Detective Special Problem

[Dan]

This evening I stepped out to fire a few wadcutter rounds out of my Detective Special and had several failures to fire double action. The primer was most definitely dimpled and the revolver fired without issue single action. I am using S&B primers with which I have had fine results in several (several) thousands of rounds in various pistols. I will switch primers and try again but thought it might be prudent to:

1) Ask if the double action vs. single action issue mentioned above is indicative of a known issue that can be resolved with maintenance, and

2) Understand who is doing quality work for this revolver. This was my dad's weapon, I have had it for about twenty five years and plan to pass it along to my son but it could probably benefit from a once over by someone much more skilled than myself.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Not related to the above but I think it is worth saying that the double action trigger is really nice on this piece. I'm a Glock shooter and have worked hard to develop reasonable trigger control. The DA pull on this piece is extremely forgiving and it is almost effortless to break the trigger without disturbing the sights.

Kind Regards,

Dan

[Trooper224]

Check the revolvers end shake, this is the front to back movement in the cylinder (not side to side). A Colt should have none. What you're describing is a classic byproduct of excessive end shake. If the cylinder is tight, I'd try softer primers before considering having work done.

[serialsolver]

I have a detective special that was having the same problem. This is the order of most likely problems I went through to fix it.

If the trigger of your ds is very smooth without the noticeable colt stack up at the end of the trigger pull I would suspect the main spring has been altered. To lighten the trigger pull on old v spring colts a round punch was placed in the middle of the spring and the hammer was cocked. Too big of a round punch or in the wrong place would bend the spring too much, making for light hits. It still fires by cocking the hammer since in single action the hammer travel is farther.

Has the hammer spur been removed? This could removes the weight the hammer needs to fire the round. I would not use a altered main spring on a bobbed hammer.

Has the firing pin been altered or damaged limiting the pins reach to the primer?

Hope this helps.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dan]

Thank you both for the information, I will investigate tomorrow. To my knowledge the pistol is original, I have not modified it and this is a new development.

[Malamute]

Thank you both for the information, I will investigate tomorrow. To my knowledge the pistol is original, I have not modified it and this is a new development.

Have you given it a thorough de-gunking and cleaning? It could have dried oil and grunge inside. If you arent comfortable taking the sideplate off and spray de-gunking, just removing the grips and using one of the spray gun cleaners and re-lubing with good grade lube may help.