Dragoon Problem

[Kitika]

I've got a walker and a 2nd model dragoon but the dragoon has a little bit of a problem. It has a very light trigger pull which is fine but it has started to drop to half cock when the trigger is let off gently i.e. when taking a cool calm and calculated shot at a target. If I really jerk the trigger hard and fast it will fall properly and strike the primer but I need it to work properly for a big CAS shoot that's approaching fast. Is this a home fix job like tension the hammer spring or is there something more likely wrong with hammer/sear.

 

[kituwa]

Hard to say without looking at the insides but it sounds like either someone did a trigger job on it wrong or either the trigger is broke off on the sear end.

 

[44 Dave]

Have you cleaned the crap out of it? The thing i had with one, was the trigger side of that spring needed to be "adjusted' for a little more tension.
If you take it all of the way down and look for a problem then leave the hammer spring out and play with the trigger you should be able to get it to drop in 1/2 cock.

 

[Kitika]

I always clean it very well as with all my blackpowder guns and the colts do seem to drop fragments of caps down into there insides which I thought might have been the problem I'm having but it is still doing it.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Sounds like someone removed metal from the back side of the hammer to reduce trigger creep. This allows the sear to disengage to soon and snag on the half cock notch as the hammer rotates. Solution is a new hammer or remove metal at the half cock notch.

To reduce trigger creep, adding a set screw just above the sear shelf or even using JB to make the shelf narrower.

 

[Hellgate]

I'm not sure I'd remove metal from the half cock or it might not hold. It is the "safety" so you can't pull the trigger on half cock because of the deep notch and shelf the trigger can't or shouldn't jump. Take a look at the trigger, maybe some of the sear crumbled off. I've re shaped and rehardened a couple with Kasenit (case hardening powder).

 

[Kitika]

Managed to fix it with a file. The half cock notch on the hammer looked like it had been left to large from the factory and had caught the trigger a few times when firing causing it to peen over and stopping it from falling all together so had to file it back. Also Filed a little more into the full cock notch so the trigger wasn't so light and bent the trigger spring for a little more tension and she works like a charm now! Bit of a pain for a near new gun but its fixed now.

 

[kituwa]

Good to hear you have it fixed. It would still be a good idea to keep some extra parts on hand. The most likely parts on colts to give a problem are the trigger/bolt spring, the cylinder ratchet hand and spring, the trigger itself, and the hammer. I just fixed some ones 1860 a few days ago that was doing the same thing as your gun was.Turned out the trigger sear,the top part of the trigger that mates into the sear on the hammer,,was rounded off just a little bit.All it took was a small amount of stoneing on the trigger and it was as good as new. Very good chance was the same thing that caused yours to fail and the hammer falling into half cock could have been all that caused the damage that you found.If your trigger sear is rounded, you may have only a temporary fix. Sears are not as easy to mess with as it looks,there are certain angles on eaach piece that have to be just right in order to work, or last very long.It is also common on these colt copies to have some parts that are not hardened enough and the trigger is the main one. You can get single parts, or better yet a parts kit and they dont cost a lot of money and you will be very glade you have them on hand if you shoot a lot.

 

[Kitika]

I do shoot a lot with the colts. In a month i'll be shooting a cas state titles match with 120 rounds over the weekend going through them and i've done more than that in one day before had a very sore hand from leaning on the loading lever! Where abouts do you source the parts kits from? If they are fairly cheap and ship internationally it might be worth my while.

 

[kituwa]

Bob's Gun Shop , and, VTI replica gun parts are two that i know of. I also see whole parts kits once in a while on E bay. I think i saw someone here say once that some Colt peace maker parts fit too And if so those will be tempered better than a lot of the replica parts. If thats a bigger CASS event your going to it may be someone there has kits or parts available.

 

[BHP FAN]

Cabela's had a kit with all the replacement parts in it for the Pietta pretty cheap.