color Case Hardening. Were to begin? It is a deceptive term. That is absolutely not old fashioned charcoal or bone case hardening, the way Colt still does it. True bone case hardening is a labor intensive operation and you are simply not going to get that for the price of an Uberti. I do not know if the process shown actually infuses extra carbon into the surface of the steel or not, but infusing extra carbon to harden the surface is what Case Hardening means. It falls under the general category of Carburizing.
And whats with him pounding the bushing into the cylinder? That is supposed to be a slip fit, the bushing should be easily removable with the fingers. I don't remember if I had to force the bushing out of the Uberti Cattleman I still own or not, but it should not be pounded into place.
Regarding screwing the barrel in. 1st and 2nd Gen Colts had tapered threads, like pipe threads. The more the barrel was torqued, the tighter it got. 3rd Gen Colts and Italian replicas do not have tapered threads, they are straight cut. You will notice he was freely spinning the frame onto the barrel. You could not do that with tapered threads. They also did not show him applying a thread locker, which is done to keep the barrel from unscrewing. Using a wooden stick to untorque the frame from the barrel with tapered threads is definitely risky business, because of the amount of torque involved. Springing the frame is a definite possibility. He was not applying that amount of torque.
By the way, I always get a kick out of watching him 'eyeball' the front sight to make sure it is vertical. I used to have a Cimarron/Uberti Cattleman and the front sight was most definitely canted to one side. Clearly the technician's eyeball was out of calibration the day he screwed in my barrel.
Lastly, the figure given for proofing the gun to 3X the normal operating pressure is way off base. European standards for proofing are that two overloaded cartridges that produce 30% more chamber pressure than standard commercial ammunition will be fired. Not 3X normal operating pressure.
Sorry, I have no comment about the helical fluted screwdrivers.
