[megatronrules]

Saw a stainless one today, and I like :) How are these guns?
Thanks.

[dfariswheel]

From a defense stand point they're good.

They could stand to have the front of the barrel rounded off, because the muzzle is so sharp, it can cut a holster or skin to shreds.

This gun wasn't up to what us old Colt lovers considered acceptable, but the guns are definitely an excellent defense gun.
Very powerful, 6 shots, big enough to shoot well, small enough to conceal well, and accurate enough.

Plus, they are starting to gain some collector interest since not many were produced.

I owned the early SF-VI .38 model, and it was entirely acceptable as a carry gun.

[JCM298]

I bought the first one I saw in 1998. Since then, I've tried various factory ammo. & my own re-loads but could never get it to shoot less than a 3" pattern at 15 yards. I used "pattern" because it never has shot a good group. After about 500 rounds, I put it away, with the intention of using it as trading material. People on this forum & others convinced me to check with Colt.

My S&W model 649 gives me one ragged hole with the same ammo & the same distance.

I finally wrote to Colt and I was told to send it back. It's there now.

I like the gun. It handles well, has a good trigger action, and IMHO is a good looking gun. Hopefully it will shoot better after Colt is finished.

[4thHorseman]

That's all I carry anymore.
When I first got it, I took a stone and rouned off all the sharp edges and removed the trigger and rounded it from a square shape that hurt my finger, into a round shape at the tip. I love the gun. More accurate than I will ever be.
Six magnum shots in a small frame. It shoots with some force, but is by no way unacceptable. It has never failed me in any shape or form. Always went bang.
They are gettiing very hard to come by now. I never see them at gun shows anymore.
Again, I love the gun, it's my primary carry piece.:)

[Poohgyrr]

I'd like to have one; the Dick Special is a great little .38, in .357 it would be more versatile. Blued, it would be even better. Beveling the cylinder front is easy enough, and a matte or bead blast type finish (stainless) is better.

[CZ-75]

They break trigger return springs about every 3-500 rounds, from the couple folks I know who have them tell me.

[4thHorseman]

"They break trigger return springs about every 3-500 rounds, from the couple folks I know who have them tell me." - CZ-75

That is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever read.

[AR-10]

My wife loves hers. The trigger does have sharp edges. She carries a Colt SF-VI now, because it is a smidge smaller. The trade off for her decision is .38 Special rather than .357 Magnum.

She has shot the Magnum Carry so much (a lot) that I need to replace the mainspring. Easing the sharp edges on the trigger would be an improvement, too.

[4thHorseman]

"Easing the sharp edges on the trigger would be an improvement, too."-AR-10

AR-10, It's very easy to do. I did mine with a small jeweler's file and some sandpaper. I rounded off the square trigger nice and smooth and smoothed out all the sharp edges front and back. The feel is nice and smooth now. I caution you to watch out for a very small spring right behind the hammer "block" for lack of a better word. It's really not a block, but raises up to allow the hammer to strike it.
Again extremely easy to do.

[AR-10]

Thanks for the tips, 4thHorseman.

Sounds like a good winter project. I've had the sideplate off a few times, so getting the trigger out will be easy. What grits of sandpaper did you use? TIA.

[SouthpawShootr]

My opinion: They shouldn't have stopped making them before I got one.:cuss:

I'd really like to have one, but I'm not going to pay collector prices for one. My 640 Smith and 650 Taurus do just as well.

[CZ-75]

That is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever read.


You don't read much, then.

That little V-shaped spring gives up the ghost with about 3-500 trigger pulls. One finger breaks right off, usually delaminating to right about where the coils start.

Anecdotal, of course, but a friend has had it happen 3 times. I've seen two of his springs.

Another has had it happen once

You're welcome.



I should add that anyone so in love with an inferior product probably doesn't have very good judgement to begin with.

Never mind that the little cleft shaped spring behind the hand won't keep tension properly and has to be bent forward every so often to keep the cylinder locking up properly.

Or that the latch, which rides right next to the hand had enough burrs on it to not want to fully slide closed.

After seeing those things, I definitely knew I didn't want one of these.

Having a six-shot .357 snub isn't worth it to have to endure these flaws and Colt's lousy customer servic and repair.

PS: I own a Python, so I'm not entirely anti-Colt. It doesn't impress me like I think it should, though and S&W stuff come closer. Anyone thinking about the Magnum Carry should buy a 60.

[4thHorseman]

AR-10, I used a jeweler file to do the actual rounding off the end the trigger and filing down of the sharp edges of the sides of the trigger. I guess it was 500 or 600 to finish it nice and smooth. It took less than a half an hour. Up until then, every time I would fire it, the trigger would eat into my finger. I love it now. As I said, it was very very easy, especially as you said, you had the trigger out before.:)

[4thHorseman]

CZ-75 I guess you're right. After 100 years of use by the Army, cops, and millions of civilians, they still only last 300-500 cyclings! Those springs have been used in millions of Colts and about 100 different models by the way.
I must be the luckiest guy in the world, I have 4 of them that I have put approximately 20,000 - 30,000 rounds through wilthout a spring failure.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[CZ-75]

After 100 years of use by the Army, cops, and millions of civilians, they still only last 300-500 cyclings! Those springs have been used in millions of Colts and about 100 different models by the way.


That was then, this is now. Colt revolvers just aren't made as well as they once were.

The problem, quite obviously, is poor tempering. Too bad that wasn't the only problem I saw.

Trying to substantiate your experience by mentioning the glory days of Colt may be one of the dumber things I have read. You may as well compare a hand-crafted Cadillac of the '30s to the Cimmaron of the '80s.

Like I said, I question your judgement.

[Poohgyrr]

I've shot two S&W 640-1's and both were surprisingly accurate, with pretty good stock triggers. Not a bad choice.

[4thHorseman]

They break trigger return springs about every 3-500 rounds, from the couple folks I know who have them tell me." - CZ-75"

CZ-75, you are comparing apples and oranges. Colts and Smiths. They are NO way the same thing. They are both revolvers, but do not accomplish it the same way. Can't compare the two.
Also, the Colt Magnum Carry is a completely different lock work than the Colt Detective Special.Same size gun that does not use the same type spring as you mentioned. Completely different lock work too.
Correctly me if I am wrong, the return spring you mentioned is not a a leaf spring as you stated, it is a coil spring.

[CZ-75]

CZ-75, you are comparing apples and oranges. Colts and Smiths. They are NO way the same thing. They are both revolvers, but do not accomplish it the same way. Can't compare the two.


I'm sorry, but you must have inferred incorrectly.

I, in no way, ever compared the linear coil spring of the S&W rebound mechanism to the V-shaped COIL spring of the Colt.

You are correct that these two systems are apples and oranges.

The Colt system has two fingers, one at each end of what I remember to be a 2 1/2 turn coil that uses the leverage generated by each finger, one against the trigger assembly, the other against the frame, to reset the trigger.

I should add that S&W, IIRC, uses a captured linear coil spring housed in a "slide" that is "connected", via a rod from the back of the trigger that rests against the slide, to reset its triggers

[4thHorseman]

CZ-75:) You are living in the "Colt Glory Years" The Magnum Carry has a coil spring for the trigger return. It is not the Detective Special lockwork you are referring to. It is a leaf main spring with a coil return spring. I wish I was home I'd give you a part number of the spring that Colt has issued inplace of a weaker spring orginally put into the Newer version of the Detective Special called the SF-VI.
It can be easily checked probably going to a search engine.

"Like I said, I question your judgement."- CZ-75
Sir, I don't mind my judgment be questioned, I'm glad you did. I appreciated a spirited discussion as long as it pertains to the actual facts.:)

[CZ-75]

I stand corrected, then. I could have sworn what I saw was the heavy lugged barreled SS Magnum Carry. It may have been a DS-II or SF-VI. Very unimpressed by what was a good LOOKING gun, so long as you weren't looking under the sideplate.

I know that the guy who only had one problem with his trigger, that I mentioned, DID have a Magnum Carry. I never saw the insides of his gun, so I don't know for a fact that it was his trigger return spring that was giving him a problem. Just leaping to conclusions, I guess.

You have my apologies.

[CZ-75]

BTW, is it possible to retrofit the Mag Carry lockwork, either in its entirety, or just a new trigger assembly?

I can't log on to Colt.com to look at the exploded drawings to get a feel for the possibility of this.

I know that the person with the 3 broken return springs still has this POS around gathering dust until he got around to "doing something" with it that didn't involve tying it to a rope and using it to anchor his boat. That has been over two years ago

[4thHorseman]

http://www.gunsprings.com/Revolver/Colt_Rv.html

This particular sight does not include the Colt Magnum Carry, however. It does however contain similiar type lock work on other Colts. Notice there is a main spring and a return spring for these Colts. Colt magnum carry is unique in that it uses a leaf main spring and a coil return spring(similiar to the ones mentioned).
I'm unable to get the Colt sight also.

Colt gives a lifetime warrenty on their firearms. If you friend is having problems, a solution is a phone call away.
If his gun is just sitting around the house, I will be glad to assist him wit that problem.

[dfariswheel]

The Colt SF-VI series, of which the Magnum Carry was the last version, is kind of an odd duck among Colt's.

The action is a close variation on the transfer bar system pioneered by the Trooper Mark 3/King Cobra series.

The trigger return spring is a coil spring, but the hammer/main spring is the SAME leaf spring used in the older "D" frame Colt revolvers.
What's weird, is that the upper leg powers the hammer, but the lower leg is just resting on the frame. Colt obviously used this older style spring as a cost cutting method, instead of designing a new style specifically for the SF-VI guns.

Other than the main spring, there MAY be some parts interchangeability with parts like the barrel and cylinder assembly,
but the actual action parts like hammer and trigger will NOT work in any other Colt firearm.

Colt did have problems with the original SF-VI model's trigger return spring, but the problem was failures to reset the trigger.

Some owners had problems with the extremely light trigger action failing to reset the trigger under fast DA firing, so Colt had a notice in the early manuals offering to replace the light spring with a heavier model if the customer had problems.

Over the last 10 years or so the use of this type of coil trigger return spring has been used in a number of revolver and auto designs, and a problem with broken springs had appeared.

For whatever reason, some springs have a tendency to break, often in an odd "green stick fracture" fashion. The spring doesn't cleanly break, but actually splits length-wise for a short distance.

I had this problem on my personal Kahr K9, breaking two springs, until Kahr supplied a new style trigger with a built in trigger stop, that prevents the trigger from moving too far to the rear, and over stressing the spring.

Since a rather similar spring is used in the Colt SF-VI series, I wonder...........

In any case, although not one of Colt's better efforts, the SF-VI/Magnum Carry is an excellent defense revolver.

[CZ-75]

I checked with the guy, and he isn't interested in sending it back again.

He sent it back once for a broken firing pin and another for the trigger spring, but this was before UPS started making everything air freight only from their service counter only at $30+ a pop.

He wasn't impressed with how the thing was fixed, since it came back out of time on at least one occasion. He doesn't want to waste any more money on the gun for what he considers a chronic problem and bad repair service. He had the last two trigger springs sent to him, then he had a smith install them.

Overall, he said liked how the gun feel and it was accurate, but that it is really a love-hate relationship that he's looking to end by selling.

I asked about conversion to the Mag Carry lockwork because it might be possible for me to buy the gun and then get it worked over into something that I'd feel confident in, if he didn't want to try it himself.

4th Horseman - he may register here to contact you. I don't keep in touch that much, since I don't live near him anymore. I gave him a link to this thread.

[CZ-75]

For whatever reason, some springs have a tendency to break, often in an odd "green stick fracture" fashion. The spring doesn't cleanly break, but actually splits length-wise for a short distance.


Exactly what I remember seeing.

Nice to have confirmation that this isn't something inherent to just a single gun.

Too bad that that doesn't bode well for the continued reliability of my friend's DS-II (that's what he has).


dfariswheel,

When you say that the parts won't work from a Mag Carry in any other Colt, what exactly do you mean?

I would think that the internal dimensions, such as pivot points for hammer and trigger would not have been changed, if but for the cost of changing the tooling.

That assumption being true, would it not be possible to fit the Mag Carry lockwork into a DS-II?

[dfariswheel]

Sorry, misunderstanding.

The Colt Magnum Carry is the last gun in the SF-VI series.

The guns in this series were:

The SF-VI. This means "Small Frame-Six Shot".
This is the Colt designation for this frame gun, AND the original name used by Colt.
Many people couldn't understand why Colt would name a gun with a stupid name like "SF-VI".

The DS-II. As soon as Colt got the last of the original Detective Specials out of the wholesaler's warehouses, they changed the name to "DS-II". It became obvious that Colt hadn't wanted problems with confusion between original Detective Specials and the new DS-II.

The Magnum Carry. This was used when the gun was rechambered to .357 Magnum.

All these guns guns use the same lockwork and most parts are interchangeable.

When I said the parts wouldn't work on any other Colt gun, I wrongly assumed you meant switching out parts with the original Detective Special.

The problem with switching the lockwork between the Mag Carry and the DS-II, is that there are the EXACT same parts. So, you would really not gain anything, since the same spring is used in all three guns.

Ideally, it would be nice to drop in a Wolf replacement spring, but it's unlikely anybody will make replacements, unless Colt re-introduces the SF-VI frame revolver.

[Dr.Rob]

I looked and looked and looked before I found mine and it was worth it.

Now having said that I wanted it for several reasons:

I like Colt's and the magnum Carry was only made for 1 year, so it might be a "collector" someday.

I wanted a snubby and I looked at all sorts of snub guns, from SW, Taurus and Colt. The Colt, to me, had the best mix of small size and usable grip (unlike your average j-frame). I came close to buying a DS many many times.

I liked the idea of 6 shots over five.

I wanted stainless.

I'm happy with mine.

However there are some things I don't like. The front sight needs a colored insert.. but its machined from the barrel, and its not as attractive as the frontsight ramp on the DS-II, I have no idea why they made that change? The front end is indeed a little sharp and the trigger could be polished a bit, but overall I'm very happy with it. It's a little tricky to use a speedloader, but the Houge monogrip leaves enough space for it. They are also darn hard to find.

Now I have had ONE time where I didn't get a good reset, but All I had to do was let-off and pull the trigger again (and I was shooting fast and left handed) I wouldn't call that a failure (or even a jam).

I know its not a Python, or a 70's series Dick Special, but its a neat little piece and I'm happy with it.