Supposedly, they were known as the "gunsmith's favorite" back in the day. The other piece of lore (that I cannot confirm) is that the 1877 was likely to last longer firing double action. I sold mine a couple months ago, and it was reasonably tight and in time. Just how bad is yours? I doubt any example will lock up like a Python. Repair will mean replacing parts, which in this case means making parts. And I don't know of any smith that will take on that old smoke wagon. Given the prices I've seen, you'd probably do best rolling the dice on another example.