Western .22 revolver problems

[Geezerbiker]

Awhile back a friend of the family gave my twin grandsons each a .22 Western revolver. These seem to be about half size knock offs of the Colt Peacemaker. Anyway the last time I took the boys shooting I found that one of them had problems. I called and asked him if he knew about this and he told me that he figured I could fix it...

First problem is the trigger doesn't return all the way forward. That was the easy problem to diagnose, the spring was cracked and now broken. The other problem was when bringing the hammer back to the loading position, the cylinder won't index. I found that I had to do some less than safe manipulation to get it lined up to load so we put it away and only shot the other one.

Today I finally got around to taking them apart, cleaning them and looking for the problem. The only thing I can figure out that could be the causing this is the pall that locks the cylinder is worn where the hammer won't lift it for loading.

Does this sound reasonable and if so, anybody know where I can get parts?

Tony

 

[Aguila Blanca]

What make are the guns? Ruger? Heritage Arms? Colt? ___?

 

[T. O'Heir]

Like Aguila says, there are hordes of small frame single action .22's. Gunparts shows parts for one called a Western Duo made by Hawes.
"...spring was cracked and now broken..." Which spring matters. Cracked and broken suggests a flat main spring. The Western Duo has that. Listed by Gunparts under both Hawes and Western Duo "Small frame".

 

[Geezerbiker]

The only make stamped on the frame is Western. It could be a Western Duo but it's not marked that way. Yes the trigger return spring is a more or less flat spring. It's forked and one side is flat and the other is bowed.

I might be able to make a spring but my bigger concern is the pall that locks the cylinder doesn't lift when the hammer is in the loading position making loading precarious at best and dangerous at the worst...

Tony

 

[Dfariswheel]

These inexpensive .22 Single Actions were designed much like the Colt revolvers.

The cylinder locking bolt is a split part with one "leg" on the rear acting as a spring against the cam lug on the left side of the hammer.

When the hammer is cocked the cam lug on the hammer catches the cylinder locking bolt and causes it to lift off the cylinder.
At the correct position the spring action of the bolt causes it to slip off the hammer cam.

I'd inspect the Right side leg of the bolt and the cam lug on the hammer.

If you mean the "hand" that pushes the cylinder to the next chamber, that has a flat spring on the back that pushes it forward against the cylinder ratchet.

You can buy Western Duo parts from Gun Parts Corporation...

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/hawes/small-frame-haw

Most of these small .22 single action revolvers used parts that were often close enough to be used in other brands.
They were made by FIE, J.P. Sauer, and others all very similar.

 

[Geezerbiker]

Thanks for the information. I'll dig into it take a few pix and post back here. The part that seems to be the problem is the locking bolt. The hand is fine and the cylinder indexs properly other than when loading...

Tony

 

[Hawg]

You can make a trigger/bolt spring out of a safety pin. When the hammer is at half cock the cylinder should turn free for loading. If the bolt doesn't drop free from the cylinder notch at half cock it's either the bolt where it rides the hammer cam or the cam itself.