Colt Revolversmith

S

savit260

New member
Do any of you know of a good Colt Revolversmith (double action Army Special/Official Police) within an hours drive of the N.E. Ma./N.H. Seacoast area?

Not having any luck in my search.

Any help would be appresheated.

I'd really rather not ship this gun if I can help it.


Thanks in advance.
 
There are VERY few gunsmith's around these days that are qualified to work on the old Colt action.
The Colt really IS "different" and it takes someone who's totally qualified to work on them without botching it up.
Another factor is, the Colt's REQUIRE special tooling, and very few gunsmith's have it.

Here's the ONLY people I can recommend.

The Colt factory. No knows more about it then they do, and they have all the parts (for most models) and the highly specialized tooling needed.
Their prices and turn-around are excellent, and the quality is the best.

Pittsburgh Handgun Headquarters
1330 Center Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15229
(412) 766-6100
Pittsburgh used to be the Colt factories over-flow center for warranty repairs.
They have parts and the quality, pricing, and turn-around are very good.

Cylinder & Slide, Inc.
245 E. 4th Street
Fremont, NE 68026
(402) 721-4277
http://www.cylinder-slide.com/
C&S is more a custom shop for super action jobs or major custom alterations, but they do do repairs.
Quality is world-class, turn-around is SLOW like all custom shops, and prices are HIGH.

Grant Cunningham gets good reviews, but I haven't personally seen his work:
http://www.grantcunningham.com/

Fair warning: Take a Colt to most any local gunsmith NO MATTER WHAT HIS REP, and it'll likely come back in worse shape than before.
True, there are locals who still know what they're doing with a Colt, but you have no way of knowing who's who.
With the above services there's no doubt about their qualifications.

Again, just because a gunsmith is a master on S&W and Ruger is means NOTHING when it comes to the old Colt action. They really are "different".
 
Just curious, but what is wrong with it? I may not be able to help, but I might be able to determine how serious the problem is.

Jim
 
Well, there's always the do it yourself option. If the problem isn't too serious and you are the adventurous type, Jerry Kuhnhausen has an excellent book/shop manual on the Colt double actions.
 
It's getting to the point where the timing needs to be adjusted.

The cylinder is not quite locking up when you do the slow thumb cock like it used to.

Cocking it quickly get's the cylinder locked in place though.

I'd like to get it adjusted before it gets any worse.

I believe this requires replacing the hand correct?
 
Not necessarily.
As long as it hasn't been done once before it's sometimes possible to stretch the hand.

Note that it isn't stretched where or how you might think so don't attempt it without learning the details.
 
I'm not interested in working on this one myself.

I'd really like to find someone qualified localy to do this, and not ship it.


Affordable Firearms in Pelham N.H. said they know of a guy in N.H. that's an ace with old Colts, but gave me some story about having to do some kind of complicated transfer b.s. because I'm a Ma. resident. No idea what that's all about. Didn't get a clear explination either.

Couldn't get the guys name out of them.
 
Colt

Sir:
No, I'm certainly not a Colt expert (an "ex" is a has been and a "spert " is a drip under pressure."
But your problem is not unique.
Smiths have the same problem. You take most all new 44mag 29s. and shoot a box of max 44 mag throught it and put a very slight drag on the cylinder, cock it slowly and it won't time right.
I recently obtained a Mod. 19 Smith 357 4"" bb. that has had 6 owners, shot lots, and lots! Bbl. gap is .001, crane tight, cylinder timing perfect and still in excellent shape (which is RARE, RARE, RARE!) ejector rod STRAIGHT!
It's a rare bird, but it was SET UP RIGHT BY SMITH to begin with!
I have never found Ruger revolvers suffering from this.
I think when you find a man who can fix this he will be an old fart - probably at the Colt factory - no young man will understand it.
Harry B.
 
Tweaking the tail of the bolt (cylinder stop in S&W talk) will cause it to fall off the shelf of the rebound lever faster, thus popping up and engaging the notch of the cylinder sooner. Take some needle nose pliers and bend it ever so slightly towards the solid side of the frame.

Do a search under my name and you'll find disassembly instructions for the Colt Python in one thread and how the parts interact with one another in another thread.
 
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