[BobWright]

One of the nice things about Single Actions is the ease of customizing. Just wondering how many of ya'll customize or "tweak" you SAA or New Frontiers, or even Bisleys, to wring out a little better fit or performance. If so, in what way? Here's mine:



Colt SAA .357 Magnum. The backstrap is brass from an 1851 Navy, rear sight is S&W N-Frame, front sight is Ruger Blackhawk. Walnut grips home made. Dandy handling for close range shots at small game.

Bob Wright

 

[Colt-SL]

None of the current ones Bob. But I've had several in the past that I have 'slickened' up the action. And of course handloading tweaks the performance some.

Great looking .357 there!

 

[Hopalong]

My second Colt SAA was a 125th Anniversary commemorative. The hammer safety notch was broken and the cylinder chambers did not line up properly with the loading gate when the hammer was at half cock. Still, it was a great shooter. I sent it to Nutmeg Sports a few years back for a new hammer and action job. When I acquired the gun, the original finish was scratched and the muzzle end of the barrel had some light pitting, so I had the gun refinished in full royal blue and rounded out the package with one-piece ivory grips.

Before:



After:



My third SAA was a 1921 model with a 7.5" barrel. Someone attempted to cut the barrel to 4.75", and a later owner sent the gun to Colt's in 1970 for installation of a second generation barrel, new hammer, and a few new screws, springs, etc. The action was pretty rough, and the gun had been re-blued at some point, including the frame. I sent the gun to Nutmeg about two years ago. Jim remarked the barrel with the first generation-style "45 Colt" mark, did an action job and added a correct style first generation hammer (even though I hadn't requested one and at no extra charge). He sent the gun to Turnbull for a period-style refinish, and Jim added beautiful ivory grips. I LOVE this gun.

Before:



After:

 

[Joe A.]

Other than placing a spacer under the mainspring on SAAs, I had John Gallagher lengthen the forcing cone on my current SAA 45 and a S&W 25-10 45c. It helped the model 25 some, but made the Colt a tack driver.

 

[jcs]

I sent my 3rd Gen consecutively numbered pair to Jim Alaimo at Nutmeg Sports. Jim did the action jobs and one piece ivories. Jerry Harper from eastern TN did the engraving and Doug Turnbull did the color case and bluing.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Andy Bullen]

Here's a 3rd gen 45 NF that started life with a 7 1/2" bbl. My gunsmith cut it to 5 1/2" and installed the alpha precision front sight. Makes for a much handier field carry revolver.

This pair started life as the 125th anniversary all blue with gold high lights and went to Jim Alaimo (Nutmeg Sports) for the one-piece ivories, and to Turnbull for the full "1st gen" treatment. They are now my main match revolvers for cowboy action shooting.

Here's a close-up of the ivory.

This is the rig I use with them - reverse draw, custom made for me by Jim Barnard, Trailrider Leather.

 

[Andy Bullen]

Oops, double click!

 

[rhmc24]

I'm not sure if it qualifies as tweaking but here is before and after of getting my frame color cased. Story behind this is I bought this 1891 .38 Colt SAA about 20 years ago at LGS where the story was it had been someone's hobby gun & got caliber changed & full reblue. It was cheap enuf at $600 & such a perfect gun inside & out, highly professional reblue, grips, etc., I took it as a safe queen. Couple years ago go it lettered and found it original .38 Colt, no info on all blue.

I decided it needed its frame color cased & sent the frame with barrel to Turnbulls who did what it is now. One of my most loved acquisitions, all the more from its story how it got how it is.

 

[Frank V]

I didn't tweak it, but Bob Munden did.
I love it!

 

[Wyatt Burp]

Same old pair I drag out all the time here. The bottom gun was a blue worn 7 1/2" 1957 (my birth year) .45 that my friend the late Frank Leaman, shortened, engraved and nickeled for almost free. The top one was a full blue 1920 .38 Spl. that I found in a pawn shop for $200 that he turned into a match to the other one. found grips that matched pretty good. He put my signature on the backstraps, too. There's no way I could have afforded these but Frank did me the favor since I'd sit and watch him engrave guns for hours in his shop. He traded a broke Dakota .45 for all the work on that bottom gun.

 

[Dragoon]

I like to install conversion kits in open top Colt's style revolvers. I know this is for Colt's but "tweaking" is "tweaking" in any language. Along with an action job which includes tuning (NOT replacing) the flat springs I - put a step in the bolt head to allow earlier entrance into the locking notch - create a cavity up and into the head of the bolt to lighten said bolt - cut forcing cone to 11 deg. and polish - install a hammer stop. Then, I adjust and fit the arbor to allow for a zero tol. barrel/cylinder gap (meaning- cylinder will free spin with no detectable gap) before initial firing. After initial firing ( to "set" the newly moved metal) barrel/cylinder can be adjusted to desired spec. I do this to all my SA's and enjoy making them better than they were ever meant to be !!!

Dragoon


Sorry, I knew this was for Colt's but didn't realize it was for S.A.A. Mods. can you move this to percussion / conversion please. Sorry Bob