'60 Army problem

The problem i found was when you put it on half cock to turn the cylinder. You can hear the click and see the trigger move forward a little. But it doesn't click all the way into the half cock notch unless you push forward on the trigger, and then you can see the hammer move forward some more. And it will drop the hammer if you pull the trigger unless i push the trigger forward. I completely disassembled it and stoned the hammer and trigger as well as the bolt and bolt cut in the frame but it still does it. The Bolt/trigger spring is not broken. Any ideas as to the problem? Could the trigger spring side of the spring be putting too much, or not enough, pressure on the trigger?

Well, since i hadn't heard from anyone i decided to try to fix it myself. Wrong move. Now not only won't it go on half cock, but it won't stay on full cock either. Seems i may have stoned a bit too much off of either the hammer or the trigger or both. So now i have to order a new hammer and trigger and then see if i can figure out how to fit them without messing them up. :redface: JOY JOY JOY. :barf: Any suggestions, other than don't work on stuff i don't know about?

We have been without power due to snow, just back up. Am tired from "snow duty" but here are a couple thoughts:

1. Hammer half-cock notch may be partially broken off. Try to look at a good one to compare. Maybe someone will post an 1860 or 1851 hammer picture; I am too tired and never attempted to post pics. yet.

2. Tip of the trigger may have broken off.

3. Sometimes the trigger/bolt spring rubs against the frame side enough to cause a problem. Also, over-tightening the spring might cause a problem with some springs.

4. May have a crack in the trigger/bolt spring which is not bad enough yet to break off.

Later, if the power stays on. :grin:

What about that spring that pushes the trigger back? Is it resting where it should? I put a gun back together and did not pay attention to where I put the spring and the trigger would not engage the hammer.

Robert and Ian, thanks for the help. I think what i did was stone too much off the end of the trigger. The trigger/bolt spring looks fine and i put it back in so it isn't rubbing the side of the frame. Will see what i can figure out later. Thanks again.

Often the trigger/bolt spring will be installed upside down.
It will fit that way and look like it should work that way but it won't.

Try flipping the spring over and reinstalling it.

Thanks Zonie. I had thought about that but hadn't tried it. I just did. It didn't fix the problem but with the spring in that way it would rotate and lock up at both half and full cock like it is supposed to as long as the barrel was pointed Down. So i knew it had to be something with the trigger/bolt spring. Bent the end of the spring down some more and it works fine now. Thanks again.

Well thats good disaster avoided :grin:

Yep. Them ASM parts cost more than Pietta parts. Buy all the internal parts in a repair kit for the Piettas from Cabelas for $24.99. Not the ASM though. $35 for just the hammer, another $12.50 ea. for the hand, trigger, and bolt. $5 for the trigger/bolt spring, and $2 for a hand spring.

Rebel said:

Thanks Zonie. I had thought about that but hadn't tried it. I just did. It didn't fix the problem but with the spring in that way it would rotate and lock up at both half and full cock like it is supposed to as long as the barrel was pointed Down. So i knew it had to be something with the trigger/bolt spring. Bent the end of the spring down some more and it works fine now. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Does it work properly with the barrel pointed up or level? Since you mentioned problems unless the barrel is pointed down, it made me think you may also have a broken hand spring on top of the trigger/bolt spring problems.

Yep. It works fine now, up, down, level, all of them.

Way to go Zonie! Thanks for the heads up on that. :thumbsup: