doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ugly Uggie, not cocking the right hammer-FOUND IT

I bought a Ugartechea boxlock as a project. I am not sure of the model, could be a falcon or 221. Looks like someone let it corrode badly, and then covered it up with Gunkote!

Anyway, it will not reliably cock the right hammer. If you really "snap" open the action it will cock, but not all the time. I pulled the bottom plate to see what is going on, and it almost looks like the sear is longer on that side. I measured the distance from the cocking rod (just as a point of reference) to the sear and it is .6 even on the left side (where it works) and about .590 on the right side. I have no way of knowing if this was ever replaced.

I am of course tempted to just start stoning the sear until it cocks reliably, but wondered if there was something else I should dig into before doing so.

I know working on the sear without being a trained, bonded and licensed gunsmith is going to end in disaster.

Thanks,
CHAZ

You said it, not me. I'd be looking more at the angle of the sear and notch than the length of the sear...Geo

There's so much interaction of components and functions going on during cocking that diagnoses by internet is not practical.

I can see that the hammers are marked left and right in marker, so someone had it apart recently. It is so close to working that when I open the gun if I pull up on the sear it will move into place and lock on the hammer.

Could it be that something was swapped side to side upon reassembly (such as a cocking rod)? I can only assume that the gun worked before being torn apart to be coated. I would rather try almost anything else first before stoning away any metal.

CHAZ

Try disassembling, cleaning, lube.

Then try putting each component in the frame independently to see if there is any binding. Also make sure the sear springs have adequate force. Then reassemble the side that is giving trouble and diagnose. Either it's not cocking the hammer far enough, the sear is too long, or the sear isn't being pushed into the hammer notch. Lots of reasons for each.

With all due respect, I do believe Chuck H forgot the last - and most important - step in the process he describes:

SELL that chunk of Basque BS once you get it together!

The Uggies do not have a reputation of being bad guns. Quite the contrary. My own example Uggie boxlock has been more reliable than the crowd of good English boxlocks (all very much gone down the road, thank you) that haunted my gunsafe over the years. The Uggie is much younger than they were, and was proofed to a higher level, but, other than cosmetic repairs initiated by myself (someone put a white line pad on it) it is simply a bullet-proof A & D boxlock, that needs no excuses made for it.

The original poster noted he bought it as a project, it had been at the very least neglected, and perhaps abused. Such things can often be made right.

Explain, if you will, why you think he should sell it, or why you would disparage a gun of any make, simply from knowing about one paragraph of internet communication about it.


Best,
Ted

Mr. Ted:
Your knowledge is obviously far beyond mine, thus I and the rest of this respected BBS must defer to you.

Nonetheless, I can still have my opinion. And my view remains that 95% of all Spanish guns - especially "Uggies" - are junk and not worth the human effort to have been made in the first place -- let alone repaired.

But that is just my opinion. However, I'm sure your professionalism far exceeds mine, and that we should all follow your wisdom.

Ugartechea has made and continues to make fine guns. I had a conversation several years ago with Mr. Terry Weiland concerning a very nice pair of Ugartechea clones of the excellent Merkel 303 series gun that I own, one each in 20 and 12 gauges. He stated he had seen and handled only a few of that model, all in the personal collection of Mr. Ignacio Ugartechea himself, who used them to good advantage in the area's pigeon rings and for high driven birds. Ugartechea is not unlike other Spanish makers, in that they have offered both high end and low end guns. My personal experiences have been excellent with both ends of the spectrum. The low end guns certainly have their limitations as far as bells and whistles go, but are generally well respected. I agree with Mr. Schefelbein completely. The gentleman who initially posted stated plainly his gun had been abused before he got it. That does not make it "Basque BS." You might read Mr. Weiland's fine book "Spanish Best" for a better introduction to the fine guns from Spain.

Mr. Rise,
I said nothing to the rest of the board. I said nothing about my knowledge. I asked a simple question, in what I consider civil terms. From my recollection of the last decade or so, and some time previous to that (did you participate in the board of old? The Uggie comments were pretty good then, too) few other board members have had negative comments about the boxlock Uggies. Again, quite the contrary. A quick scan using the search function of this site seems to back up what I have said. Some of those post are mine, again, my gun has been simply flawless in use, but, even ignoring my enthusium, you will wade on for hours seeing pretty much nothing but good reports right here.

Your opinion would seem to fly directly against what as many as a hundred or so posters here have said they believe about the offerings from this Spanish maker.

Now then, you are of course entitled to an opinion. You can even have an opinion about me (thank you, by the way) although it is completely and totally unrelated to the question at hand, and therefore worthless to the discussion at hand. I am just curious as to why, in this case, you are of that opinion. No need to be a complete smart ass about it, I'm simply looking for a nugget or two of truth.

What have you got? I'm curious.


Best,
Ted