New Pedersoli Sharps....issues

[andy mayer]

Hey All,

Just picked up my Pedersoli Sharps Hunter from Cabelas. Over all fit and finish is real nice. I'm not familiar with the 1874's so I've got a few concerns.
First, it levers much harder than a buddies Armi. I am putting it at half cock. It seems to be the lever spring. I went to disassemble it and it was extremely difficult to re-asessemble! The lever is not quite aligned with the frame holes and the lever spring is so stiff that it was a workout to push the lever against the spring in order to get the pin through. On top of that, I now noticed some shavings from the lever and spring rubbing! That wasn't happening before I field stripped it. I hope it's not a lemon. The triggers are great and the rest of the gun seems well put together. Does the lever spring need to be adjusted?

I appreciate any input,

Andy

[montana_charlie]

Does the lever need to be adjusted? I probably doesn't 'need' to, but you may prefer to do some adjusting anyway ... I did on mine.

I read a tip about loosening the spring on the guns with heavy barrels like the Quigley in order to reduce spring breakage.
Mine doesn't have the heavy barrel, but I messed with lever spring tension anyway, mainly to see how the parts relate to each other.
In the end, I chose to leave my spring just tight enough to hold the lever up against the trigger bar after closing the breech.

That also means there is no spring tension on the lever when it is down. That makes field stripping and reassembly very easy.

I loosened the screw holding the spring a turn or two, then gradually tightened it ... looking for the lever to make firm contact with the trigger bar.
I have a grade of LocTite that never hardens. It just gets gummy enough to prevent a screw from rotating due to vibration.
That is what I use to keep the spring tension from changing voluntarily.

Good luck with yours,
CM

[shooter37]

When you go to disassemble the rifle try this:
Remove the forend (two screws) and the LOOSEN the lever spring retaining screw.
THEN, remove the breech block retaining pin, block, and extractor.

tight lever spring is good; just don't damage it by forcing removal of the block.

[ian45662]

The lever on mine was stiff and it kept getting worse and worse. I finally noticed that the screw that holds the trigger guard onto the breach block was coming out and rubbing on the receiver. Once I tightened it up then it was smooth as glass. Just a thought.

[beltfed]

Add a dab of MOLY grease on the rub points
beltfed/arnie

[NickSS]

I have one of those rifles and the lever spring was very stiff. I took the fore stock off and loosened the lever spring screw. I then made a shim out of half a flat washer and installed it in front of the lever spring screw and tightened the screw. This put it in at a slight angle and reduces the spring tension on the lever by at least half. Now it feels just like my Shiloh sharps rifle when opening the lever.