Colt Peacemaker Clone Tune-up?

D

Doug444

New member
I recently purchased a pair of EAA Bounty Hunter SA revolvers in .357/.38. They're Colt Peacemaker clones. They both have rather heavy triggers (haven't measured 'em, but I'd guess over 6#) and cocking the hammer is noticably harder than on my Vaquero or Hawes Western Marshall. Also, the cylindars are quite stiff as you manually rotate them through the loading/unloading process. What can I do on my own (relatively simple work) to reduce the trigger pull/hammer cocking effort? Besides dropping them off at my pistolsmith;s, that is. I'm reasonably mechanically able, and have worked on several of my other revolvers (changing hammer springs, etc.)

Thanks.
Doug444
 
Try a reduced power spring kit, like those made by Wolff or Double A. That will lighten up the hammer pull quite a bit and reduce the trigger pull weight slightly.
 
Thanks for the reply, Bill. I've got the Wolff Springs website, but nothing for Double A. Any contact info you could pass on? Thanks.
Doug444
 
AFAIK, that gun is the same as the Colt, so springs designated for Colts should work, possibly with a little fitting.

If you want to keep the original springs, You can work down the mainspring by grinding some off the sides, and tapering the spring slightly. The bolt/trigger spring can also be thinned and tapered a bit using a sanding drum on a Dremel tool.

Then take a bit off the hammer bolt cam so the spring arm does not have to bend so much.

Time the gun so that the bolt drops into the leade cut in the cylinder, and polish and slightly round the top of the bolt so it doesn't gouge the cylinder.

Jim
 
Jim,
Thanks for the reply (I was hoping you'd have some input). But, you lost me on the "timing" part. I'm not sure I'm savy enough to do that. I'll try the Wolff springs route first, I think, but I'll keep in mind the work you suggested on the original springs. I have a Black & Decker dremel-type unit that should work just dandy for the task.

Again, thanks!

Doug444

P.S. I found a site that has a bunch of tune-up stuff for CA guns, so combine that with the advice you gave me earlier for my EAA Baikal SxS I should have plenty to do this winter!
 
A single action should be timed by careful fitting of the bolt spring part and the other parts so that everything happens in the proper order and time when the gun is cocked.

First, as the hammer is drawn back, the bolt has to be drawn down to release the cylinder, then the top pawl of the hand has to engage the ratchet. As the cylinder starts to turn, the second pawl of the hand begins to engage the next step of the ratchet. Then as the hammer continues back, the bolt must drop into the "leade" (the little "V" or "U" shaped cut in the cylinder). (If it drops too soon, it will mar the cylinder.) Then the hammer should stop on the rear grip strap just as the hand forces the cylinder around far enough that the bolt drops into its slot. The hammer hitting the grip strap takes the force of the hammer cocking off the bolt and hand and saves a lot of wear and tear.

Getting all this stuff to work together is called "timing" the gun, and it is tricky. There is a book by Kuhnhausen, which I have, but honestly have not really dug into it very deeply; you might find it useful.

Have fun and good luck. I would recommend a gunsmith but there are almost none any more who know how to time a single action, and I have seen several guns that were royally f**ked up by incompetent gunsmiths.

Jim
 
Mebbe there are some other threads on the Bounty Hunter or clones with transfer bar/rebounding pin safety mechanisms, but this is the first one that popped up AND it's on a forum I familiar with.

SO, here's my deal. I got my pair back when, went out and shot a competition with them. Came home with sore fingers (okay I'm embellishing) and promptly yanked the grips and commenced to filing on the springs...years pass.

One of the springs has broken in the safe-gun was left cocked as I still wasn't happy with the pull. So I resolve to do the job proper, make a new spring--which feels great. Went to test fire the arm (never happened after original job apparently) and found that there are two problems now.

#1 My finger stops moving at the break of the sear (nasty habit eh?), this fails to raise the transfer bar up high enough to engage the firing pin. (no mark on primer)

#2 The reduced power of the mainspring fails to impart enough inertia on the spring holding the firing pin. (found by snatch-firing or slip firing that I get a teeny mark on the primers)

Question. How do I best approach getting the transfer bar over the pin at release? I can take care of the springy issues.

Is there a better clone to work with or should I just learn this one? I'd also like to arrest the overtravel--and I'm not above putting a screw in the guard for that!

Comment: Safety features hinder natural selection.:rolleyes:;)
 
Thanks for the reply to my dredging up ancient threads.

Gunblast.com appears to be dead. Is it loading for anybody else? I couldn't get it to load a few days ago. Tried a different browser and everything this time.

I'll go look over the other article.
 
The Uberti article mentioned nothing of the maladies I outlined here. I know how to stone and polish. I'm going to have to either modify geometries for increased travel of the transfer bar and/or a later breaking sear. Nothing I can't figure out. I just thought that maybe somebody had worked with the BH before.

Of course part of me wants to eliminate the xfer bar altogether. And I may. It's a friggin' SA with a half-cock and an owner who knows how to load five--AND it will still have a rebounding pin.
 
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