[Abwehr]

OK guys, I have a another good question for all of you! Have any of you disassembled the 1877 and/or the 1878 DA Colt? I have information on how to disassemble the revolvers and this is the easy part. The REASSEMBLY seems to be the real difficult part as the instructions say to reassemble in reverse order. Yea, right, it usually is NOT that easy to reassemble in reverse order.I have read that it takes three (3) hands to reassemble; is this a "true" statement? I have a Lightning, Thunderer and .45 LC 1878, and want to disassemble to clean and lube. All three (3) are in excellent working condition now, and I have oiled the action, but want to make sure they are correctly cleaned and lubed.

As always, your comments are appreciated!

 

[Calibre 38]

Unless you are very experienced with the Lightning And Thunderer, LEAVE THEM ALONE. It is bad enough if one needs repair, but if working, consider yourself lucky and leave well enough alone. If it is not broken, etc, etc, etc....Jim

 

[vytautus]

I wouldn't be worried about the 1877, they are actually simple. Everyone gives them a bad rap. I have repaired 5 or 6 of them that actually had broken parts. The problem is usually the gang spring for the hand and cylinder stop. The stirrup that rides in the hammer slot or a chipped hammer slot. To clean it the way you want just pull the grips off, then the rear grip strap, take out the main spring. Then remove the trigger guard. This is enough diss-assembly for a very good cleaning. Just blow it out several times with rem oil or wd-40 let it soak, clean any crust out with a toothpick. When reassembled you may have to play with the mainspring strain screw to balance out the DA and SA. I leave 1878's alone if they are in nice condition the side plate can be problematic and are hard to get off without it being noticeable after working on them.

 

[Abwehr]

Guys,

Thank you very much for the information!!! Everything I have read is to LEAVE THEM ALONE if they are working.

I have removed the 1878 Sideplate and the actions appears to be clean, but I did oil and put a small amount of light grease with a toothpic where I could get it, so I feel OK with that one. I found out that the Sideplate was very "touchy" about getting set in the right spot. After putting the sideplate back, you could not notice it had been removed!

The 1877s were my real concern; so, I can remove the grips with no problem. I was concerned that removing the rear Grip Strap, and especially the Triggerguard may give me problems. I was not sure if there were any Springs that may go flying off into "never never land", LOL. I will do what "vytautus" recommends for cleaning and lubing. When I remove the Mainspring, I will count the number of revolutions so I can put it back in the same location on re-installation.

Thanks for all the help guys, all of you are really great; I just love these old Colts! Last weekend, I took my recently purchased1873 SA (made in 1904) apart and it is very close to disassembly of the 1851 and 1860 percussion revolvers and had no problems. It is ready to go and all lubed up now. I did make a major boo-boo though....I knocked the left grip off my desk onto the marble floor and it broke in half across the screw hole! I was devestated, but found another left grip on e-bay and it is scheduled for delivery today by USPS from the vendor. Unfortunantly, it is not the original, but the wear on the checkering and the Rampant Colt are very close to the original. I called myself "stupid is, as stupid does". Those old grips are very delicate and Lesson Learned!

 

[Abwehr]

I have an update on the lubing of the two 1877 revolvers! I followed the information provided by "vytautus" this morning and checked both revolvers and this worked out great! I got both revolvers oiled and lubed and now they are both slick as can be. Neither one was crudded up, so this was good. All i did was wash with some D-40, let the carrier dissepate, and lube with toothpicks, twist-tie, and a cotton swab. Worked great...Thanks again "vytautus"!

I did fresolve a very ,minor problem with the Thunder. When firing in DA, sometime the Hammer would hang like pulling it SA. Wll, I found a very small burr, stoned it off and it is working perfectly now in DA!!! I did check all the parts and they look great with no major wear indicated. These two are now ready to ride the range again, LOL!

I know these revolvers are not the most collectible due to their "built-in" problems, but I just love the feel of both; compact, effective, looks good, and shoot great! Now I may be on the lookout after Christmas for another one! I have a nice looking period old holster that needs a "tenant" to live in; good excuse to buy another Colt, Huh?

 

[Valman]

I've been a fan of the 1877 DAs since I bought my first as a teenager -- actually my Dad had to buy it using my lawn mowing money. That one had some breakage inside and I later dumped it. Since then I've picked up two more -- a .41 with 4 1/2" barrel and a 6" .38 -- that are in perfect working order. Like Abwehr, I find the ergonomics just right for my hands, and their compact size with the birds' head grips would have made them ideal for pocket or belt carry instead of a heavier holster pistol. What a lot of folks don't realize is that they were built on the same basic frame size as the percussion pocket models, just as the SAA utilized the old 1851 Navy frame.

One point about lubricating these old Colts however: I have read that WD-40 is bad news for case-hardened steel, that it will fade the colors. A major antique arms dealer who I worked for once upon a time advised Ballistol for regular lubrication and G-96 for wiping down and storage. I've done so ever since and have never had a problems with either one.

 

[Kerz]

I've been a fan of the 1877 DAs since I bought my first as a teenager -- actually my Dad had to buy it using my lawn mowing money. That one had some breakage inside and I later dumped it. Since then I've picked up two more -- a .41 with 4 1/2" barrel and a 6" .38 -- that are in perfect working order. Like Abwehr, I find the ergonomics just right for my hands, and their compact size with the birds' head grips would have made them ideal for pocket or belt carry instead of a heavier holster pistol. What a lot of folks don't realize is that they were built on the same basic frame size as the percussion pocket models, just as the SAA utilized the old 1851 Navy frame.

One point about lubricating these old Colts however: I have read that WD-40 is bad news for case-hardened steel, that it will fade the colors. A major antique arms dealer who I worked for once upon a time advised Ballistol for regular lubrication and G-96 for wiping down and storage. I've done so ever since and have never had a problems with either one.

Nice pair of 77s.
I would add that this thread is 8 years old .
Vic

 

[hrt4me]

I just last week completely disassembled and fixed and cleaned my own 1877 DA 41 Thunderer, and I had no issues putting it all back together correctly either...