Uberti Schofield operation?

[Hafoc]

The manual (such as it is) included with this revolver seems to say there's some sort of safety activated when you put the hammer in its halfcock notch. Anybody know whether this is true or not?

If so, can I trust this safety?

So far, I presume that if I'm going to keep the thing loaded when away from the range, I should keep the hammer down on an empty chamber. I don't think I WILL be keeping it loaded, but it's good to know these things. If the manual says one way or the other, I haven't found it yet.

The manual did not say that you could open the Schofield without the ejector rising if you pressed up on the ejector pawl-- which looks like a longitudinal ridge of metal on the underside of the frame, forward of the trigger guard. It was the 19th century US Army manual that mentioned that little trick. Nevertheless, the trick does work on the Uberti too.

 

[Eghad]

I dont know about Schofields but on Colt type pistols half cock allows the cylinder to spin. Does it do that on the Schofield? If the cylinder spins then it wouldnt be a good idea.

 

[Hafoc]

It does allow the cylinder to spin, on the Uberti. You have a good point.

The hammer on the Schofield isn't like on a Colt or clone. Colt has down, quarter notch, which was supposed to be the safety notch (but is too weak to trust), halfcock for loading and fullcock. Schofield has down, quartercock safety and fullcock.

The barrel latch won't open with the hammer down, which is a Good Thing. Helps prevent the gun opening when you fire it.

The manual is rather pitiful. It is one big sheet of paper, and every replica cartridge revolver Uberti makes. It contains instructions on how to operate a Colt. It contains an exploded parts diagram of a Colt. It contains ONE COLUMN INCH of "special note for top break revolvers." Oh, it's got a inch-long photo of one somewhere too.

"Before opening and closing this gun, MAKE SURE THE HAMMER IS IN THE SAFETY NOTCH POSITION. With the hammer in this position the nammer block safety mechanism is activated. THE GUN WILL NOT OPEN UNLESS IT IS IN THIS POSITION."

But I already know this is wrong. The gun WILL open at fullcock-- at the peril of bending the hand, which is very exposed.

And I can't see any kind of safety mechanism built into the hammer. And in safety notch, the cylinder spins freely.

Perhaps you can see why I'm suspicious.

 

[Eghad]

The best safety for an replica without a transfer bar is an empty cylinder underneath it.

 

[Old Dragoon]

The best safety for ANY Revolver is to park the hammer on an empty cylinder.

I sincerely hope your Uberti Schofield is better than the one I bought from Cimarron when they first came out. I really got tired of the darn thing opening when fired, or having the top latch way too loose always, so I sold it to a guy and told him about the problem first. He said he thought he could fix it. It irritated me because I had original Smiths that were shot a lot and didn't have that problem. Sold a Cimarron 1872 Open Top for the same reasons, it would shoot loose after 3 shots. It was one of their first ones too. I think they are better now.

 

[Hafoc]

It should be better, although I haven't been able to get to the range yet to find out.

The Cimarron Schofields were built by another company- Armi San Marco, I think it is called. I've read online that the problem you report was common with them. So much so that their Schofields went out of production. Some American company (AWA?) owns them now, and they've never returned the Schofield to production.

From what I've read, at least some of the early Uberti Schofields had that same problem. But they corrected it a couple of years ago now. So I think I should be OK.

The proof will be in the shooting.

 

[wrcook]

I keep the hammer down on my empty chamber, though I have not had any trouble with my safety noch or opening. I got my Schoefield last year, and it works well, I have had no problems. If you are going to load with black powder, use well lubed slugs and a lube cookie, otherwise it gets gummed up very quickly. I also keep the cylinder well lubed, it's messy, but keeps it working with black. The fowling problem was one reason why the Schoefield was not well liked by the Army.

Bill C