I broke my Standard Mfg SAA!

[vanfunk]

Hi All:

Tragedy strikes… I was out with my son at the range yesterday, as he wanted to shoot the Standard Mfg SAA 7.5” that I got a few weeks ago. Prior to this outing, I had put 100 rounds of handloads through it (mostly a 250 grain LRNFP in front of 8 grains of BE-86). I had been given some even milder factory loads (Fiocchi 250 grain copper plated “cowboy” loads at 750 fps). At about round 70 (so a grand total of 170 rounds), the cylinder began to fail to advance when the trigger was cocked. Unloading the revolver to check it out, I also discovered that there was no longer an audible click when rotating the cylinder at half-cock. I further discovered that the cylinder would advance most of the time when the revolver was pointed straight down or very nearly so, but only sometimes when held horizontally.

Once home, I removed the cylinder and noticed that the hand would barely protrude into the frame when the hammer was cocked. A side-to-side comparison with my Colt demonstrated this as well. Clearly there’s a spring broken somewhere in there? I didn’t want to take it apart because I don’t want to touch those beautiful fire blued screws until I know what I am doing and have the part(s) handy. I know this may be hard to diagnose from afar but are there any SAA afficionados out there who know right away what malady has befallen my new SAA? I understand Standard’s service dept can be a nightmare so I’d rather fix it myself if I can.

Thanks!

 

[Riomouse911]

Rats!

Nothing is worse than having something go kaput just a few rounds into ownership. Been there, done that with autos and revolvers. (Both with New In Box and New To Me purchases).

I am not up on Colt or Colt-esque SAA types like I am with Ruger SA’s, so I can’t offer a “what to look for” to you. Hopefully members more experienced with them can add some insight to help you out.

Good luck!

Stay safe.

 

[entropy]

The spring on the back of the hand probably broke.
The correct abbreviation for Manufacturing is Mfg. Yours looks like you are swearing at it.

 

[gnappi]

I'm more of a Ruger Blackhawk type but I "think" that the SAA hand upstroke is a purely mechanical thing.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=7jtCCTsZcrA

 

[trackskippy]

The spring on the back of the hand probably broke.
The correct abbreviation for Manufacturing is Mfg. Yours looks like you are swearing at it.

LOL. I have a feeling he is.

 

[vanfunk]

Ha! Thanks for the comic relief brothers, I need it. The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that it’s a broken hand spring. There’s got to be a youtube video out there on how to replace it.

 

[silicosys4]

Get a spring kit. Replace all the purportedly Italian springs. Try not to be dismayed that the nicely clocked screws are now not clocked anymore.

Standard Mfg is notorious for their hand springs breaking. I've never had to replace one, but it doesn't sound like its a drop in part.

Standard Mfg SAA issues

www.coltforum.com

 

[Riomouse911]

The spring on the back of the hand probably broke.
The correct abbreviation for Manufacturing is Mfg. Yours looks like you are swearing at it.

(I thought the same thing when I saw the title !)

Stay safe.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Walk Away…!

LoL! I literally can’t sometimes and break out the dremel till it’s fix or completely BROKEN

 

[Mark_Mark]

Rats!

Nothing is worse than having something go kaput just a few rounds into ownership. Been there, done that with autos and revolvers. (Both with New In Box and New To Me purchases).

I am not up on Colt or Colt-esque SAA types like I am with Ruger SA’s, so I can’t offer a “what to look for” to you. Hopefully members more experienced with them can add some insight to help you out.

Good luck!

Stay safe.

Your missing out! Once you go Colt SAA you don’t go back! more fun then a afternoon in San Francisco!

 

[vanfunk]

I have a good set of gunsmith screwdrivers, and I have a Colt SAA to shoot in the meantime, BUT I have apprehensions about replacing the spring. It’s a very tight fit (swaged in place?) so there are two significant challenges. 1) Getting the broken one out, and 2) cramming the new one in. That seems to be why most parts are sold as the hand and spring together. I don’t want to do that as I don’t want to have to fit a new hand to the cylinder. The other option is to return it to Standard, but it’s on my dime. i can cut that fee by having my friendly FFL ship it instead as they can use USPS, so it might be $15 instead of $70-80. Reportedly, Standard turns repairs around in a week so that might be a better way to go. Apparently actually talking to them isn’t fun, but all I need is an RMA.

 

[red rick]

That’s a shame on a new revolver of that price .

 

[Pat Riot]

I have been known to call my guns that…
It doesn’t fix anything but it makes me feel better.

 

[Pat Riot]

I have a good set of gunsmith screwdrivers, and I have a Colt SAA to shoot in the meantime, BUT I have apprehensions about replacing the spring. It’s a very tight fit (swaged in place?) so there are two significant challenges. 1) Getting the broken one out, and 2) cramming the new one in. That seems to be why most parts are sold as the hand and spring together. I don’t want to do that as I don’t want to have to fit a new hand to the cylinder. The other option is to return it to Standard, but it’s on my dime. i can cut that fee by having my friendly FFL ship it instead as they can use USPS, so it might be $15 instead of $70-80. Reportedly, Standard turns repairs around in a week so that might be a better way to go. Apparently actually talking to them isn’t fun, but all I need is an RMA.

If it’s under warranty let them fix it. It might be a hassle, but, no offense, they know what they’re doing. If you go in there and muck something up then you may not have a warranty at all.

 

[Walkalong]

The spring on the back of the hand probably broke.
The correct abbreviation for Manufacturing is Mfg. Yours looks like you are swearing at it.

And fixed, we like to keep the language family friendly here at THR, and we all promised to do so when we signed up.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Please forgive me for showing the lock parts of a 2nd Gen Colt, instead of your Standard Mfg "SAA". By the way, Single Action Army and SAA are registered trademarks of the Colt company. I'll bet nowhere will you find those actual words in any Standard Manufacturing literature.

Anyway, the spring on the hand is the second most common spring in a Colt or colt replica to break. If your revolver parts look like this I suspect the hand spring has broken. Pointing the revolver down will allow the hand to swing forward by gravity, engaging the cylinder ratchet. Pointing it up will prevent that from happening.

I don't know about your revolver, but on a Colt (or replica) that spring is peened in place. In other words the metal of the hand is 'upset' slightly to get a firm grip on the spring.

If you can find a replacement spring, pressing it into the existing hand is a better option than replacing the hand/spring assembly, because the original hand will be fitted to the cylinder. Replacing the hand may require custom fitting.

The easiest way to replace the spring is to lay the existing hand with broken spring flat on a hard surface with a hole in it. I like to use this bench block, but any hard surface with a hole in it will do, even a flat piece of hard wood. Lay the hand with the broken piece of spring over a hole. Place the new spring directly on top of the broken spring, with it lined up with the slot in the hand. Using a small hammer, gently tap the new spring into place, driving the old spring out at the same time. It is really quite simple, I once replaced a spring for somebody's Uberti this way during the lunch break at a CASS match.

Hopefully the new spring will fit into the slot in the hand and be held firmly.



By the way, here is the second most common spring to break in a Colt or colt replica, the split trigger/bolt spring.

Regarding those "beautiful fire blued screws", that's one reason I have never looked into one of those Standard Manufacturing revolvers. The crummy old screws on a Colt are good enough for me. And I don't care that they don't all line up the same on a real Colt. Colt screws never lined up all the same.

 

[Riomouse911]

Your missing out! Once you go Colt SAA you don’t go back! more fun then a afternoon in San Francisco!

I had a Uberti Cattleman 4 5/8” .45 Colt many years ago. Not a bad little SAA clone, I gave it to a friend when he moved to Idaho.

As for San Francisco, it was fun when I lived in Berkeley back in the ‘79-‘86 era.

Today? Not so much.

Stay safe.

 

[Mizar]

Those springs are stamped from sheet stock, so most of the times they'll have burrs and uneven edges - this is the main reason for breaking, except the old design. A careful deburring and polishing is a must. Nothing extreme, just a smooth surface and a slight chamfer of the edges. That goes for any flat spring in that revolver - mainspring, hand spring, trigger/bolt spring and the bolt itself.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I had a Uberti Cattleman 4 5/8” .45 Colt many years ago. Not a bad little SAA clone, I gave it to a friend when he moved to Idaho.

As for San Francisco, it was fun when I lived in Berkeley back in the ‘79-‘86 era.

Today? Not so much.

Stay safe.

I was joking about San Francisco, I visited this summer and the criminals have taken over. I remember ten years ago when the city leaders CHEERED that they forced the last gun shot to close in SF. Anyway

Give a nice single action a retry! Something beefy like a 454 or .44! best fun since Acme Bread and some claim chowder!

 

[CraigC]

I haven't been in to mine, so I don't know if it's an original style leaf spring or a coil spring. I've replaced hand springs and it's not terribly difficult but I'm not going to tell someone else to do it on a $2000 sixgun. I'd suggest one of two options, send it back to Standard or have a gunsmith do the coil spring conversion if there's not one already.

 

[vanfunk]

Thanks guys! I’ve decided that I want Standard to finish it for two reasons:

1) I want the repair to be done according to factory standards (so to speak).
2) I want them to know that there’s a potential QC problem with these hand springs. Contrary to a prior post and some internet discussion on other forums, no parts are Italian. They may not be made in-house by Standard (not sure) but they are all US-made. Note: I have no problem with Italian parts, I’m just correcting for the record.

 

[Mk VII]

This is a common defect in all Colt clones, and their percussion relatives which share the same basic design mechanism. One could say it happens to all of them sooner or later.

 

[vanfunk]

Thanks again everyone! Standard has no weekend customer service but I sent them an email Friday evening. I plan to give them a call this morning and hope to secure an RMA. It’s just a couple of weeks “old” and was purchased new, so I can’t imagine having a problem. Hopefully I’ll get it back soon as my son really likes to shoot the ol’ hogleg. Now he wants a companion lever action! Oh boy.

 

[45 Dragoon]

If you ever get tired of the flats, I'll be happy to put coils in for you.

Mike

 

[.45Coltguy]

If you ever get tired of the flats, I'll be happy to put coils in for you.

Mike

You're a good guy Mike. Curious, do work on the Italian replicas? Uberti, Pietta? Thanks.