leaf spring and hand Colts.....

Old hickory

I've never had a real Colt SAA. I have the money now to buy one but I've heard the leaf springs and hand don't hold up. I'll shoot 1000 rounds a year. What thinks ye???

flyingcollie

I bought a '73 Colt SAA second generation in 1972. Never had a problem with the mainspring. I also have 2 '51 Colt Navies, 2nd & 3rd generation, no problem. I have a pair of Uberti '73 SAA clones . . . no spring problems.

I probably shoot less than 1,000 rounds through any of them in a year's time, but they all get plenty of "exercise".

navc130

The springs on this 150+ year old design are easily replaced. There are numerous articles on the Colt SAA on how to thin, taper and alter the shape of the springs to give improved function and longer life.

Old hickory

Thanks for the comments.......

machine gun moran

Of the SAA's that I owned, the one that I shot most extensively was a 1976-manufactured .45 Colt. At around 30,000 rounds, the bolt/trigger spring gave up. A nice lady at Colt sent me two replacements without charge.

Uberti had a problem with early failure of those same springs, but they changed their design to that of Colt (the slot between the two leafs no longer extends through to the screw hole.

I've never had a mainspring or a handspring failure, in any SAA or copy.

v35

I've shot Colt percussions and SAAs extensively in the past.
I've had one hand spring cone loose that had to be restaked and a few locking bolts break as well as locking bolt/trigger springs.
There are wire spring replacements that should last longer but the cylinder lock bolt has an arm that is deflected by the cam button pressed into the hammer base. The lift of this cam can be reduced in height to minimize lateral deflection of the bolt's spring arm . Also the notch between the arms can be filed and polished from a square bottom to round bottom.
That will reduce stress on this now expensive part.