Colt SAA

[dfletcher]

I just bought a new Colt SAA - 45 Colt, 7.5" bbl. Very pretty and all that but lousy trigger. Full cock notch on the hammer is just way, way too deep.

I know my way around 1911s, Smiths and old model Colt DAs, and BHPs can do trigger and fitting of small parts on all those. I know my limitations.

It appears that the only thing needed to remove the hammer is remove the grips, separate the back end of the grip from the front and then remove the mainspring - then remove the hammer, the hand will come out with it.

Am I missing anything? Any little tricks to make removal and assembly easier? When reassembling, should I hook the mainspring to the hammer base first, then screw the bottom to the frame? I'm guessing there's an easy or difficult way to doing that (refitting the mainspring) and obviously want the easier way.

[Tallship]

You're missing quite a few things. After you remove the main spring, you have to remove the trigger guard (three screws). Then you can remove the bolt/trigger spring screw and the spring. Once that is removed, undo the trigger and bolt screws from the outside of the gun (the two small screws) and remove the trigger and bolt. The larger screw on the outside is the hammer screw, remove that. THEN you can remove the hammer by pulling downward so as not to mess up the hand that is attached to it. Put it back together in the reverse order. As far as the main spring is concerned, screw it in first, then depress it and place it under the hammer roller.

[crob241]

SAA

First remove the grips, next the backstrap, mainspring, trigger guard. Remove the bolt/trigger spring, remove the screws for the trigger and bolt, last the hammer screw. Make sure to use the correct screw driver bits so you don`t mess up the screw heads, a very common thing with these guns. There are several things that can be done to improve the action, mainly just smoothing up all contact points just don`t remove much from the hammer notches or the trigger unless you want to buy new ones. The power custom jig works good to to these, after that polish the inside of the frame where the hammer, hand and bolt slides. Putting a leather piece between the mainspring softens the hammer fall. I have been working on these guns for many years and the main thing is if you are not familiar with them be careful or you will do more harm then good. To have a gunsmith do a basic action job is in the $100-$150 area. A cheap way to do this is squeeze some toothpaste inside the assembled gun and work the action several hours, that`s what one of the top SASS shooters does and he is the world champ( Lead Disspenser ) it`s ghetto but works.

[dfletcher]

Thanks for the added info and especially regarding reinstallation of the mainspring. Seems like simple work. Have to say I was a bit disappointed in the SA trigger pull, I thought Colt would do better. I'm not looking for great, just OK.