Rescue an 1860 Army--
 

Just a question that some of you might be able to answer---I have an Italian copy of an 1860 Colt Army .44--frame, barrel, grips/handle, loading lever, cylinder are all in good shape, but the innards have had it. Will not hold the hammer back when fully c**ked and keeps jamming at the half c**ked position until gun is dis-assembled and cylinder is pulled off. Is there supposed to be a spacer of some sort between the rear of the cylinder and frame, seems like a lot of fore and back movement there and would a new set of the internal parts turn it into a working model? I want to replace the trigger, hand, cylinder stop and possibly the hammer, the springs are all fine and working---any comments, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated---thanks-------John

Have you pulled it down and inspected/cleaned it???

I had a Ruger Blackhawk that did that a few years back and all I did was remove the grips, disassemble and clean and she went back to working...The part that positions the cylinder was jamming...

I rebuilt an original Remington New Army 44 using Foreign parts. If my experience was what is to be expected you will have a lot of timing and touchy work installing new parts in an old gun. They are not really assembly line made but mostly gunsmith assembled and timed. My Remington was my Grandfathers and had been overloaded splitting the cylinder and left in a box of scrap metal to rust. It will now fire although it is mostly a wall hanger as there is little collector value due to the rework. Replica cylinder ball diameter is smaller than the original which needs to be reemed out to make the gun really accurate. I agree that the internal parts should be cleaned and inspected well before trying to install new parts.

I'm sorry, I should have clarified my question. This is only a couple years old, not made by Uberti, but one of the other copies. I'm not concerned about making it shootable, just so that it works correctly. It will not be a "shooter". This is just to play with while watching Clint Eastwood westerns--just want to pull the hammer back, hear the two clicks as the cylinder revolves, have the hammer stay c**ked until the trigger is pulled. Iv'e had it completely apart, down to the last screw, cleaned and lightly stoned all bearing surfaces etc--one thing I did notice is the top of the trigger where it engages the hammer looks like it might have a corner broken off--upper end is a jagged 45 degree angle which I'm certain is not the way they are made--also, someone has pulled on the trigger so hard the trigger screw was bent--I cleaned all the crud and rust from the bare frame, cleaned all the parts, rinsed everything with WD40 cleaned again and reassembled. It's not dirty and all the parts are there. Can anyone tell me if it just simply needs a new trigger?........John

Without looking at the parts and based on your information about the trigger engagement area I would suspect that a new trigger and trigger screw might correct the problem.