In the video below, an expert brings an old Colt Lightning rifle back to life. This clip grabbed my attention because I have a beautiful replica of the Colt Lightning rifle manufactured by Uberti. As nice as the replica is, however, it's always good to get a look at the real deal.
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That is excellent work -- but I was hoping that he would fire the rifle on camera. It looks safe enough, but the expert is the expert.
I was especially impressed by the laser welding.
I used to have an Uberti copy of the Lightning.
I sold it when I was broke.
It wouldn't only fire Hornady ammo, it wouldn't fire Magtech or even Remington green box.
.45LC is expensive enough without having to use Hornady at 2$ a bang.
It was beautiful though.
Both the original and the replicas tend to have feeding problems, from what I've read. I saw somewhere that if you don't really use force to jack the cartridge, it can get stuck on the feed ramp - or even go under the feeding rail, which has got to be a huge pain in the a$$ to clear. I have only had mine out to the range once, and was using (as I recall) Black Hills cowboy loads (typical flattened round nose bullets, 45LC). Didn't have any problems, but I don't want to test my luck too much. I also read somewhere that the version manufactured by Pedersoli has corrected the mechanical drawbacks that hampered the reliability of the originals and the ones made by Uberti. Pedersoli also makes beautiful replicas, but they are (to me) prohibitively expensive.
Oh, it fed perfectly, it just wouldn't fire the ammo. It just sorta dented the primer.
The Uberti top break did the same thing, just not as often.
I sold that and got a Ruger New Model Blackhawk. I haven't replaced the 45lc long gun yet.
Oh, light strikes? That's kinda weird. I think a gunsmith could probably tighten the hammer and trigger action up a bit, but I'll tell you something; I have yet to find a really good gunsmith. I know they're out there, but I haven't even been able to get my FFL guys to recommend one.
I've got a couple of Uberti top break revolvers, too. I have an occasional issue with one of them: when you snap the gun open, the extractor sometimes doesn't snap back into place after the cartridges have been shucked.
Those Ruger Blackhawks are real little tanks, just totally solid. I have one in .41 Magnum, and an old Super Blackhawk that my father gave me many years ago.
I love pulling back the hammer on the Ruger. It's a tank but it feels sweet.
I have one in .30 carbine, I really like rifle/pistol combos.
It's a light show in every round.
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