[btvannarsdall]

Recently, I picked up a 1920 New Service in .45 Colt with the crane lock reinstalled incorrectly. This made the cylinder very hard to open and close. I reinstalled the crane lock properly, and then the cylinder would not open! I was initially very perplexed, as I had never heard of this nor read about in the Kuhnhausen manual in "troubleshooting". The latch to open the cylinder would hardly move. Then I got lucky and the cylinder opened. I took the cylinder off, removed the side plate, and this is what I found! The positive lock had become disengaged from the trigger, and was blocking the cylinder release bolt. It's an interesting scenario, one I haven't heard of or seen before. The sideplate screws, unlike the crane lock, were pristine, and the rebound lever pin showed no signs of being removed, so I doubt the internals have been tampered with. An interesting situation.

 

[Abwehr]

Don't feel too bad about what happend......I had a very similar problem myself! I had just bought a very nice Colt New Service that had been sold to the British during WWI. The revolver was in excellent condition, nice action, but was very dry internally. I decided to take the Sideplate off and oil it. There was a lot of old dried grease inside, and I decided to take it apart and do a proper cleaning of the action. When I put it back together, everything was correct and in place. When putting Sideplate back in place, it was tight and did not just "drop in" so I had to make a couple of tries to get it seated correctly. While doing this exercise, I would tap the revolver to get the Sideplate off. These few "taps" appearently dislodged the positive lock and it was locked up tight after reassembly. After a couple of choice words, I removed the Sideplate again and saw what happened. I put all back in place and made sure the Sideplate was aligned correctly and bumped it in place. The revolver was back to life and so much smoother with the new oil & lube.

I think there was just enough play with the Sideplate not fully seated to allow the positive lock to slip out of place. Here is a photo of mine after lubing...I did remove a lot of the grease before "buttoning" it back up!

 

[btvannarsdall]

Yes I understand the fee choice words part! I guess you learn something every day.