Colt Frontier Scout PROBLEM

S

SRE

New member
I have a Colt Frontier Scout in the shop. An older one from the 60's. The Bat Masterson model. It's a Nickel gun. When I got it, it was all in peices. The owner wanted it put back together functional. Which is not problem at all, except for a few missing pieces I needed to order. The hand, hand spring, and hand stud. I got a new complete assembly from Numrich.com

So I installed it and im having problems with functions testing. The hammer does go back into full position. It makes the "c" "o" "l" "t" like it's supposed to. But it's so darn tight and hard to pull back that when I pull the tigger, the hammer stays back. Before I go modifying things, has anyone had this problem, or heard this problem. Maybe the hand assembly I purchased needs to be thinned out in total overall width (hand only)? The sear notches on the hammer look a little roughed up. Could this be an issue somehow? When I seem to unscrew the hammer screw about a half to 3/4 turn, it does loosen up a little bit.

Any info would be greatly appreciated if anyone has any experience working with these fine little .22's.

ps. When everything is together, minus the new hand assembly everything works smooth and feels great. Obviously, however, the cylinder doesn't turn upon cocking hammer. But everything feels great.
 
4

4V50 Gary

Staff
Parts are not drop in and must be fitted. So many things to cover, I suggest you take a summer class on how to work on SA revovlers.
 
S

SRE

New member
Its supposed to be a drop in is as the hand assembly is from the same nickel frontier scout series of that time. I have dropped 2 hands in before on other colts and a replica i have worked on and they functioned fine.... guess that's why i am asking the question. Thanks again. Looks like fitting is inevitable.
 
D

Dixie Gunsmithing

Moderator Emeritus
One would be the luckiest Gunsmith on earth, to get a hand, that works right, from any supplier. They're all made oversize, so they can be fitted at the bench. Some guns are worse than others, with this fit.

This is due to the build up of acceptable tolerances in machining parts, which is called the stack up. That stack up gets worse, with more parts in the system, (such as in revolvers), that must do a job at the end, and they have to be timed right. Then, when a gun gets worn, the stack up increases, as things wear. When one sees a +/- .001" to 002" here and there, over multiple parts, in new parts, you will have to hand fit.
 
J

James K

Member In Memoriam
Is the gun actually nickel plated, and not chrome? Is it factory plated?

The reason I ask is that guns that have been plated after market (chrome or nickel) were not made to allow for the plating and plating can add enough metal to a part or the frame that a closely fitted part will no longer function. I recall seeing S&W's that were plated and the sideplate wouldn't fit, and plated auto pistols that the slide couldn't be forced on until the plating was removed from the slide rails.

Jim
 
S

SRE

New member
Factory Nickel plated. In the past working on this generation of Single Action Frontier Scouts, i have found parts from/ for the gun or very close to the date of manufacture so they did pretty much drop in. I am assuming since this is a nickel gun, even though I find the hand assembly from another wheel gun that is close in age and SN# range, I had to definitely fit the hand. The width of the hand from the assembly that I found was roughly a heavy .094". Took it down to .092 and dressed it up smooth and shiny. Works great. Thanks for the input guys. My shop is on instagram if you want to see the results! #rampantinvestments
 
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