Colt revolver timing issues

jhebison

I have a Colt Police Positive Special that works fine double action but fails to fully rotate the cylinder on single cocking. You have to manually nudge the cylinder to complete the rotation to the next chamber. What part(s) need to be replaced?
Thanks.

codenamepaul

Every time or just one of the cylinders?

Herschel

This timing problem is fairly common in Colt revolvers. The part that is needed is the hand. The hand can be stretched by removing it and peening it to stretch it slightly. This will require some careful work and the result can cause the lengthened hand to prevent the hammer from coming far enough back to cock. An easier solution is to cock the hammer rapidly when shooting single action. It will spin the cyl fast enough to cause it to rotate until the locking bolt engages.

Highball

Sounds like the bolt is dropping to quickly..(heavy drag marks on the cylinder ?) or the hand is worn.

Unlike the Smiths, replacing parts in a Colt can be a nightmare..you most times have to fit the part you are replacing to the OTHER 19 parts it interacts with...complicating your life .

Double action, or rapid single cocking, will 'sling' the cylinder into battery...while slow-cocking doesn't take advantage of the mass of the cyl. rotating...

dfletcher

The old Colts are interesting to work on. The hand is deceptively easy to work with, but you need to keep in mind that the hand & your cylinder bolt & other parts are inter - related. They have in effect spent the last, 20, 40 years wearing in together. You must remember this when correcting your hand problem.

I would do as suggested and peen the bottom shelf of your existing hand. The good news is that it's the first part that will come out when the sideplate is removed. Your Colt uses a 2 stage hand. That is, the top of the hand starts the cylinder rotation, the bottom shelf of the hand completes the turn & that's the part that's worn.

Remove the sideplate - you can leave the cylinder in place. Study the way the hand moves the cylinder when the action is slowly cocked single action. You'll see how the bottom shelf of the hand picks up the ratchet on the cylinder when the hammer is cocked. Remove the cylinder, then remove the hand. I've used the flat of a vise & a small tack hammer to give it a few taps. This is not the time to be agressive, go very easy.

If you peen too much a spark plug file is suitable to dress down the top surface.

I'd not do anything to the top part of the hand. If you do, that will cause the hand to contact the cylinder ratchet before the bolt is moved from the bolt stop cuts in the cylinder. That will cause the cylinder to hesitate when the gun is cocked.

Not hard to do, but take it easy & know how the parts interact.

v35

You'll need a steady hand and maybe a 1/8" flat punch to give you better control in hitting the hand just below the shelf.

select-fire

Send it back to Colt.

Herschel

dfletcher, Thanks for the detailed instructions. I am not a gunsmith and only corrected the timing on my Colt revolver once and that was after some rather incomplete instructions on how to do it.

jhebison

Everytime on all cylinders
quote:Originally posted by codenamepaul
Every time or just one of the cylinders?

jhebison

dFletcher, Thanks for the detailed instructions. I'll give it a shot in the next few days. Also, thanks to you others for your input. Great to have a source of great minds to aid us!

quote:Originally posted by dfletcher
The old Colts are interesting to work on. The hand is deceptively easy to work with, but you need to keep in mind that the hand & your cylinder bolt & other parts are inter - related. They have in effect spent the last, 20, 40 years wearing in together. You must remember this when correcting your hand problem.

I would do as suggested and peen the bottom shelf of your existing hand. The good news is that it's the first part that will come out when the sideplate is removed. Your Colt uses a 2 stage hand. That is, the top of the hand starts the cylinder rotation, the bottom shelf of the hand completes the turn & that's the part that's worn.

Remove the sideplate - you can leave the cylinder in place. Study the way the hand moves the cylinder when the action is slowly cocked single action. You'll see how the bottom shelf of the hand picks up the ratchet on the cylinder when the hammer is cocked. Remove the cylinder, then remove the hand. I've used the flat of a vise & a small tack hammer to give it a few taps. This is not the time to be agressive, go very easy.

If you peen too much a spark plug file is suitable to dress down the top surface.

I'd not do anything to the top part of the hand. If you do, that will cause the hand to contact the cylinder ratchet before the bolt is moved from the bolt stop cuts in the cylinder. That will cause the cylinder to hesitate when the gun is cocked.

Not hard to do, but take it easy & know how the parts interact.

rhmc24

dfletcher nailed it. The only thing I would add is the hand is moved by the trigger and pull of the trigger gives the hand a little more movement that usually completes the alignment of the cylinder to the bore, unless the wear has gone too far. Doesn't bother me. I only shoot DA.