Broke my Colt clone!?

[Z71]

The trigger/bolt spring let go on my Uberti .45 Colt Peacemaker clone a couple weeks back. Had been shooting the revolver quite a bit, plus the revolver action has probably been cocked and then let down a zillion times, not to mention dry-fired a bit.

I suppose that if I had a dollar for every time I've changed the same spring on mine or somebody elses Colt clone Army or blackpowder revolver, could probably buy myself a cheeseburger and fries! I actually try to keep a Colt single-action style bolt spring on hand.

Anyhow. The spring broke after I had removed the cylinder, cleaned and lubed then reassembled the revolver. Went to cock it back and the spring was busted, cylinder free-wheeling and hammer catching a bind because the bolt wasn't working. Probably just the used and abused springs time to go. No big deal.

I immediatly dug around and found the spare trigger/bolt spring I had on hand. Took the Uberti clone apart, only to discover that the trigger part of my replacement spring was just too short to work! Well CRAP!!

Have had that problem on my Colt clone blackpowder revolvers too. Replacement parts sometimes don't swap between Colt clones of different manufacturers. My replacement spring just ain't going to fit my Uberti .45!

I took my Navy Arms .44 1851 Navy percussion revolver apart, and it's spring fit fine. Replacement spring won't plug into the Navy Arms .44 reproduction either, no huge surprise.

The trigger/bolt spring I robbed and stuck in my .45 Colt works good. Only problem is the trigger pull is pretty light. Trigger will break on the guns own weight, so I would guess the pull at somewhat less than 2 pounds. just a bit too light for my tastes.

I need a quality trigger/bolt spring for a single-action Uberti Colt clone so I can return this spring back to the .44 percussion revolver. Plus hopefuly put a bit more spring back into my trigger.

So who makes the best springs for my Colt clone?

Thanx, Stevie.

 

[buttrap]

You mess with the things enough in time you can get pretty good at making the things out of old saber saw blades or hacksaw blades. Probably better steel than the originals too.

 

[Z71]

The "home-made" part may be part of my light trigger pull with the robbed spring in the Uberti .45 Colt. Seems as if my replacement bolt spring was bought to repair the Navy Arms 1851 and didn't fit.

I think I made a replacement spring from a flat spring taken from a set of ignition points. Carved a screw hole in it with a die grinder, and cut the legs separate with a tiny cut off wheel. Spring is just a bit too light of guage for the task, although it worked well enough for the oddball spec parts that make up the Navy Arms 1851 lock work. That gun is an older one and it's internal goodies were pretty poor quality, plus it had been severely abused before I got it and repaired it.

I could probably make another spring without much difficulty, but figure that with the popularity of Cowboy Action shooting, surely somebody makes a good quality aftermarket Colt clone bolt spring. I have bought Uberti replacement hands and springs in the past, and not been terribly impressed with the quality. Thats been a number of years back for an older Cattleman revolver, and this newer Uberti Cattleman is a much better made and fitted gun. I wouldn't mind spending a few bucks on this revolver because it's a sweet shooter, and I do shoot it a lot.

 

[Gustav]

Any gun can break a part I don't know if they can help but you may want to check

www.brownells.com

That or check some of the SASS forums or boards

Best of luck.

 

[Old Fuff]

The trigger & bolt spring was a weakness in the original design, going back at least to the 1849 Pocket Model. Genuine Colt springs usually work, and are top quality (but expensive). I prefer to use music wire springs as sold by Brownells (www.brownells.com) but you may have to bend them a bit to get a correct fit on the trigger side.

Keep your broken spring(s) and cut them down just behind the screw hole. Then use them as a spacer between the frame and new spring. Sometimes this works, sometimes not, but you have zip investment.

The probable cause of breakage is that the bolt drops down too far at half-cock, excessively bending the spring. Proper adjustment of the bolt's timing will save a lot of springs.

 

[Steve C]

You should be able to get new parts from Dixie Gunworks. Haven't had one of their catalogs for years but they used to carry anything you'd need for old and reproduction firearms.

 

[Rexster]

Uberti and Colt bolt springs are not exact copies of each other. I learned this when a bought a Heinie spring for an early USPFA, which was from the era of Uberti parts.

 

[.44walkersabot]

I'vd got one of Dixie's catalogs. I know last year I had a few extra dollars and I bought some springs for four different blackpowder handguns, ..Hey, I just looked on my Nextel phone. Try VTI. They've got a good website once you figure out how to navigate through it. They'll have your part I'm sure. Their phone number is 860-435-8068. I just called them. They said they sell part for all cowboy shooters and cowgirls to. I'vd bought oddball parts from them many times and the ordering, shipping and service in general was not shabby at all.....

 

[jdomin]

might want to try brownells make your own using their spring steel

 

[Phil DeGraves]

When I first got into Cowboy Shooting, I had a couple of ASM Conversions whose mainsprings broke. Replaced them with Colt parts (which were very reasonably priced at the local smith) and I bought extras. Since then, I have concluded that if I want a Colt lookalike, I'll just get the Colt. Should have done it a long time ago.