Bad enough to make any tough ole cop cry. At one time it was probably someone's only friend in a dark alley. How does this stuff happen ?
Anyway , enough singing the blues. Always wanted a E/I frame that was cheap enough to be able Dis/Re -assemble and in general putz around with. Try to learn something about how they work. S&Ws are easy , Colts are a mystery. Here it was $88 bucks ,out the door lijf;
So ,as sad as it looks the internals are not bad ,bore and chambers are fine with timing better that most Colts . It does have a very problematic ,sluggish trigger return and is missing the rear sight blade.
Currently sitting in a Ed's Red soak before wire brushing and disassembly..
I've rebuilt worse, it's still mostly there & functional. A replacement sight & maybe a trigger return spring & she's all there. The right grip is more worn than the left, saw a lot of holster duty. It looks like maybe it got a dose of saltwater. A good scrubbing & polishing then re-blue & it will make a nice shooter.. At $88 you stole it!
This is my $400 Colt Python with 2 1/2" barrel. It was given to a guy for a graduation present in 1978. He shot a few rounds through it and put it on a shelf in the barn. He left on a graduation trip and got a job while there. It was forgotten in the barn for thirty-nine years. The box and paperwork were disintegrated and tossed. The internals are like new and it shoots great.
Colt's aren't much of a mystery. If you watch how they work they are actually quite simple. You got a deal for that price. Keep us posted on it's progress!
Heck, that ain't too bad. Had a buddy that recovered an alloy frame Colt from the muck in a salt marsh while fishing.............coal mine doesn't even begin to describe it.......he sent it to Colt for a rebuild and they refused. Later on he bought parts and got the action back up and running but the salt water corrosion was so extensive that I wondered just how many rounds it'd take for it to literally fall apart.............wish I'd taken a photo of that one.
Seems like this has a little interest so here is a smallish update.
After a heavy duty cleaning with no tender technics .the true starting point is established .
Two problem areas identified ,,,,so far.
First is the trigger return ,now barely working at all. Second is the cylinder bolt popping out prematurely , way prematurely. Standard for a S&W or Ruger , Not good for a Colt.
Time to strip & clean & re-assemble. Then strip and reassemble trying a V spring from another gun ,,, no love for a simple swap. Strip and re assemble about 10 more times. nvonjvila
Trigger return problem seems to be resulting from a bind with the safety hammer block stuff. Not a repair but I removed it and got instant gratification.
The premature bolt drop seems to be wear allowing the bolt to move sideways and may require a couple of hard to find parts or a easy bubba fix. Guess what I'm gonna try first.
As the finish is so far gone I am going to remove all the rest of it.
Yo Irv, V spring swap was just a stab in the dark for a quicki fix , but it had no reward. So not the problem .
The bolt ,cylinder latch, Is a long pivoting thing made out of hard spring steel . being very thin on one end is allowing it to deflect sideways and disengage from the cam on the rebound lever dropping it early.
Cheap Bubba fix mentioned involves a shim on the inside of the frame to stop this deflection.
The small cams and lobes on these two parts are small and must be perfect to work , or they aren't and they don't.
Yeah, Colts cylinder rotates backwards, their screwy action design isn't as smooth or rugged as S&Ws & goes out of time more often. Because they were used up long ago replacement parts aren't as available & must be made. The later guns kind of rode in on the coattails of the SAA... outside of all those failings they do have the cool name & are pretty accurate (a couple still take up lodging in my safe). It's been my experience brass makes the best shims on a Colt but sometimes you need to carve out a whole new part the hard way.
Well, I'm gonna put a plug in this one for now and call it functional.
A couple of quick file strokes on the rebound lever cam and the bolt started behaving properly. It is now dropping right in the middle of the leade, 1/8 of an inch before the slot.
Action is smooth and trigger pull both SA and DA are dandy .
Striped completely naked of finish it still has the complexion of a 16 year old fry cook.
How much surface restoration will be done will depend on how she preforms at the range .
Pretty comfortable with E/I/ colts now ,so for now done deal .
1000% better looking now than when you started. You know its getting to be that time of year. Get yourself some orange cerakote and make that baby a Pumpkin Spice Colt!!
I love it! I love ugly old quality revolvers at good prices.
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