I started to write this entire story as a single post but after 3 hours I figured that I'd lose most people. So I'll start with a summary and I'll add posts of what I learned tinkering with these two 38 DAs. I did learn a lot these past two weeks.
Long story short yeah, not really possible with me) I bought a 38 DA 3rd model about 10 years ago. It didn't function well, but it did function sort of. Very gritty action and I could stage the full cock by slowly pulling the trigger in double action. It also only had one click when it reached full cock. I figured this wasn't right but at least all of the parts were there. Almost all of the nickel was missing but it did have a good bore/cylinders and the latch lock up was very good. I don't remember what I paid for it but it wasn't much. A couple of years later I bought another 38 DA 3rd model parts gun. This one had a longer barrel and most of its nickel finish though the latch lock up wasn't as good. And a couple of years later I bought a small parts kit off of the internet That I probably over paid for but again, I don't remember (plausible deniability for she who must be obeyed) I tinkered with moving the parts from the first 38 to the later better looking 38. It still wasn't working well as the staging issue remained, but it was a bit smoother. About this time last year I took it out to the desert for function testing along with a bunch of other black powder cartridge guns I have and had been working on. I loaded up some 22 (short), 6.5 EDIT 5.6 Velo Dog, and 32 and 38 S&W all with black power. Here is what I brought. The 38 DA I bought with the mix of parts inside is bottom center:
On an unrelated note, I never really liked nickle plated guns. But I have dozens of them now)
I had a ton to shoot that day and when I got to the 38 DA I found that it bound up with ammunition in the cylinder. I put it away and forgot about the issue. My interest in the 38 DA was peeked again after my recent purchase of a 32 Single Action that needs no work. Forgetting about the binding problem from a year ago I proceeded to investigate the parts and how they worked and learned several things in the process. I'll go into the details of what I learned in later posts to the thread. But I did manage to get rid of the staging issue and was left with an intermittent bind that I felt for sure was the hand binding on the ratchet. As it turns out the little bit of latch play is enough to cause the hand to not quite reach the ratchet teeth from time to time. I tried holding down the latch with my hand and found that the intermittent bind went away. Cool, I had worked the action parts by swapping some, fixing others and replacing others with new parts from Jack First. And lo and behold I got the action purring like a kitten. Three distinct clicks.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VUr6wNrSyYo6d7zx7
It was time to function test and I loaded some primer only cases and was rudely reminded of the binding issue with ammunition in the cylinder from last year. As sweet as it was, it couldn't be fired. Turns out the base pin, the pin the cylinder rotates on, was bent. I'll get into that in a later post.
So, on to the original 38 DA. Move parts, and I bought parts from Jack First. The one part I didn't buy was a new rear sear as I had one and I thought I could make it work. Not the case, so I had to move the rear sear from the revolver with the bind to this revolver. As it turns out I pretty much used all of the parts I had tuned in the revolver with the bind into the other revolver. But I was able to get it to work almost perfectly.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YoCeF7QzfDfH5TfW9
The last thing I need to do before it is 'Perfect' is to add a smidge to the top of the hand. If I pull the hammer back real slow in single action the cylinder doesn't quite rotate enough to make it so the cylinder stop makes it into the slot on the cylinder.
I'll post a video when it is function tested with live ammunition. I still have the box of black powder 38 S&W I loaded for it last year.
So much for the summary. Over the next few days/weeks I'll post to this thread some of the challenges these revolvers pose.
Long story short yeah, not really possible with me) I bought a 38 DA 3rd model about 10 years ago. It didn't function well, but it did function sort of. Very gritty action and I could stage the full cock by slowly pulling the trigger in double action. It also only had one click when it reached full cock. I figured this wasn't right but at least all of the parts were there. Almost all of the nickel was missing but it did have a good bore/cylinders and the latch lock up was very good. I don't remember what I paid for it but it wasn't much. A couple of years later I bought another 38 DA 3rd model parts gun. This one had a longer barrel and most of its nickel finish though the latch lock up wasn't as good. And a couple of years later I bought a small parts kit off of the internet That I probably over paid for but again, I don't remember (plausible deniability for she who must be obeyed) I tinkered with moving the parts from the first 38 to the later better looking 38. It still wasn't working well as the staging issue remained, but it was a bit smoother. About this time last year I took it out to the desert for function testing along with a bunch of other black powder cartridge guns I have and had been working on. I loaded up some 22 (short), 6.5 EDIT 5.6 Velo Dog, and 32 and 38 S&W all with black power. Here is what I brought. The 38 DA I bought with the mix of parts inside is bottom center:
On an unrelated note, I never really liked nickle plated guns. But I have dozens of them now)
I had a ton to shoot that day and when I got to the 38 DA I found that it bound up with ammunition in the cylinder. I put it away and forgot about the issue. My interest in the 38 DA was peeked again after my recent purchase of a 32 Single Action that needs no work. Forgetting about the binding problem from a year ago I proceeded to investigate the parts and how they worked and learned several things in the process. I'll go into the details of what I learned in later posts to the thread. But I did manage to get rid of the staging issue and was left with an intermittent bind that I felt for sure was the hand binding on the ratchet. As it turns out the little bit of latch play is enough to cause the hand to not quite reach the ratchet teeth from time to time. I tried holding down the latch with my hand and found that the intermittent bind went away. Cool, I had worked the action parts by swapping some, fixing others and replacing others with new parts from Jack First. And lo and behold I got the action purring like a kitten. Three distinct clicks.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VUr6wNrSyYo6d7zx7
It was time to function test and I loaded some primer only cases and was rudely reminded of the binding issue with ammunition in the cylinder from last year. As sweet as it was, it couldn't be fired. Turns out the base pin, the pin the cylinder rotates on, was bent. I'll get into that in a later post.
So, on to the original 38 DA. Move parts, and I bought parts from Jack First. The one part I didn't buy was a new rear sear as I had one and I thought I could make it work. Not the case, so I had to move the rear sear from the revolver with the bind to this revolver. As it turns out I pretty much used all of the parts I had tuned in the revolver with the bind into the other revolver. But I was able to get it to work almost perfectly.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YoCeF7QzfDfH5TfW9
The last thing I need to do before it is 'Perfect' is to add a smidge to the top of the hand. If I pull the hammer back real slow in single action the cylinder doesn't quite rotate enough to make it so the cylinder stop makes it into the slot on the cylinder.
I'll post a video when it is function tested with live ammunition. I still have the box of black powder 38 S&W I loaded for it last year.
So much for the summary. Over the next few days/weeks I'll post to this thread some of the challenges these revolvers pose.
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