Colt Revolver Repair

[George Tucker]

I have a Colt Army Special 41 Colt Revolver that i aquired in a trade, the timing is good, very little bluing left, bore is excellant, i found some brass and some heel bullets on the net, loaded 50 rds and went to the range to try it out, the first 2 rounds fired ok, the next 2 did not ignight, opened the cyl and unloaded it, the last two , the firing pin hit the primer on the very edge, and did not fire, upon looking at the recoil plate, the firing pin hole is enlarged, causing the firing pin to sometimes hit the edge of the primer, my question is, is the recoil plate pressed in?. if so, can it be drivin out from the rear?. thanks, George.

[Char-Gar]

The Army Special went through a name change and became the Official Police. Gunparts Corp. still offers most parts for these pistols.

The recoil shield in most Colt DA revolvers was pressed in. A few had a cross retaining pin that was polished down before the hangun was blued. recoil shield replacement was not a common job and Colt required the pistol to be sent to them for the fix.

The real question is why was the hammer striking the recoil plate in the first place. If the hammer tunnel in the frame is not buggered, the hammer could not wander far off course unless the nose was bent. The elongated hole in the recoil shield did not cause the hammer to wander. It was hammer wander that caused the elongated hole.

I would hope the hammer nose is bent as that is the easy fix. Just replace the nose. If the hammer tunnel in the frame is buggered, you have a major problem, and I would not know how to fix it.

I have had a few Colt hammers that pushed some metal from the recoil shield out far enough to cause the cylinder to bind upon rotation. All that was required was stone the burrs down flush.

So, were I you, I would figure out what caused the hammer to wander in the first place. It is not the recoil shield's job to center the hammer nose. Once you fix that, you probably wouldn't need a new recoil shield as the hammer nose should center itself.

[George Tucker]

Thank you, there is side to side movement in the firing pin, after your reply, i think the problem is in that area, looking inside the frame, everything looks good, does not appear the tunnel is burgered, thanks again, George.