Colt DA Revolver Question

[scbair]

I have an old-style Colt Cobra (skinny barrel, no ejector rod shroud), with 2 problems;
1) The timing is off; the hand doesn't rotate the cylinder completely to lock-up, unless I either thumb-cock it for single-action fire, or use a "2-stage" DA pull, allowing inertia to index the cylinder before squeezing till the sear releases.

2) A previous owner bobbed the hammer, so I experience occasional FTFs DA, even using the 2-stage DA pull. The extra hammer travel of SA firing produces 100% reliability (to date).

So, I would like to know how difficult it is to fit a new hammer & hand to the li'l gem. I am NOT a gunsmith (nor have I ever played one on TV), but I am a pretty handy tinkerer. If it were a SAA, I'd have at it (I built a Colt Navy from an old CVA kit; assembled, disassembled, filed/stoned, ad repeated about a hunnert times . . ., and wound up with a well-timed revolver, excellent trigger; better than any of the factory-built replicas I've tried lately). Having to "balance" the parts for DA work is causing me some concern.

So, what is the collective opinion of those much smarter than I am; try it, or just grit my teeth and entrust the old girl to a qualified 'smith?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

[Jim K]

Well, replacing the hammer is no problem and pretty straight-forward, as is replacing the hand, but you might (almost surely) will need to fit the hand, which can be a bit tricky. I would say that unless you try to replace the cylinder stop (bolt) or the rebound lever, you should have no problems.

Jim

 

[Old Fuff]

The Colt D-frame revolvers were designed to be hand fitted by trained and experienced assemblers. Considering the cost of parts these days, and the ease with which an inexperienced person can mess up, having the revolver repaired at the factory, or by a gunsmith with a track record on these guns is something that I highly recommend.

If you don't care for that advice I'll try an alternative:

1. Buy a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausen's "The Colt Double Action Revolvers - A Shop Manual, Vol. 1). It is well illustrated and explains how to service these guns. Trying to work on one cold is just about the dumbest thing possible.

2. After reading the book decide what you want too do. You will learn for example, how to stretch a hand so that you may not need a new one, and how to fix the mainspring so that a new hammer isn’t necessary (unless you want one). You may also discover that your timing problems can have more too do with a sprung crane rather then the hand, and if so what to do about it.

In this matter, ignorance is not bliss …

 

[scbair]

Old Fuff said: "Trying to work on one cold is just about the dumbest thing possible."
Hey! Have we met?? You described me pretty well!

OK, I'll give it (the recommended book) some thought, and also give a call to a 'smith who has done some pretty good work in the past.

Then I'll carefully weigh the pros; the cons; and the costs.

Then, I'll probably go ahead, anyway . . . .

Seriously, y'all have echoed my own doubts and concerns, and have probably convinced me to have the work done professionally.

Thanks!

 

[Old Fuff]

Put it this way:

IF you buy the book and ...

IF you then do your own work ...

IF you don't have to replace any parts (except the hammer which is optional).

You should save enough money to more then pay for the book.

A lot depends on how well you like the gun. But if it was I, I'd return the gun to Colt and have them go through it. It is very difficult to find local gunsmiths that are truly qualified to work on these older revolvers. Be sure he knows what he's doing or you'll only get into more trouble.

All of this is particularly important if you might carry or otherwise use it as a weapon.

Oh, concerning my comment about doing "the dumbest thing possible." Bitter experience has taught me that when someone has totally messed up the insides of an older Colt double-action they come to me and want it straightened out - preferably for free because they are so much fun to work on ... Usually it doesn't work that way.

 

[Standing Wolf]

The good folks at http://www.cylinder-slide.com do good work on Colt double action revolvers. Cheap? No. Fast? No. Good? Yes.

 

[CCW1911]

Colt's have a double hand on them, that's why the cyl locks up tight when they're cocked. It also makes fitting a hand kinda tricky compared to a Smith and not very good candidates for stretching like you can do with the Smith. If you know someone real good with a tig you can build it up and refit thou. On the ftf someone probably has weakened the hammer spring, this is done by putting something like a 1911 firing pin in the v part of the spring and cocking the hammer. You can reverse it by removing the spring and bending in back the other way. Hammers are not drop in parts either. But if you get the book and you're patient and handy with tools you can probably do it. Bad thing is that Colt parts are pricy.

Ross

 

[Old Fuff]

The practice of streaching hands is one that was employed at the Colt factory, and is both advocated and explained in Kuhnhausen's manual (Vol. 1, page 117). Welding the points on the hand will likely destroy the heat treating, and the result would be inpredictable.

It is also quite possible that the cylinder's failing to carry up is caused by something other then the hand.

S&W hands are hardened to the point of being brittle, and unlike Colt parts should never be streached. More to the point, in S&W's the thickness of the hand is what is more important then the length.