Colt SAA drag lines?
I have heard that a properly timed SAA will not leave drag lines on the cylinder yet I see many on here that have drag lines. I am wondering how to avoid them? If I seek out a mint 2nd gen SAA with no line, I want to be able to clean and lube it without creating drag lines. I have no intention of shooting one, just maintaining it but don't want to hurt it in doing so. How do I strip it and clean it without making a drag line? Thanks!!
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Just carefully remove the cylinder before you clean it. 0 -
The drag lines come about in a properly timed SAA by failure to Fully pull back the hammer to full cock before safely lowering the hammer. The locking bolt comes up just before full cock. If you stop before this (ie before full cock) and rotate the cylinder with the locking bolt up...you get a drag line. On Rugers, some people open the loading gate which drops the locking bolt, then they rotate the cylinder a bit, close the gate which allows the bolt to come up, then rotate the cylinder (dragging the bolt) until the bolt clicks into the notch. What they should have done is after closing the loading gate, dont touch the cylinder, instead take the hammer back to full cock, then safely release the hammer forward. On your empty SAA, look sideways under the cylinder as you slowly cycle the action...you can see just when the bolt clicks up and how the hammer fully back guarantees the bolt being up and holding the cylinder notch. For disassembling yours, if it is a Colt make sure the hammer is on half cock and the bolt is down (look under the cyl). Reassembling, make sure the hammer is still at half cock and visually make sure the bolt is down. Once the cylinder and its pin is in place, fully cock the hammer to the rear and then lower it with your thumb/forefinger in a safe manner.
I bought my Colt SAA used and it had very faint drag lines. After much much shooting the drag lines have not gotten any worse (ie: I have not added any drag lines to it) using this method.
If the gun is improperly timed this too can cause drag lines. Cheaper SAA clones often have this, then short of expensive gunsmithing there is no way to avoid this.0 -
If you shoot it, eventually you'll get a drag line with a factory issued gun. A gunsmith can minimize this, but I wouldn't worry about it on a gun that will be shot regularly. On a gun you plan to resell to a collector, don't shoot it. 0
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