Thursday, June 3, 2010

Colt Single Action Revolver Disassembly



When you think of a single-action revolver, this is probably what you picture. The Colt Single Action, Single Action Army, S.A.A., Peacemaker; these are all names given to this gun and it is one of the most well known guns in the world, thanks in no small part to Hollywood's love for it.

Most single-action revolvers you can buy today (with the exception of Ruger revolvers, which we will discuss later) share this basic design. Whether it was manufactured by Colt, Uberti, Beretta, Cimarron and so forth, they all use the same basic design. There may be a few differences here and there, but these instructions will apply to all.

What I will be working on today is a Colt that was manufactured in the 1980s. One thing about this design that shooters should be aware of is that models with the firing pin mounted on the hammer, like the Colt I am working on, are not safe to carry with a round in the chamber under the firing pin. If the gun is to be carried or otherwise not immediately shot, one chamber should be left empty. The Ruger SA revolvers can be safely carried with a round in every chamber, but you will get yelled at if you go to a Cowboy Action shoot with one loaded like that.

Before you get started on the disassembly, keep in mind that we will need several different sized screwdrivers or bits. There are a number of different sized screws in this gun, and using the wrong sized screwdriver will mar the screw heads. Choose a bit that fits snugly in the screw slot and goes as close to the edge as possible.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

How do I remove rust?

Removing most surface rust is easy if you know what you're doing.

With a few simple items, we will go from this:



To this: