Breakdowns,  Repairs & Prevention
For Colt and Colt-type Single Actions

by Jim Taylor

The gun came up easily and the sights seemed line themselves up on the target. At the shot the steel pig dropped with a clang and I swung to the next target, eared the hammer back on the singleaction only to hear a snap, and have the hammer stay back! A broken mainspring.  If you shoot Colt Single Actions - or the "clones"- very much you will sooner or later experience a broken spring.    It is just a fact of life with them.  The leaf-type springs used in the Colts and its copies are inherently weaker than the coil-spring design such as is used in the Ruger single actions.  The "usual" spring to break is not the main spring, however, but the trigger/bolt spring.  The little two-pronged flat spring that works both the trigger and the bolt. In my experience the trigger spring side breaks more often than the bolt spring side.  That may not always be the case but seems to have been for me. Another weak area is the cylinder bolt.  The legs of the bolt flex sideways during normal operation.  Sooner or later you will break a leg off the bolt.    The only fix is a new bolt.

Oldtimers were aware of the shortcomings of the Colt springs back into the early cap & ball days.  They came up with "fixes" to remedy the situation.  While there are a number of different ways to help the springs last longer, the ones I present here are those  that were taught to me by oldtimers who used single actions all their lives. Many in situations where their lives depended on the gun working properly. 

I make no claim to being any kind of gunsmith.  I am not.  John Linebaugh once took a look at some of my repair work - designed to keep the gun going until I could get it to a gunsmith - and said, "You should take up blacksmithing!"  I agree with him.  But many of the little tricks to make the gun work smoother, or last longer, are things almost anyone who is only moderately fumble-fingered can do.

TRIGGER/BOLT SPRING

This little spring needs help to make it more flexible. Allowing it to flex a bit more extends it's life a lot.  Two areas need attention.  The inside point where the legs attach to the main body should be rounded and not a square cut.    If your spring is rounded, using a small round file that fits the opening, gently round the corners until the end has a "u" shape. 

The other area is easier to do.  Using thin leather, cut a washer that will fit under the spring, between the spring and the frame. The leather will allow the spring to flex more and thus extend the life of the spring.

CYLINDER BOLT

The bolt is actuated by the stud on the bottom of the hammer.  As the leg of the bolt slips up over the stud it flexes to the inside and quite often this is point where it breaks.  To reduce breakage, reduce the amount of flex in the bolt leg.    You can thin the bolt leg some at the point where it contacts the hammer, but remember - If you leave any file marks on the leg (or on any spring ) that are crossways of the flex direction, it will snap at the file mark.  The best solution is reduce the width of the stud that cams the bolt  to the same width as the leg of the bolt.    That way you are not flexing it beyond what it needs.  Just be aware that if you alter the shape of the stud, or the angle, you can throw the timing of the gun off.   Be careful here.  You can thin the stud without throwing the timing off IF YOU ARE CAREFUL.

MAINSPRING

I have seen people thin the mainsprings on leaf-spring powered sixguns (DA and SA) for years. And you can do it by draw filing IF YOU FILE THE LENGTH OF THE SPRING.    One crosswise move and you have given it a place to break.  The main reason for thinning the springs was to lighten the action of the gun.  You can accomplish this - and extend the life of the mainspring - if you will just make a leather washer to go in between the spring the and the frame.  This washer helps the spring to flex closer to the spring screw, and also lightens the action a bit.  It is a simple and easy fix.

TIGHTEN IT UP

Before you put the gun back together make as a small shim of nylon ( the kind that is in your cabinet door closers works well) to go into the frame between the right side of the frame and the cylinder bolt.  This keeps the bolt from being slammed over against the side of the frame opening it works through, when you jerk the hammer back rapidly.

I wore the opening in the frame to quite a large hold on an old Ruger 357 years ago.  I used the gun a lot, quick-draw, rapid fire shooting, and cocked it fast.  The cylinder bolt slamming against the little "window" enlarged the "window" over the years until the gun go quite sloppy.

By putting a piece of nylon shim in there, the bolt does not slam against the frame and thus extends the life of the gun.  It is a quick and easy fix.    There are better ways to do this, but this way does not involve you taking it to a gunsmith.

There are other things that can be done to keep the old guns running.    I am sure there are readers who have as good or better ideas than these.    However, these do work.  I have used them in my guns for over 30 years.