Colt Police Positive .32-20: Cylinder Binding

[American Finn]

I hope that there is someone out there who can help me. My wife and I inherited from her grandfather an old Colt .32-20 revolver. It is a nice piece and fun to shoot.

I thoroughly cleaned it when we received the revolver and I detected no issues with the firearm. I took it out yesterday and shot it; 24 rounds, without incident. I brought it home and cleaned it (same as all of my guns, I use Hoppe's Elite cleaner and Hoppe's Gun oil [I use Shooter's Choice for heavy fouling]), and while I was cleaning it the cylinder and crane started binding. This gun didn't have any issues until now; what could be causing this? I tried spraying cleaner into the crane and then lubing the heck out of it; lube on the ejector rod and under the star extractor, and nothing.

What gives here? Anyone else experience this? I have owned plenty of revolvers (Smith and Wesson) without ever experiencing an issue like this. And no, the cylinder is not touching the cylinder stop at all; there is plenty of clearance between the two.

Please advise if you know of a trick to solve this on my own, or if it is time to take it to a qualified gunsmith.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Did you drop it?

 

[limpingbear]

see if the ejector rod has unscrewed itself a bit. I know they sometimes will backout a bit and it only takes a little to tie up the gun....

 

[BSA1]

Check for unburnt powder and grit between the rear of the cylinder and under the exactor.

 

[American Finn]

No, I didn't drop it.

I checked the ejector rod, and it seems fine (nice and tight, no looseness like it unscrewed itself). The crane is tight too; no grit behind it, the ejector, etc.

I am at a loss here; anyone know a good gunsmith here in South Dakota?

I don't feel safe shooting it until a good smith checks it out.

 

[rcmodel]

I checked the ejector rod, and it seems fine

Bad info.
Colt ejector rods can't unscrew themselves like S&W ejector rods.
They are staked on permanently, and just don't come loose, unless somebody with no gunsmith knowledge thought they did.


If there is no unburned powder flakes stuck under the ejector star?
Look real good now! And scrub it with an old toothbrush Justin Case.
(I know, don't call you Justin Case, cause that isn't your real name!)


But the real question is?
Is the cylinder binding on the crane center shaft and is hard to rotate??

Or is the crane binding in the frame when you open & close the cylinder???

In either case, back out the big cap screw on the front right side of the frame far enough you can slide the crane and cylinder foreword out of the frame.

Then clean & Lubricate to your hearts content.

DO use a proper fitting gunsmith screwdriver that fits the screw properly.
And DO NOT take ait all the way out and lose the spring and plunder that holds the crane & cylinder in the frame.

rc

 

[Jim K]

Once you get the crane and cylinder out of the frame, hold the crane and spin the cylinder. If it rotates smoothly, you can eliminate a whole raft of things that could go wrong. Then look at the front of the cylinder and see if it looks like it was rubbing on something, like the rear end of the barrel.

If all looks OK there, check the rest of the cylinder for rub marks. Finally watch the cylinder bolt (the part that sticks out of the bottom of the cylinder window in the frame and serves to stop the cylinder at the right place) and cock the hammer. Make sure the bolt first is withdrawn into the frame, then snaps back up.

Also make sure the cylinder latch (the part you pull on to swing out the cylinder) moves freely (considering spring tension).

When you have done that, let us know the results and someone will probably have more questions.

Jim

 

[American Finn]

Took it to a gun shop...

Well, I finished my move to Michigan and took the old Colt in to a local, reputable gun store in my area. They looked at it and felt it needs the attention of a gunsmith; they tried lubing it, cleaning, etc. to no avail. :banghead:

When I have a chance I will bring it to a good smith later this year.

 

[Walkalong]

It was working fine and all you did was clean it before it started binding? Makes me believe it is trash somewhere you don't want it, but heck, I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so what do I know.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'm still not clear what precisely is binding and where. If it was only doing it after or during the first cleaning, then something happened during cleaning. Either improper reassembly (how much did you take apart?) or a bit of thread from a rag jamming up the works somewhere.

Reverse your actions, take it apart piece by piece and reassemble.

 

[American Finn]

As for cleaning it, I didn't take anything apart. All I do to clean a revolver is open the cylinder up and start scrubbing away. I did the same thing when I first was given the gun; shot almost 30 rounds from it with no problems. When I got home, I started cleaning it when I noticed it started binding. I tried lubing the hell out of it and that didn't work; when I took it to the gun store they said it has to be something mechanically wrong because they thought at first it was gummed up, a piece of cleaning cloth was stuck in the crane, etc.; but no luck. I was hoping this was going to be easy.

When you pull the latch back to open the cylinder, the crane and cylinder are binding. The cylinder is not spinning freely and it is hard to pull it away from the frame. They move, but very "sticky". Once you close the cylinder, it is even hard to pull the trigger because the binding is effecting the functioning.

It is a family heirloom; it belonged to my wife's grandfather who recently passed away. He said that it was a great pistol; he carried it while hunting in Northern Michigan throughout the years. Needless to say their are sentimental reasons for having it and getting it properly fixed.

 

[MartinS]

A family piece, carried and made important by use and trust. I can imagine, I think, a little of what you must feel. I'm hoping that some bit of debris got into the lock work when you scrubbed it. If it were mine I would try just one thing before I took it to a smith (one that really does know Colt DA's). I would dunk it in mineral spirits, let it sit a while and then swing out the cylinder, rotate it, dry fire it, work the extractor. I would turn no screw. Good Luck and please let us know how it turns out and what went wrong with a gun that we would like to see a picture of.

 

[American Finn]

As soon as I have a chance I will post some pics of it.

 

[Cosmoline]

When I got home, I started cleaning it when I noticed it started binding

I think it may actually be something absurdly simple. Has anyone done a teardown inspection of it? You'll need proper tools for that of course but a teardown, inspection, cleaning and reassembly may well fix it. I would not trust a regular smith with this. Colt lockworks are insanely complex and most smiths hate them. But it's possible to do it yourself with patience. I once reassembled a Police Positive Special sitting in a cloth on my lap in the middle of the Alaskan woods, where a single dropped spring would have been disaster. How did I get myself in that situation? The short answer--I'm me.