With unfired .357 rounds in the cylinder, and the cylinder stop dropped, does the cylinder spin/sing freely?
With unfired .357 rounds in the cylinder, and the cylinder stop dropped, does the cylinder spin/sing freely?
Yes. There were no issues shooting the gun with .357 and the cylinder will spin with unfired rounds if the stop is dropped.
Originally Posted by FrankB
I took it out to the range again after a good cleaning. It was doing some weird things. Occasionally the trigger would stick and then pop back vs resetting right away. The cylinder doesn't seem to stick quite as much, but I did see some mention of cylinder sticking on another python. The trigger also seems a lot heavier than when I bought it. I measured it on my digital scale and it seems slightly heavier. It was averaging about 6.5 pounds when I bought it and now its about 7.5 - 7.9 pounds. I really don't want to send it back to colt, but so far, especially for the high price tag it seems like a dud. My 3 inch wiley clapp GP-100 is a much better gun and it was less than half of what this one cost. At this point I am going to keep dry firing it and take it out to the range a few more times, but I might be offloading it if this keeps up. If any one has any ideas let me know.
So I got bored and decided to watch a few videos on how to take the gun apart. Both of the side plate screws were a bit loose. When I took it apart I mostly just put things back into place as some of the parts were slightly out of place. I also oiled the surfaces that moved against each other. Once back together I insured the screws had good torque and did some dry fire tests. My digital gauge said the average of 10 pulls was 6 pounds, but my manual one was off the scale (it only goes to 8) so I am guessing its closer to 8 or 9 pounds. The gun dry fired more like when it was new. I had no trigger issues. I will post again after I shoot it, but guessing the issues were due to the screws being loose and letting things move slightly out of place. It still seems disappointing for a gun that is over 1k.
Keeping screws tight on revolvers is like keeping magazines loaded for a semi-auto: it's a necessary and inevitable part of keeping the gun working. Carry a fitted screw driver and check every 50 rounds or so, whenever you clean under the ejector star and wipe off the recoil plate and forcing cone.
I own about 12 other revolvers, and I generally check the cylinder screw as that has come loose, but I have never had side plate screws loosen up on me, even on my other colts. I will say that usually the first thing I do with a new revolver is open it up, so I am already tightening the screws, and this one I didn't.
A friend that works in a local gun shop says RSR is listing an SKU for a 2 1/2” Python… “coming soon”. I’ll try to get it from him.
@FrankB -- do you have your ears on?
(in full-enabling mode)
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
My lgs stocks Pythons which I examine. Occasionally I see specimens with the tip of the hand extending about .002 inch past the firewall. This interferes with closing cylinder in a smooth fashion. Sometimes I observe examples that will not lock up 100% when slowly pulling trigger and ceasing right before that point which would release hammer. Right before means a hair breath away. Pulling trigger cause hand to move and rotate cylinder to lick up. I still have the ability to do this rapidly--achieving lockup-- without tripping hammer. Also I can shut my eyes, examine several revolvers and then identify each according to its action based on feel. Over 50 years of hands is the reason.
My 1995 Detective Special would sometimes not lock up the cylinder if the hammer was cocked using the hammer spur. This required 2 trips to the factory to fix. After the second trip, the cylinder did not seem to spin quite as freely, but shooting the gun seemed to be unaffected. Also, I can no longer unscrew the ejector rod, but that might not be a bad thing.
Colt did not charge me for the second repair although the gun was out of warranty at that time. They said "send a copy of your receipt and let us determine whether the gun is within warranty."
Any legal information I may post is general information, and is not legal advice. Such information may or may not apply to your specific situation. I am not your attorney unless an attorney-client relationship is separately and privately established.
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