Colt trooper 357

[Dpmsman]

I purchased this revolver from a family friend it was his duty gun many years ago. That being said it has been well used but not abused. The problem is from years of sitting in the holster it has become gunked up and will not cock with out some extra force. From what I've been told/read is Colt DA revolver actions are not all that strong and I'm worried I might damage the mechanism. I consider myself a novice gunsmith and not sure if I should attempt to take it apart. Are there any tricks to freeing things up? Can anyone recommend a good Colt smith in MN?

Thanks Jon

[Outpost75]

If you aren't comfortable taking apart the gun, remove the grips and flood the insides with Kano Kroil penetrating oil, let it soak a few days and then try gently working it. Might need to repeat. I salvaged a Colt damaged by complete salt water immersion in this manner, used the whole can of Kroil over a period of a few weeks, but it did the job. Patience, Grasshopper, wax on, wax off. Have a good supply of wiping rags. You can judge by the color of the junk which oozes out what was in there.

If it doesn't start working more easily, then it is time for a trip to the gunsmith. I don't know anybody in your part of the country that does Colts, but Sandy Garrett at Northern VA Gun Works has done my Colts for me, or Jerry Kiefer in Richmond, VA is another Pistolsmith's Guild member I have used who does Colts.

John Taylor in Puyallup, WA has also done a good amount of work for me and I can recommend him.

Grant Cunningham in Oregon also does Colts.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I own one of these in 6". First, the Colt mechanism is not delicate, but you are right not to force things. If you're really timid about tackling a clean up you could just take the grips off, soak the entire revolver in a small bucket of kerosene for a few days, blow it out through the openings around the hammer and trigger with compressed air, then spray some WD-40 in through the same openings and see if things didn't loosen up. Next level, if you're less timid, remove the grips, remove the sideplate screws, remove the sideplate by holding the revolver in one hand and giving the side of the grip frame a few light taps with the wooden handle of a hammer, plastic head of a large screwdriver, or similar non-marring instrument. The sideplate may fall right off, so have it land on a cushioned benchtop. Put the little sideplate screws in a container so they don't migrate to the floor or beneath another object and become lost. Now you can take a toothbrush, acid brush or similar and directly clean out the interior with a toothbrush and kerosene or solvent, dab what you can dry with a soft cloth, and then directly oil the areas where the parts move using RemOil or a similar product. Try to chose an oil that doesn't gum up, which is probably the source of your problem to begin with. Replace the sideplate, screws, grips, and you'll be "good to go." Next, if you're feeling even bolder, obtain a book like "The Gun Digest Book Of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, Part II: Revolvers" by J.B. Wood (several sources, easy to find, Krause Publications www.krause.com (http://www.krause.com) 715-445-2214)* that shows in detail the disassembly/reassembly of many revolvers including Colts. If yours is the original Trooper it will be very similar to the internal workings of the Python, and also shown is the Trooper Mk III. Study the photos in the book and remove and detail clean all action parts (there really aren't that many), reassemble, problem solved. The book will prove an invaluable resource for future projects.

*My copy was printed in 2000, so the contact info may have changed.

[Dpmsman]

Great info thanks I will try soaking it and see were that goes. There is a major lack of pistol smiths in my area. I'll get the book too.

Thanks Jon

[KCSO]

To really degunk revolvers with out taking them apart we drop them in an ultrasonic cleaner with a mix of 50-50 Simple green and water and when a 1/2 hour is up into a tank of WD 40. There won't be a speck of anything left in the action. If you don't have an ultrasonic just a good soak overnight in the simple green and a good soaking in WD should do the trick.

[Char-Gar]

Colt marketed two handguns with the "Trooper" name and they were entirely different handguns built around entirely different lock work. It would help you to know which one. Here is a picture of my Old Model Trooper for reference. If it does not look like this, then you have a New Model Trooper.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Kind of sounds like someone used WD-40 for a lube for a long time and skipped cleaning the innards of it. I carried a 4" Trooper Mk 3 as a LEO waaay back then with never a glitch, then again I kept it cleaned and used a good type of gun oil.Robert

[Dpmsman]

Well I decided to take it apart and had no problems getting it back together. The only reason for my hesitation was some BS I heard at LGS about Colt troopers being complex. It was pretty dirty inside but that didn't fix the drag. So I removed the cylinder crane assembly and put it in the ultrasonic. Scrubbed it, oiled it and reinstalled it still it drags. If I cock the hammer slow it will not index fully. The cylinder doesn't appear to be hitting the forcing cone ether. The cylinder notches have a small burr on the edges that the cylinder stop has to ride over. Could that little burr be causing my problem? Could I touch that up with a round file or bad idea? The revolver is a Trooper 357 like you have pictured not a mark lll or V.

Thanks Jon

[Der Gebirgsjager]

That's hard to diagnose precisely without having it on the bench in front of me, but it does sound related to the cylinder bolt stop. As the cylinder turns and the bolt comes up out of the frame, is the burr at the leading or rear edge of the notch? The first would indicate that the bolt is rising early, and the second that it is striking late. Filing off the burrs might temporarily ease the problem, but it's not the cure. The bolt will continue to strike the same spot and recreate the burr. Eventually you'll have alignment and timing issues, because the bolt won't always catch in the slot anymore, assuming that the damage is occurring at the rear edge of the slot; the cylinder slot will bypass the bolt. The timing of the bolt rising from and retracting into the frame is controlled by the relationship of the bolt, link, trigger, and rebound spring. While your problem could maybe just be one of a gummy or weak bolt spring which might be fixed with a good cleaning or replacement of the spring it sounds more like one or more of the parts I have mentioned is worn. Very honestly, you should take it to a pistolsmith familiar with the older colt revolvers as the repair sounds beyond your skill level. Not trying to be nasty, just honest. Replacement parts are getting more difficult to obtain yearly. Usually when I look for one on the Gun Parts Corp. site it's "sold out."

[Char-Gar]

Well I decided to take it apart and had no problems getting it back together. The only reason for my hesitation was some BS I heard at LGS about Colt troopers being complex. It was pretty dirty inside but that didn't fix the drag. So I removed the cylinder crane assembly and put it in the ultrasonic. Scrubbed it, oiled it and reinstalled it still it drags. If I cock the hammer slow it will not index fully. The cylinder doesn't appear to be hitting the forcing cone ether. The cylinder notches have a small burr on the edges that the cylinder stop has to ride over. Could that little burr be causing my problem? Could I touch that up with a round file or bad idea? The revolver is a Trooper 357 like you have pictured not a mark lll or V.

Thanks Jon

Jon..With about a 95% certainty, your problem is what is called "bottom hand short". This is very common with old Colts. The Colt hand has two steps, the first one turns the cylinder and the bottom step does the last bit of turning and then bears hard against the ratchet as the revolver is fired, holding the cylinder firmly in place. With use, the recoil of the pistol, on the bottom hand, causes it to batter shorten and not to its thing.

This condition is diagnosed just as your describe, i.e. when the hammer is cocked slowly, the bottom step on the hand does not bring the cylinder into full battery and the bolt snap into the notch in the cylinder. A slight manual turn of the cylinder will cause the bolt to fall into the cylinder notch.

Back in the day, when at least half of the police holsters in this country carried the Colt Official Police, every local gunsmith knew how to fix the problem. Sadly these old lockwork Colts are not common fare any more.

There are really three fixes to the problem, which are;

1. Have a gunsmith fit a new hand.
2. Have a gunsmith stretch the existing hand by peening.
3. Don't cock the hammer slowly, but do it smartly and the inertia of the cylinder will bring it into full battery.

[Dpmsman]

Are some parts interchangeable between the standard trooper and a mark lll? There are some mark lll parts on GB right now, a bolt, bolt spring didn't look that close but maybe a hand. I don't have a lot of money into it and might be fun to do some parts fitting myself. I could always put the original parts back in. It has the best SA trigger I have ever pulled!! I took it to the range the other day for the first time along with an old M&P 38spl. No comparison! Shot the Colt first then the smith, I felt like I was laboring to get the shot to brake. Groups with Lee dewc were about the same though.

Jon

[Char-Gar]

Are some parts interchangeable between the standard trooper and a mark lll? There are some mark lll parts on GB right now, a bolt, bolt spring didn't look that close but maybe a hand. I don't have a lot of money into it and might be fun to do some parts fitting myself. I could always put the original parts back in. It has the best SA trigger I have ever pulled!! I took it to the range the other day for the first time along with an old M&P 38spl. No comparison! Shot the Colt first then the smith, I felt like I was laboring to get the shot to brake. Groups with Lee dewc were about the same though.

Jon

No, there are no interchangeable parts between the two Colts. Gun Parts Corp has the hand you need or at least had. The old Colt parts supply is long gone, so they had some new parts made up.

[reddog81]

I purchased and fit one of the Numerich/Gun Parts Corp reproduction hands to a Officer Model Match last month. It would appear this is the same part Dpmsman needs... I was pleasantly surprised that the only fitting required was filing on the outside of the hand(side that would interface with the sideplate). I haven't had the gun to the range just yet but everything appears to function correctly.

Is there anything to watch for after fitting a new hand? The timing seems to be about ideal now. At first the new hand would rub on the side plate and bind in the "hand window". After removing a couple of .001's this problem has gone away.

[Char-Gar]

I purchased and fit one of the Numerich/Gun Parts Corp reproduction hands to a Officer Model Match last month. It would appear this is the same part Dpmsman needs... I was pleasantly surprised that the only fitting required was filing on the outside of the hand(side that would interface with the sideplate). I haven't had the gun to the range just yet but everything appears to function correctly.

Is there anything to watch for after fitting a new hand? The timing seems to be about ideal now. At first the new hand would rub on the side plate and bind in the "hand window". After removing a couple of .001's this problem has gone away.

When the Colt repair department fitted a new hand, they would fit the bottom hand so it was hard to turn the cylinder, not impossible, just hard. They would then whack the muzzle a few times with a rawhide mallet to seat the hand. If you don't want to whack the muzzle a few cylinderfulls of full snort ammo will do the same thing.

If your new hand will rotate the cylinder and the bolt drop in the notch, just go shooting.