[Phydeaux642]

I picked up a Colt DS, vintage 1974-1975, around the first of the year but never got around to shooting it. I pulled the gun out today to clean it up a bit and wipe it down and decided to put some Snap Caps in it to get a feel for it as I have been toying with the idea of carrying it on occaision. Well, when I pull the trigger it is real slow to reset.

Any ideas on what I need to check and how to go about checking it. Keep in mind that I'm not a gun smith. On the other hand I'm not a complete idiot either. (Okay, maybe a little closer to one than the other, but I'm not saying which one.)

[dfariswheel]

Possibly old, dried grease.

Cock the hammer and spray a good shot of gun scrubber into the hammer opening.
Allow to dry completely, then give it a good spray with CLP Breakfree.
If that doesn't do it, something is completely out of order and you'll have to return it to Colt.

[GP100]

Give it a good cleaning..

[csmkersh]

Remove the side plate and then all the internals and give every thing a good cleaning and lightly lube it before reassembly.

This is when a good set of gunsmith screw drivers are nice. Don't mess up screw heads like standard ones can do.

[Old Fuff]

Ah...

I wouldn't try disassemblying the gun unless you know how. :uhoh:

The trigger is returned by the bottom leaf of the "V" mainspring, and if the problem isn't being caused by dried grease and lack of lubrication, I'd suspect that someone might have bent the spring to improve the double-action trigger pull. If so, the only good answer is to replace the mainspring. I believe they are still available from Colt, and not too expensive.

Bending (or "reforming") the mainspring will work to some degree in larger Colt revolvers, such as the Python. However it shouldn't be tried on a smaller D-frame revolver unless you are experienced and know exactly what you're doing. It is very easy to go too far, and thereafter the spring is probably ruined.

A fair number of these Colt's show up on the used market in what appears to be perfect condition - because some former owner tried to do a trigger pull job without the slightest idea about what he was doing. If it doesn't feel right it probably isn't.

In any case, try cleaning and lubrication first - and I hope that works. If you remove the stocks you can squirt cleaner/lublicant inside the lockwork area without removing the sideplate.

[Shade00]

I might try soaking the gun in some mineral spirits. I'm sure there are other good options for breaking old gunk out of guns, but I'm not familiar with them. Fuff may be able to give some input on that.