Colt Revolver Gunsmiths?

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rWt

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I have searched the older threads on the subject and it appears that if you want an action job done on a Colt Detective Special to smooth out the stacking and get the best trigger possible, that you should turn to either Cylinder and Slide or Grant Cunningham.

Are they still the 2 choices to consider? Has anyone else come along the past couple of years?

Thanks

Just found this on Grant Cunningham's website:

"Many of you have come to know me from my nationally acclaimed gunsmithing of the double action revolver. It’s something I enjoy doing, and I’ve been happy to supply hundreds of people over the years with customized revolvers that they can pass down to their children and grandchildren.

Sadly, that very work which brought me so much joy has resulted in serious repetitive stress injuries to my hands and wrists and I’ve regrettably been forced to close my gunsmithing service. As my condition allows I may elect to do some work for the occasional established client, or perhaps the odd project gun here and there, but I am not taking new work and don’t anticipate being able to do so again.

For those looking for quality gunsmithing, I heartily recommend you contact Frank Glenn at Glenn Custom for Colt and Smith & Wesson work (he’s one of the top Colt gunsmiths still working) and Marc Morganti at Gemini Customs (he’s probably the best with Rugers that you’ll find today, and he makes the sight blades I have on the front of my Rugers!)"
 
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Grant's out, as you saw.

C&S still does good work on the old Colt V-Springs, call & discuss first, it won't be fast or cheap.

Colt also still services the DS, call & discuss.
Denis
 
re-bluing Colt DS

Hey Denis, or anyone familiar with it...

If my Colt Detective Spl has less than 60% finish on it and I want them to re-blue it #1 would Colt handle it and #2 how expensive is something like that? If it is more than the cost of a finer specimen, I'll just hang on and upgrade later. Thanks for any input.
 
Rebluing does not involve any gunsmith work, other than dis- and re-assembling the revolver. Most local gunsmith shops don't do hot tank bluing any more because of burdensome EPA and OSHA regulations, but there are places that will do it. You can send a gun directly, but it might be less costly to have your local gun shop send it. They might also be able to recommend a bluing shop they have used before.

You may not want to do it that way, but if it were me, I would completely disassemble the gun myself and send only those parts that will be blued. That lessens the possibility that the shop will lose or mess up internal parts. Also, talk to the bluing shop in advance and include a letter specifying exactly what result you want (high gloss blue, matte blue, etc.).

Jim
 
The DS in later years got a nice polish & blue from the Colt factory.
If you want to duplicate that, I'd suggest Colt.

The polish job is more important than the bluing & Colt might be more likely to do that well on a premium gun than your local re-blue outfit.
Again- call COLT & discuss with THEM. :)
Denis
 
From what I can tell, it's more costly than I want to spend. Plus, there is only so much that can be done to these smaller Colts-can't get rid of the stacking, for example.

I sent it to Colt some years ago and they replaced the firing spring pin with one that was too light-had a lot of FTF's until a local smith put in a new spring-getting me back to where I started.

Going to sell it-too much hassle. I really like the size, weight and 6-round capacity of the DS. I'll have to see what S&W and Ruger offer.
 
You can't eliminate all of the stacking, that's the nature of the design.

These old Colts require more attention by fewer available qualified people than other current brands.
That's also the nature of the beast.

They are not cheap to work on, or easy to get worked on.
They're obsoleting themselves out of the practical realm for many people.
Denis
 
The major problem with after market rebluing is not that it is inferior to the factory job but that often it is "better" in some respects and does not look "correct". Rebluers often follow the old gunsmithing books which almost invariably insist on a "mirror finish". That is all very well if it is what the customer wants. But few factories had the time or the inclination to do that much polishing, and original finishes are rarely up to that standard. Most factory polish is about at a 250-600 grit level, not the 1500 or more that a "mirror finish" requires. The result is that a gun that is highly polished may be pleasing to some people, but will not look original and fairly shouts "reblue" to the experienced eye.

Jim
 
My suggestion of Colt was based on them being more of a known quantity & less likely to blur lines & pull letters than a local quick-buff/reblue outfit might be.

Seen too many botched polish jobs under re-blues.
If I were sending a DS out for a re-blue, it'd be Colt.

Otherwise, I've had one DS rust-blued with a gun-metal-grey refinish done through Cunningham that came out crisp, and I have a DS that was nicely parkerized by some unknown before I acquired it.

On one of the classic Colts, I'm very picky about where it goes for re-finish. :)
Denis
 
When it comes to blueing I'd let Colt do it. About 10 years ago I had them refurbish a Python, the finished product was worth it.
 
Heard from Frank Glenn. He said he'd help me to the extent the action can be smoothed out and to contact him in February. If I haven't sold the DS by then, I may give it another try.
 
walnut1704 said:
I have used him on a S&W and he did good work
Click to expand...
Be aware that folks who can do a great job on a S&W may not have much experience with the Colt leaf spring action.

It is a very different animal with a bevy of levers and camming surfaces
 
The main difference between the S&W lockwork and the old Colt is that in the S&W, this does that. In the Colt, this does that, and that, and that, and that. There are fewer parts, but each part has several functions. So if you "push it in here, it pops out there". Example, look at how many jobs the rebound lever does and how removing metal in one place results in a problem somewhere else that seems totally unrelated.

Jim
 
They are not cheap to work on, or easy to get worked on.
They're obsoleting themselves out of the practical realm for many people.
Denis
Click to expand...

This is one of the reasons I've passed over getting a Colt revolver when I've seen them. I don't know enough about them or have the experience with them to tell how well/poor mechanical shape one is in. Secondly, I don't have the money to get one worked on if it needed it. Wish I had both, because they are such classy guns.
 
When I was working in a gun shop, I had an opportunity to assess both Colt and S&W revolvers and concluded that S&W was the better in all respects except for a very slight edge in accuracy for Colt. So I didn't buy any Colts. But as other Colt's went sky high in prices, I began to acquire some of their DA revolvers as investments. While those guns have not had the big price bump of the SAA, they have gone up nicely. But the design is still early 20th century (1905). S&W started from about the same place, but steadily improved its design over the years. Colt never did so; their DA design remained stuck in 1905-1909. When they did do a major rework, it was not very well done, and was generally not very successful.

Jim
 
Try John Blauvelt. He has a website, Top Notch with revolvers! Was one of the gun rag Top Gunsmiths in the Pistolsmiths Guild! He is in PA now. A1
 
Jim K said:
When I was working in a gun shop, I had an opportunity to assess both Colt and S&W revolvers and concluded that S&W was the better in all respects except for a very slight edge in accuracy for Colt. So I didn't buy any Colts. But as other Colt's went sky high in prices, I began to acquire some of their DA revolvers as investments. While those guns have not had the big price bump of the SAA, they have gone up nicely. But the design is still early 20th century (1905). S&W started from about the same place, but steadily improved its design over the years. Colt never did so; their DA design remained stuck in 1905-1909. When they did do a major rework, it was not very well done, and was generally not very successful.

Jim
Click to expand...
You don't own an older model Python, do you?
 
Nope, no Python. I have always had the problem of buying what I liked rather than what other people would pay big bucks for. I was never able to see the big deal with the Python. I thought the action job was little or no better than what I could do, and the super finish was vastly over rated with a lot of sloppy work in the way of rounded corners and dished holes.

Jim
 
Matt Almeda has fixed a few Colts for me.... A DS and a Cobra that both had very bad trigger stack. The Cobra was possibly the worst trigger on a pistol I've ever had.

He knows what he is doing with Colt lock work. When I picked up the Cobra he even took time to show me why the trigger stacking was so bad.

http://www.revolverarmorer.com/

You can have Matt work on your Colt with confidence. Both of mine are wonderful now.
Will
 
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