AWA-American Western Arms single-action

[Don McCullough]

Fellows,

I have an American Western Arms (AWA) SAA copy chambered for 45 LC.

This one's the Longhorn model.

Two problems.  The bolt is rubbing a pretty good scratch on the cylinder--understand careful polishing of bolt edges will stop this--the cylinger pin shoots loose and I know I am locking it properly.

What's some of you fellows experience with this gun?  Before buying it I'd heard it was one of the best of the clones.

Will this gun take hotter reloads than the genuine Colt SAA?  I doubt it but wondering if it may have stronger cylinder.

Thanks,

Don McCullough

[44 Man]

Don, I have an AWA Peacekeeper in .44 spl and am very pleased with it.  When I bought mine, the clerk at the store put a good scratch on the cylinder of a Longhorn he was showing me.  Many people do the same because they are not familer with SAA mechanics.  You bring the hammer to half cock to load or inspect the gun.  When you are done, you must continue to bring it back to FULL COCK before you lower it.  To do so will drop the bolt into the cylinder notch and you will have no scratches.  If you simply lower the hammer from half cock, the bolt will rise at that time, then when you turn the cylinder to align it, you will leave a big scratch around the cylinder, which is what the clerk did.  I showed him how to do it properly before I left and explained why he should do it that way.  As for the cylinder base pin, you must determine if something is not letting the latch seat back down where it should or if the pin itself does not have a deep enough notch (probably the latter).  If it were mine I would just file it deeper, but the best solution is to buy a new base pin from Brownells.  They are not expensive and that should cure your problem (and get ride of the double notch / too long pin).  Good shooting.  44 Man  (NO, you cannot shoot heavier loads in your gun, but that is ok, 9gr of Unique under a 250/255 gr cast bullet will do anything you wish to do with this gun!)

[Don McCullough]

44 Man,

Thanks for your great advice.  Regarding my making the notch in the base pin deeper/larger.  Any specific advice for doing so?  That is....I assume a rattail file of proper diameter would be mandatory while a small lathe would do a more even/perfect job.  I have Brownell's catalog and will check out their base pin price after sending this.

Good load for this gun:

You state 9 gr. Unique with 250/55 gr cast bullet.  I've used the same but with jacketed bullet in the past with a real Colt SAA I had.  Seems to be a very popular load for these guns.

By the way....I can't understand why they put rubber grips on the more expensive Peacekeeper and the screwless wood on my Longhorn.  I much prefer the wooden grips without screw.  Says "old-timey" to me and I just really like screwless wood grips on this type of gun.

Don

Don, I have an AWA Peacekeeper in .44 spl and am very pleased with it.  When I bought mine, the clerk at the store put a good scratch on the cylinder of a Longhorn he was showing me.  Many people do the same because they are not familer with SAA mechanics.  You bring the hammer to half cock to load or inspect the gun.  When you are done, you must continue to bring it back to FULL COCK before you lower it.  To do so will drop the bolt into the cylinder notch and you will have no scratches.  If you simply lower the hammer from half cock, the bolt will rise at that time, then when you turn the cylinder to align it, you will leave a big scratch around the cylinder, which is what the clerk did.  I showed him how to do it properly before I left and explained why he should do it that way.  As for the cylinder base pin, you must determine if something is not letting the latch seat back down where it should or if the pin itself does not have a deep enough notch (probably the latter).  If it were mine I would just file it deeper, but the best solution is to buy a new base pin from Brownells.  They are not expensive and that should cure your problem (and get ride of the double notch / too long pin).  Good shooting.  44 Man  (NO, you cannot shoot heavier loads in your gun, but that is ok, 9gr of Unique under a 250/255 gr cast bullet will do anything you wish to do with this gun!)

[44 Man]

Well, a new base pin is $7.25 from www.gunpartscorp.com, but before I did that I would try the other notch in the stock one.  Push the pin in all the way to the front or safety notch and see how much it sticks out of the frame in front of the hammer.  Cut that much off the end of the stock pin.  This will get rid of the safety feature and allow the pin to seat all the way in using the front notch.  You may find it works fine in this position.  This is the first thing I did to all of my AWA guns.
My most used .45 load is 8.3 gr of Unique with a 250 rnfp cast bullet.  Velocity runs 825 with that load.  I use 8.3 gr because it happens to be the amount of powder that my Lee disk measure throws.  Velocity seems to be approx 800 fps with 8.0 gr. and 900/950 fps with 9.0 gr.  Take it from there.
I have small hands and although I agree with you that the one piece wood grips are nicer, my hands fit the plastic "eagle" grips better as they are thinner.  I would love to put something fancy on it, one of the carved syn/ivory but they are all thicker and I would not care for them as well for shooting.  Have fun with that gun!  44 Man

[Don McCullough]

44 Man,

Great advice.  Thanks.

Years ago I used Unique and didn't like how dirty it was.  This was with 357 mag.  Switched to IMR 4756 and liked it better.  About ready to do this again only with my 45 LC.

Be good to get rid of that "safety notch" on the base pin.  I'm gonna do exactly as you suggest.  The $7.25 price for base pin from gunpartscorp.com concerns me about it's quality.  Price seems pretty low.  Would it be specifically for my AWA gun or do standard Colt SAA base pins fit in the AWA?

Don McCullough

Well, a new base pin is $7.25 from www.gunpartscorp.com, but before I did that I would try the other notch in the stock one.  Push the pin in all the way to the front or safety notch and see how much it sticks out of the frame in front of the hammer.  Cut that much off the end of the stock pin.  This will get rid of the safety feature and allow the pin to seat all the way in using the front notch.  You may find it works fine in this position.  This is the first thing I did to all of my AWA guns.
My most used .45 load is 8.3 gr of Unique with a 250 rnfp cast bullet.  Velocity runs 825 with that load.  I use 8.3 gr because it happens to be the amount of powder that my Lee disk measure throws.  Velocity seems to be approx 800 fps with 8.0 gr. and 900/950 fps with 9.0 gr.  Take it from there.
Have fun with that gun!  44 Man

[44 Man]

I think the pin is probably from Uberti, as it is about the same price as one from Cimmaron.  EMF can also supply you with a pin that is correct as their Hartfords were made by ASM for quite a while.  If you want top quality, buy a belt mountain pin.  But be warned that these are slightly oversize.  I bought one before I shortened the stock pin and it wouldn't fit through the frame.  I never did fit it and it still lays in my parts bin.  If you want to mess with it, e-mail me and you can have it for $10 and I'll pay the shipping.  But I think you will be just fine with a $7.25 pin.  44 Man