Colt Official Police , stuck case in cylinder

[JohnnyB]

I have a 1937 Colt Official Police that shoots ok , after each cylinder load ( 6 shots), one shell case gets stuck in the same cylinder bore. I can get it out, but I have to tap it out. I suspect that the one bore is slightly worn oversize.
Is there any way to fix this? I know that parts for these old Colts are hard to come by. Lock-up is still tight. I could just shoot 5 shots instead of six, but it's not the same.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
John

 

[billybob44]

Over or Under Size??

I would suggest that one of your charge holes is UNDER sized, or dirty.
No real experience with Colts, but with S&W this probably would be an easy fix.

After you know the cyl. is completely clean, chuck up an old .22 cleaning brush with a 2X2" patch with a good coat of Flitz polish on it, in a cordless drill. Run the patch both directions several times+let set. Run a clean patch both ways also. You will be happy with the results..Bill.

 

[rcmodel]

I would suggest that a 1937 Colt Official Police revolver never left the factory without all the chambers being perfectly sized and perfectly polished.

If one chamber is sticking empty cases?

Somebody shot an over charged load in it, and bulged a chamber.
Most likely right on top of one of the locking bolt notches in the cylinder.

It should be easy to tell by coloring a load with a black marker pen and shooting it.

When the case is tapped out, the ink will be rubbed off down to shiny brass at the chamber bulge or locking bolt cut dimple.

If that is the case?
You are up 'shoot creek', unless you replace the cylinder.

And that will be very hard to find, and expensive to have done properly.

PS: You can try a through cleaning as suggested above.
But in my humble opinion, that is not going to help at all.

If one chamber is that dirty, all of them would be that dirty.

rc

 

[Hardtarget]

Johnny B. If you try the tech. R.C. suggested please post some pic's to show what you find. I'd really like to see how this works out.

Thanks

Mark

 

[LAGS]

@ JohnnyB
I experience the same issue on many of the old revolvers that I restore.
I polish the chambers with a peice of 600 grit wet and dry sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel spun in an electric drill.
But you have to Identify the area that needs polishing first, and not just go Hogging out the cylinder Whilly Nilly.
You only want to polish the area that the casing fits in, and not go forward if there is a shoulder at the front part of the chamber.
Not knowing your Skill Level , I would suggest you use the sandpaper on a dowel "Turned By Hand "to try and polish the bad chamber first , before you ever try using any power equipment.
It doesnt take much to polish out the chamber, and it also doesnt take much to Oversize the chamber.
Less, is More. Go slow and take Baby steps .

 

[Dframe]

Under magnification examine the back of the cylinder around the offending chamber. Look especially for burrs and ANY metal that seems displaced. I found a small burr on a friends S&W right at the mouth of the chamber. It looked as if something had accidentally struck the back of the cylinder almost like a small punch or screwdriver. The burr was very small. Once the burr was carefully polished off the gun worked just fine. Just something to look for.