Still having issues with my ASM Hartford Model

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deerslayer303

New member
Hello Gentlemen,

I'm still having issues with my ASM 1873 SAA Hartford Model. Its seems the head space is a little too tight. The rims of the cartridges are contacting the recoil shield when the cylinder is rotated. If some of you recall I did start a thread a while back about this and I took down a few burrs I found on the recoil shield and that seemed to do the trick. But the problem is back. Well I say its back, after I took those burrs down I fired only 5 rounds, then cleaned it and put it away. So it hasn't seen any range time since, Anyway, As I loaded up some fresh rounds yesterday with Star Line Brass, Lee Cast bullet, and 35 grs of black powder. I dropped one of the rounds in a chamber and left the revolver on half cock, closed the gate and rotated the cylinder by hand and sure enough it binds up. The round checks out, all measurements are within specs listed for the case in the manual. At this point I just want to send it to a good Single action smith and have them fix it up. I absolutely love the thing and I don't want to give up on it, as I suspect the previous owner knew about the issue and hence the reason I wound up with it. But I'm still glad I did. I feel like this revolver is so close to an original with the size of the frame and all. I will call Mike at Goon's Gun Works and see if this is something he wants to tackle. Or if any of you know a good Single action smith, please let me know.
 
I found the problem. I pushed the cylinder pin all the way in to the "safe" position thus blocking the hammer. I then put one round in a chamber(one round would show where the problem area(s) would be) and cocking the hammer to rotate the cylinder around to the problem area where it would drag on something. I did this repeatedly. My hope was the case scrapping on something would leave some brass residue on the frame. After many turns of the cylinder, I removed the round and then the cylinder. Sure enough brass residue on the bottom of the firing pin hole (channel). It almost looks as if the bit that bore that hole just pushed through. As I don't think the firing pin could do that, or could it? I will polish up the firing pin channel with a fine file and I'll stone the face. Once I get the bugs worked out, it still may take a trip to Goons.

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Pic is too big but it looks like somebody already took a file to it. I sent Mike a message on another forum where he'll most likely see it quicker.
 
Dressing the bulge oughta do it. Same thing, to a lesser extent occurred on my Uberti SAA Hombre and a light touch with a file fixed it.
 
On a SAA the hammer should stop on the frame with the firing pin still floating.
Your firing pin is not correctly fit.
 
So after more examination, lowering the hammer slowly the firing pin contacts the bottom of the channel. As it comes through the recoil shield and when you can start seeing the tip of the firing pin, it makes contact with that pushed out area that's in the photo. As it does the firing pin is pushed up slightly. So 44 Dave, you're right on the money. My question is, what to do about it? I'm thinking this may be a job for a smith more qualified than I to fix it. I haven't touched it yet as I wanted to be fully aware of what was going on with it before I attempted anything at all.

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Jerry Kuhnhausen's Colt shop manual has several pages on firing pin types and fitting.
Try some lay out die or just Magic Marker, then snap it a few times to find if it clears.
 
It is, of course too late, but my experience has been that ASM (Armi San Marcos) are NOT good guns. Look good, work like crap.

IF possible, I would suggest you find someone willing to take it off your hands and get what you can of your money back out of it, then put that (and some more) to buying a better quality SAA replica.

From what you describe, it can be fixed, if you're not willing to give up on it, then don't. But, I would.
 
Is it a floating or fixed firing pin?
Is it radius cut or tapered?
A firing pin bushing will only get knocked out by a firing pin that is not fit correctly. I don't believe Colt 3rd gens. still use a bushing, a hold over rough iron frames.
 
It is a floating pin. I'm not gonna give up on it. I like the thing and am willing to spend the money on it to make it right. As soon as I find a good Smith to take it to, I'm gonna send it off. I haven't heard back from Goon's so the search is on for someone else.

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