Author Topic: Big Problem with my SAA (Read 1487 times)

poorcountrypreacher · « **on:** July 07, 2011, 03:56:58 PM »

I just loaded my SAA and was going to try the new target load I mentioned in the other thread. When I let the hammer down onto the empty cylinder, the cylinder didn't move. I removed the cylinder, and the ball on the cylinder bolt isn't rising at all! Everything else seems to be working normally, but the bolt is dead.

I shot it a few days ago and it worked fine. I took it apart and cleaned it afterwards, and didn't notice any problem. I put snap caps in it and dry fired it a few times late yesterday afternoon, and didn't notice a problem. I can't imagine what could have happened, but I'm sure some of you guys can tell me what is broken and what I need to fix it. I haven't disassembled it before, but I guess it is time to try it. I wanted to send it somewhere for a trigger and action job, so maybe I would be better off to just send it like it is and not mess with it.

Any help would be appreciated.

44 Man · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2011, 04:21:07 PM »

Simple fix. You have a broken cylinder bolt/trigger spring. The flat style can break at any time, for any reason. Sometimes they will last for years and some times they will break the first week you use the gun. Replace it with a wire style from Brownells or Midway USA. Might be a good time to put in a smoother hammer spring also, those Colt's come with what feels like an axle spring sometimes! You can buy both in a kit with a new ejector spring. (although I don't know why, I've never seen an ejector rod spring break!) I usually put a wire style bolt/trigger spring in a gun as soon as I get it. Some of the clones even come with it from the factory now. I also keep a spare hand spring on hand, although I've only had to replace one of those in all the time I've shot single actions, and that was a gun that was not functioning when I bought it. I make it sound like you need to keep a lot of parts on hand, but that is not the case. Usually a spare (wire) bolt/trigger spring is all, and once you have changed that, you're good to go. Good luck with it and enjoy shooting that Colt! 44 Man

poorcountrypreacher · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2011, 04:31:19 PM »

Many thanks for the info, 44 Man! I've been reading in another forum since my original post, and thought it very likely that spring was broken. I guess my snap caps failed to provide any protection at all for the gun, and I broke the spring while dry firing and didn't realize it. I found the spring kit you mentioned at Brownell; now I gotta decide if I want to order the kit and fix it myself, or send it off to Long Hunter and get a complete action job. Since I'd be without the gun a while in either case, it might be time to get the action work done.

Thanks again!

gcrank1 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2011, 12:11:53 PM »

Dry firing with or without snapcaps shouldnt have any effect on that spring.

poorcountrypreacher · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2011, 05:13:55 AM »

Quote from: gcrank1 on July 13, 2011, 12:11:53 PM

Dry firing with or without snapcaps shouldnt have any effect on that spring.

Thanks; that's good info to know. I don't know what broke it, but it was working the last shooting session, and seemed to work ok when I was dry firing, and this was only 20 or 25 snaps. It had to have broke during that session; if it wasn't caused by the dry firing then something else happened at that time.

Anyway, I had always planned to have a trigger/action job done on it so I decided to just send it on now. Talked to a guy here in AL but he said he only worked on Rugers. So I sent it to Long Hunter; UPS charged me $81.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 14, 2011, 05:20:32 AM »

Sorry to hear about the continuing UPS ripoff.
You will have a nice piece when it is back and the

will return.

poorcountrypreacher · « **Reply #6 on:** September 05, 2011, 02:44:27 PM »

For those that haven't heard, Jim Finch's son, Brad, was in a motorcycle accident and wound up losing a leg. That put them behind on their gun work, and was the reason that it took so long to get my gun back.

I got it back last week, and was very pleased with the smoothness of the action and the trigger after their work. I shot it just a few times last week, but didn't get to really test it until today. I shot a five shot group with a light load and it shot fine. Then I shot a five shot group with standard velocity loads, and got 2 misfires. The primers were slightly dented on the 2 rounds that didn't fire, but the hits were obviously too light. I tried them again and one fired on the 2nd try; the other didn't fire until the 3rd try.

Well, that's not gonna work on a hunting gun. I called Jim and he asked me if I was using CCI primers - I told him I was and he said that was the problem. Switch to Federal and the problem will go away. I'm sure he knows what he is talking about, but it fired the CCI primers just fine before I sent it to him. The lighter spring they installed is obviously borderline on getting consistent fires. Even if the Federals will work fine under most conditions, are they still gonna work in all weather conditions? Has anyone else had this experience?

I also noticed that the firing pin now wobbles around extensively in the hammer. It had only a very slight amount of play before they worked on it, but now it moves at least 1/8" in any direction. It seems to me that could be part of the trouble, but Jim said its normal for a 3rd generation Colt. Do the firing pins on all the guns that you guys have wobble around like that?

I guess I will try to find some Federal primers and try that; they probably won't be easy to find locally. They put Gunslinger springs on the gun; will Wolf springs be stronger?

Thanks for any ideas.

painted horse · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2011, 05:50:16 AM »

Ask him what lb spring he installed and then go to the next stronger. They're easy to install. I've had a couple colt clones that I installed lighter hammer springs on and they didn't like the CCI primers either. I used Winchester instead. Never had a problem with misfires. Not sure about your firing pin, my wifes 357's have the hammer pin and both are a little loose (they should be) but not overly so. Good luck..

44 Man · « **Reply #8 on:** September 06, 2011, 09:18:17 AM »

Try a quick fix first: Remove the hammer spring and lay it on the bench with the bend up and whack it once with a plastic mallet. What you want to do is just take a little of the bend out of it, then try it again. You should measure how high the bend is above the bench before you whack it so you will know when you have 'scientifically removed a bit of that curve'.

If that does not cure your problem, you should just buy one of the Wolff 'reduced power' hammer springs and install it. That will lighten the pull a bunch over the stock pull, but not quite as light as you now have. 44 Man

poorcountrypreacher · « **Reply #9 on:** September 06, 2011, 02:11:48 PM »

Thanks for the replies. 44 Man, I like any idea that involves working on a gun with a mallet.

Sounds like that could work, and I guess there would be nothing to lose in trying it. They sent the factory original spring back, so I guess the easiest fix would be to just put it back on if the Federal primers don't solve the problem. The Wolf springs are cheap, so I'll get one of them the next time I order something.

I really liked the Gunslinger spring and hate that it doesn't seem reliable. The gun cocks quietly now, and it really made a lot of noise with the factory spring, enough that it would be hard to cock it without a deer hearing it if he were already in range.

44 Man · « **Reply #10 on:** September 11, 2011, 07:08:19 AM »

Ha Ha! Yes, a mallet is good! (sometimes)

44 Man

gcrank1 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 11, 2011, 10:44:28 AM »

Technically known as an 'impact adjustment', a well known and often used technique in the mechanical world.

poorcountrypreacher · « **Reply #12 on:** September 11, 2011, 05:19:07 PM »

Couldn't find my mallet; I've got one somewhere, but its buried up under something. I found a regular claw hammer works well.

But I put the factory spring back in, and I'm thinking about just leaving it in the gun for now. I do want to deer hunt with the Colt this season, and I'm thinking the factory spring should give me a little faster lock time and maybe be more accurate in a hunting situation. Am I being realistic in thinking that? Its certainly easier to cock the gun with the Gunslinger spring, but that's not much of an issue when trying to shoot a deer.

I sent my cylinder in the Ruger off to the Cylindersmith; I'll let everyone know how that turns out.