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Spring Replacement/Upgrade for Colt 1873 SAA Clone

By J.Baker 
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The authors’ Cimarron Frontier 5.5″ .357 Magnum Colt SAA clone

The Italian gun makers are well renowned for making great reproductions of the classic firearms of the mid to late 19th century, but even so most all of them suffer from a couple of issues due to their use of lower quality parts to help keep the cost down.  One of these cost-cutting measures is using springs that are of low grade and tend to often fail even with minimal use of the firearm.  the other has to do with their use of screws that haven’t been hardened which results in the heads breaking off or stripping out quite easily – something I had to contend with on my Uberti made 1860 Henry Civil War rifle.

I recently ran into the spring issue on one of my Cimarron Frontier 5.5″ revolvers in .357 Magnum which is a fairly typical Colt 1873 Single-Action Army clone produced by Pietta of Italy.  Upon removing the revolver from my safe, after having sat there unused for the past 6-7 months, I found that the bolt/trigger spring had failed.  More specifically, the leg of the flat spring that actuates the cylinder locking bolt had broken off.  Two symptoms alerted me to this failure:

  1. When cocking the hammer it now only had three clicks rather than four clicks which is a hallmark feature of the Colt SAA.
  2. When fully cocked one could still easily rotate the cylinder which shouldn’t be possible.

Knowing the factory Italian-made springs aren’t of the best quality and are prone to failure I decided to use this opportunity to upgrade the bolt/trigger spring and the main spring to a higher quality and lighter weight aftermarket springs from Wolff.  Note that the Wolff springs used here work in Colt SAA’s as well as many Italian made SAA clones, but not all clones (such as EMF clones) and may require fitting to work in certain models.  As such it is highly recommended that you have a gunsmith perform this job for you if you have any reservations or uncertainties about your ability to do it yourself.

Disassembly

First loosen the two upper screws that secure the grip and backstrap to the frame.
Remove the lower backstrap screw prior to fully removing the two upper backstrap screws.
Here is the backstrap and grip removed from the frame of the revolver
Note the spring protruding from the frame just to the left of the hammer. This is the hand spring and it’s accompanying plunger.
The hand spring and plunger removed from the frame. Take care not to lose these when removing the backstrap and grip.
Cylinder and base pin removed from the frame
Here we see the main spring which is held on by a single screw at the bottom of the trigger guard.
The top of the main spring has a channel in which the hammer roller rides.
To remove the main spring simply remove the screw while keeping tension on the spring with your finger.
The trigger guard is secured to the bottom of the frame by three screws.
trigger guard removed from the frame.
The bolt/trigger spring is located in the frame beneath the trigger guard. Note that the leg of the spring for the bolt is missing.

With the revolver disassembled as far as we need to go for our purposes we can now look at the new replacement springs and compare them to the original springs.  Both new springs are reduced power springs that should lighten the cocking effort and trigger pull some once installed.  As always, when doing any kind of work that affects the trigger be sure to thoroughly test the safety of the trigger before loading live ammunition into the firearm to ensure that everything is working as it should.

New Replacement Parts

New Main Spring and Wire Bolt/Trigger Spring from Wolff
Wolff Reduced Power Wire Bolt/Trigger Spring #32294
Wolff Reduced Power Main Spring #32280
Broken original bolt/trigger spring was a flat spring
Original flat spring (top) in comparison to new Wolff wire spring (bottom)
Original main spring (bottom) compared to Wolff Reduced Power main spring (top)

Installing the replacement springs is pretty straight forward, though as I did you may have to modify the bolt/trigger spring slightly for your particular make/model of SAA clone.  In my case I only had to bend the end of the trigger leg of the wire spring slightly outward (opening up the angle slightly beyond 90-degrees) to keep it from falling off the shelf on the trigger when the trigger was pulled.  This was accomplished with a simple set of needle nose pliers and a little care in the application of leverage to ensure the spring was bending where I wanted it to.

Installation and Reassembly

New reduced power bolt/trigger spring installed
Trigger guard reinstalled
New reduced power main spring installed
Backstrap and grip resinstalled – don’t forget to put the hand spring and plunger back in.

With the revolver reassembled all that’s left to do is function and safety test it to ensure that the firearm is functioning properly with the new parts and won’t present an undue risk to anyone using it.

The hammer and trigger feel with the new reduced power springs isn’t noticeably different than what it was with the factory springs in place, and as such I’m not sure I would recommend doing this upgrade solely for the purpose of obtaining an easier to cock hammer or lighter trigger.  However, as was the case here if you need to replace a broken factory bolt/trigger spring its well worth upgrading to a more modern wire spring if only for it’s increased durability and longevity.  It might actually be slightly cheaper than a factory replacement spring to boot.

Naturally I had to slip out to the range to properly function test the new springs by firing off a few rounds.  I’m no pistolero, but I think you’ll agree this grouping is more than adequate should I ever find myself in need of having to ventilate a bad hombre at 15 paces.

Not too shabby for a sodbuster

 


 

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  • ABRA-Cadabra Project: ABRA Benchrest Rifle Build

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