I gots me a problem...timing issue...I think

[BE Wild Willy]

Well, I don't know what happened, but here's the scenario:

Had the gun apart for cleaning (1851 copy), put it back together, and the gun "jumps past" half cock. Normally you can here the C-O-L-T when cocking, although it was more like C-O-......L-T, now the first two clicks happen together with no half cock.

Now just to be sure, the first "click" should be half cock right? Second "click" is the bolt popping back up, third the hand rotating the cylinder, fourth the bolt locking and hammer at full cock. Do I have this right?

I took the gun back apart and compared it to pics in pages 17-19 in the "Tune your Pietta" stickie. I think there is a problem with the hammer cam (looks pretty buggered) and the bolt engagement. What can be done about this? I can probably take some pics of mine if needed.

Please help, I'm really bummed...

 

[SAA]

First of all, a cap-and-ball Colt-type revolver should NOT say C-O-L-T. It should ONLY say C-O-L, three clicks.

1 - trigger sear engaging half cock notch
2 - bolt snapping to cylinder
3a - bolt dropping into lock slot in cylinder
3b - trigger sear engaging full cock notch

3a and 3b should be simultaneous, or 3a should precede 3b by a nearly imperceptible amount, certainly not in two distinct clicks.

The hand rotating the cylinder should not make a click.

 

[Omnivore]

Lesee;
Click One should be the trigger falling into the half-cock notch. If the trigger spring is busted it won't of course.
Click Two- Bolt falling onto cylinder. If the bolt spring is busted, it won't of course.
Click Three- Bolt locking into cylinder notch. See above.
Click Four- Trigger falling into full cock notch on hammer.

Something like that. The trigger might fall into full cock before the cylinder fully locks.

In my repro '51, clicks Two and Three pretty much happen together, as the bolt lands into the cylinder notch lead and cams the cylinder right into lock-up with the tension from the bolt spring. It's always been a three-clicker. You'd have to look closely and see what's happening. Check your springs. I'll assume you've had it apart multiple times for cleaning and know what things are supposed to look like. Or I could be an idiot in which case you should ignore everything I said.

 

[BE Wild Willy]

First of all, a cap-and-ball Colt-type revolver should NOT say C-O-L-T. It should ONLY say C-O-L, three clicks.

1 - trigger sear engaging half cock notch
2 - bolt snapping to cylinder
3a - bolt dropping into lock slot in cylinder
3b - trigger sear engaging full cock notch

3a and 3b should be simultaneous, or 3a should precede 3b by a nearly imperceptible amount, certainly not in two distinct clicks.

The hand rotating the cylinder should not make a click.

It is as you said, 3a & 3b are close together as they should be. Now 1 & 2 are nearly simultaneous. I was in error about click #3 in my first post.

 

[SAA]

Then the bolt must be dropping way too soon. If so, it will unduly score the cylinder. Can you feel the tension of the bolt against the cylinder when rotating the cylinder by hand after the second click?

If so, the leg on the bolt that rides the hammer cam may have gotten bent or broken. That is what I would check given the description.

 

[BE Wild Willy]

Then the bolt must be dropping way too soon. If so, it will unduly score the cylinder. Can you feel the tension of the bolt against the cylinder when rotating the cylinder by hand after the second click?

If so, the leg on the bolt that rides the hammer cam may have gotten bent or broken. That is what I would check given the description.

The bolt is definitely dropping way too soon. I took some pics of what I'm dealing with, not the greatest, but here goes...

 

[col.lemat]

time to replace

it looks worn out to me, the cam on the hammer needs to be replaced

 

[BE Wild Willy]

it looks worn out to me, the cam on the hammer needs to be replaced

That's what I was afraid of. How do I go about replacing or repairing the cam? I'm pretty sure that it must have been dropping the bolt too early before, guess this will remedy that. What do you think the cause was?

 

[junkman_01]

Try to carefully spread the legs on the bolt and see if that helps. Some cams are pressed in and some are cast with the hammer in which case a new hammer is called for.

 

[col.lemat]

Poor heat treatment on the cam. It should be hard as a diamond. Trigger/ cylinder stop spring to stiff. Lighten by carefully sanding only the stop side of spring, or carefully draw the temper from that side using a heat sink on the trigger side. You might get lucky and get a lighter trigger/cyl.stop spring. Get several as they seem to break from fatigue anyway. I understand they make a round one that is supposed to never break. Old trick my dad & uncle used in the early fifties was a paperclip. Lastly lubrication with a light grease.

 

[tpelle]

Question: What manufacturer of revolver is it - Uberti, Pietta, or other?

 

[BE Wild Willy]

"Try to carefully spread the legs on the bolt and see if that helps. Some cams are pressed in and some are cast with the hammer in which case a new hammer is called for."

I had already tried spreading the bolt legs, no effect. It appears that the cam was cast into the hammer.

"Question: What manufacturer of revolver is it - Uberti, Pietta, or other?"

This is my High Standard L&R, which the parts came from Uberti, or so I've been told. What are the odds that an Uberti replacement hammer would work?

 

[scrat]

you have nothing to loose vti gun parts.