Questions on revolver that hasn't been fired in years

[woje]

I have my father's Colt 357 that hasn't been fired in at least a decade. It was well taken care of and cleaned. I am thinking of taking it the range.
Given that it has been unused for so long, is there anything I should be certain to do before taking it out?

[Vt.birdhunter]

No worries; just give her a once over for unusual bulges/cracks/etc. Make sure cylinder is lining up with the chamber when you dry fire. Barring anything obvious you should be good to go.


Throw some .38's through her first if you are concerned.

[Willie Sutton]

The most frequent malfunctions after storage are bore obstructions caused by critters making a home.

Open it up, look down the bore from the muzzle end to make sure there are nothing living in it (spider nests, etc), ditto for the cylinders, load it up and shoot it.



Willie

.

[Rifleman1776]

Good advice so far.
Clean, inspect and use.
Ten years is barely getting started as far as the life of a gun is concerned.

[Baba Louie]

Given that it has been unused for so long, is there anything I should be certain to do before taking it out?

Read and re-read Jim March's stickie at the top of the forum on "Revolver Checkout 10 years..."

When you say "fathers Colt 357"... do you mean pre Python "3 5 7" or a Trooper or Trooper III, etc? or what 357 exactly? We loves photos...

But do read Marchs thread above.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Vt.birdhunter

No worries; just give her a once over for unusual bulges/cracks/etc. Make sure cylinder is lining up with the chamber when you dry fire. Barring anything obvious you should be good to go.

Clean, lube, shoot.

DO NOT dry fire a DA Colt revolver.

[Ozzieman]

The attached thread has photos of a Colt that I picked up several months ago.
It had been fired last in the late 60 and put away extremely dirty.
After a good cleaning and inspection and lubing it’s had over 200 rounds and hasn’t had a lick of problems.
As Aguila said it

Clean, lube, shoot.
DO NOT dry fire a DA Colt revolver. . +1


http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486464

[Salmoneye]

Given that it has been unused for so long, is there anything I should be certain to do before taking it out?

Blow the dust off...

[samsmix]

+1 to clean, lube, shoot. Never dry fire a colt.

[woje]

Thanks for the replies. I will read the referenced doc. Is there a quick guide to what to lube on a revolver. Seams pretty obvious but I don't want to miss something.
It is an mkIII trooper from the early 70s. 4" blued.

[Kreyzhorse]

The most frequent malfunctions after storage are bore obstructions caused by critters making a home.

+1.

Clean it, lube it, inspect it and you should be good to go.

[Lost Sheep]

Particularly if you are the least bit uncertain, let the range safety officer have a look at it. (Converse for a short while so you have confidence in the opinions you get. Not all range officers are qualified as gunsmiths.)

I have an 8" Colt Trooper. It is a great gun, a beautiful sculpture in steel and a joy to shoot.

I have been told that the innards of Colt Double Action revolvers are finely tuned and need special care. I don't know how true that is, but with ANY revolver, don't abuse it. Snapping the cylinder shut (a.k.a. the "wrist flick" can bend the crane out of good alignment. Snapping it open is not much better but no one ever warns against that. Holding the hammer at half-cock and spinning the cylinder is not a good idea and even worse, to let the locking hand (cylinder stop) stop the spinning. Use it as it was designed to be used and it will last a GOOD long time and you can leave it to your son (or daughter).

If you are not confident in cleaning and lubricating the gun, find a good gunsmith and have him open it up and teach you (normally taking the sideplate off is not necessary, but it is good for you to know how it works inside). I imagine a smith would not charge much for a half-hour lesson that honors a fine revolver, teaches a person who respects the gun enough to ask and potentially cements in a future customer.

Before you do that, go to Colt's web site and download a .pdf of the owner's manual.

http://www.coltsmfg.com/MediaDownloads/Manuals.aspx

Page 2. Apparently the Lawman revolver and the Trooper revolver share the same manual.

Lost Sheep

P.S.

It is sad that I feel compelled to warn you of this: If anyone ever suggests such an old gun is unsafe and you should get rid of it, just smirk and say, "Yeah, right" and never believe anything that person ever says.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Lost Sheep

Particularly if you are the least bit uncertain, let the range safety officer have a look at it. (Converse for a short while so you have confidence in the opinions you get. Not all range officers are qualified as gunsmiths.)

I disagree with this advice vehemently. There is NOTHING in the NRA training to be a range safety officer that in any way qualifies a person to be a pistolsmith, revolversmith, or general, all-around gunsmith.The mechanisms in older Colt DA revolvers is very different from the mechanisms in S&W revolvers. It is highly unlikely that a range safety officer will know anything at all about the pistol.

[Mike Irwin]

Uhm... whats this about never dry firing Colt revolvers?

Never heard that before, but i just bought mh first Colt.

[Crazy88Fingers]

My grandfather's S&W sat untouched in his closet for 30 years. It was just fine when I took it out and shot it.

As long as it isn't rusting over or filled with spider webs, it should be just as good as the day it was put away. Oil her up and fire away.

[Salmoneye]

Excellent point about the bugs in the bore...

I was glad I checked when I pulled out an SKS that had been stored for a decade, only to find the bore plugged by a mud dauber...

That adobe/concrete obstruction would have been 'interesting' to try and shoot through...

[Winchester_73]

Uhm... whats this about never dry firing Colt revolvers?

Never heard that before, but i just bought mh first Colt.

I am wondering the same thing. I have heard that there could be problems with the MKIII troopers with the hammer/firing pin but they were made cheaper. I have dry fired my Colt 357 from 53, my Trooper from 54 and a Python I had from 69 without problem. I also have dry fired my Cobra from 74. Not a ton, but I have some. I have had no problems. I don't know of a reason that NO colt should ever be dry fired.

Some people think that no guns should ever be dry fired, but when you ask them why not for a centerfire revolver, you never get the logical explanation that you seek.

[Seaman]

Acquired an older S&W, 29-4, 3” barreled S&W custom shop 44 Mag.

It had been in long storage so I tried to take off the side-plate to give it a thorough clean and lube, but it wouldn’t pop off, so I lubed it everywhere, let it sit for a few days and off to the range. Shot 4 cylinders quick of moderate loads thru it (740 ft lbs ME factory specs) and the recoil was stout but manageable, nothing like a hand-breaker 357 Mag in a J-frame featherweight.

Anyways, on shooting the 5th cylinder, the double action stops working and tho I could pull the hammer all the way back it wouldn’t catch for single action. After it sat and cooled for 20 minutes, all went back to normal. Later tried to get the side-plate off again but it would not budge. Next time out I loosened off the screws hoping the side-plate would work itself free under recoil. No luck…so I just clean what I can and pour oil down the gun (hammer back, oil down the hammer into the action). One of these days I’ll get that side-plate off and give it a proper clean and lube.

[carguychris]

It had been in long storage so I tried to take off the side-plate to give it a thorough clean and lube, but it wouldn’t pop off, so I lubed it everywhere... Anyways, on shooting the 5th cylinder, the double action stops working... After it sat and cooled for 20 minutes, all went back to normal. Later tried to get the side-plate off again but it would not budge... so I just clean what I can and pour oil down the gun

What technique are you using to remove the sideplate?

The proper technique is to remove the screws, remove the grips, and then repeatedly whack the side of the grip frame near the bottom with a non-marring tool until the sideplate "walks" upwards. (My non-marring tool is the plastic handle of a cheap Chinese screwdriver, but wood blocks work equally well.)

I've used this technique to remove sideplates from pre-WWII S&W revolvers that I don't believe have ever had their sideplates off. It took more whacks than a newer-production gun, but it still worked!

FWIW by far the most common cause of "sticky" S&W lockwork- particularly if it gets worse as the gun heats up- is residue and varnish left over from the past use of inferior lubricants such as WD-40 or 3-in-One Oil. These products evaporate over time and leave nasty gunk that won't come out by itself. Adding more lube will temporarily dissolve it and move it around but won't remove it. The lockwork really needs to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. I'd recommend buying one of the commonly available books or DVDs before tackling the project; S&W revolver lockwork isn't too hard to work on if you have basic mechanical skills and you're comfortable working with very small parts, but there are a couple of pitfalls that tend to snare the unsuspecting.

Ironically, I've found that the best product for dissolving ancient lube residue is WD-40. Just make sure to clean all of it off and lightly oil everything with a quality gun oil when you're done!

[Mike Irwin]

NEVER try to pry your sideplate off.

NEVER.

You'll only end up warping it.

The method Chris describes works about 99.9995% of the time.

I've only encountered one that simply wouldn't move and which had to be wedged off. That's a painstaking process which can go badly wrong without due care being used.

[Winchester_73]

+1 to Mike and carguychris about the side plate. In addition to warping the side plate, you could mess it up in other ways. Prying can leave marks in addition to warping it and who knows what else, depending upon the ill-advised method used.

The only other method, if you had no hammer or anything like, would be to put something under the sideplate, like a rubber balloon that you pump up, and that could lift it right off. Finding one that would fit and do the job would probably be much harder than finding a good plastic hammer or mallet that you strike the frame with/.

[slow944]

Does your look like this one. This is my 1975 model Trooper MKIII. I found this one in a pawnshop a few months ago.

[carguychris]

Two things I forgot to mention in my prior post about removing the sideplate...

The technique actually works best if the revolver is allowed to move as you whack it with the tool. I usually hold the barrel in my right hand and whack the grip frame with my left hand, so the sideplate is facing up.

If the gun has a post-1944 sliding hammer block- which a M29-4 should have- the hammer block may go flying if the sideplate lets go suddenly. The part is a little over an inch long and is usually shiny silver in color, so it should be easy to spot if it falls in a clean work area, but you shouldn't do this in a cluttered workspace with open toolboxes and/or lots of junk laying around, or over shag carpet or grass. (That said, I always work on guns in a clean area with short carpeting, regardless of what I'm doing.)

[Seaman]

Ahoy Gents,

When it comes to firearms I use wood tools, mostly hand fashioned from pine to oak to other woods. Used a wooden mallet to no avail. Yes, you are right, the side-plate should not be pried…especially S&Ws made with lightweight metals i.e. aluminum, scandium and such. Always detail strip, fluff and buff all internals, with all new acquisitions (revolver or semi)…often find something needing attention.

Even tried fanning the wide hammer, hoping that would work. Three shots groups…3 high just below the S&W, three lower just above the Colt. See pic. (was investigating whether or not one could hit anything fanning the hammer, was told this was a fallacy but would loosen things up) .…but I couldn’t bring myself to dirty up the never-fired 1851 Navy Colt with black powder and grease, so fanned the S&W 29-4, but this failed to free up the side-plate. The S&W 29-4 is a 3” barrel (looks new), full underlug, heavy-duty unfluted cylinder, Patridge gold bead front sight, deep V-cut adjustable rear sight, Pachmayr K-frame round butt grips, slick action…a nice shooter.

Perhaps a three week bath in brake fluid would work?

Thanks to all for the knowledgeable input.

[Dragline45]

Even tried fanning the wide hammer, hoping that would work. Three shots groups…3 high just below the S&W, three lower just above the Colt. See pic. (was investigating whether or not one could hit anything fanning the hammer, was told this was a fallacy but would loosen things up) .…but I couldn’t bring myself to dirty up the never-fired 1851 Navy Colt with black powder and grease, so fanned the S&W 29-4, but this failed to free up the side-plate.

Fanning the hammer on any revolver is never a good idea, from what I understand it puts undue stress on parts, and doing it on a Ruger will actually void the warranty if they see signs of it. I still fail to see how fanning the hammer would loosen to side plate. If whacking the grip with a wooden or plastic mallet doesn't work I would try removing the grips and heating the gun up in the oven at low temp and then retry tapping the side plate off with the mallet.