Reducing striking force of hammer saa

Old-timers punched a hole in a piece of leather and after removing the spring, placed the leather between the mainspring and frame and then screwed tight. A small washer(s) should do just as well. Some outfit might make a spacer specifically designed for this. There are also aftermarket springs available.

Yes, you can add a washer or thin the sides of the spring. First gen springs were tapered(when viewed from the side) and quiet stiff. If you decide to do this, take material off gradually, starting just above the screw hole and all the way to the top. No power tools!! Leave no scratches and polish with 400/600 grit sand paper/cloth.Dragoon

Awesome! Thanks for the tips! Looks like I need to find some leather. Any suggestions on how thick the leather needs to be, or should I just expirement?

Experiment.


Dragoon

Thanks!

If going the leather route, you can't go too much that the screw doesn't have enough threads. You won't need much thickness, mabey 1/16 inch would be a good place to start. I would say that's probably as thick as the leather is in the one's of mine that have leather. Personally, I prefer a heavier hammer than too light of one.

It might be easier to find some very small washers and experiment....

A possible better option is this from Brownell's.

COLT SINGLE ACTION HAMMER SPRING SPACER | Brownells

I very strongly do not recommend thinning the spring. This sets up stress risers that in way too many cases causes the spring to snap.
As many gunsmiths and old time gun writers can tell you, no matter how well you polish the spring after thinning, the springs break.
A spacer leaves the spring in original condition and preserves the gun as original.

dfariswheel said:

A possible better option is this from Brownell's.

COLT SINGLE ACTION HAMMER SPRING SPACER | Brownells

I very strongly do not recommend thinning the spring. This sets up stress risers that in way too many cases causes the spring to snap.
As many gunsmiths and old time gun writers can tell you, no matter how well you polish the spring after thinning, the springs break.
A spacer leaves the spring in original condition and preserves the gun as original.

Click to expand...

I figured someone made a spacer.

Although I have thinned a few of my own springs and have had good luck doing so, I didn't mention or recommend this option as it's a "no-no". What works for one may not work at all for someone else. Besides, a spacer of some sort is so much easier and quicker.

Hey there BuckmarkeNaked (I won't ask either),

Whatever method you do end up using is fine. Some just take a little more effort than others.

I would though, like to say just one thing about the spring. If it were my 1st. Gen Colt, I would NEVER, EVER modify the main (hammer) spring. Buy a replacement spring from a respectable company (Brownell's comes to mind), and alter that one all you want. Then, one day many years from now, you may want to sell the gun, and you can say with all honestly that the spring is a genuine un-altered Colt SAA spring.

I hope that helps some.

Bud

BUCKmarkNAKED said:

I have a first gen black powder saa and it has the heaviest hammer I've ever felt! Is there a way to lighten the hammer spring a bit?

Click to expand...

Matchlock said:

Hey there BuckmarkeNaked (I won't ask either),

Whatever method you do end up using is fine. Some just take a little more effort than others.

I would though, like to say just one thing about the spring. If it were my 1st. Gen Colt, I would NEVER, EVER modify the main (hammer) spring. Buy a replacement spring from a respectable company (Brownell's comes to mind), and alter that one all you want. Then, one day many years from now, you may want to sell the gun, and you can say with all honestly that the spring is a genuine un-altered Colt SAA spring.

I hope that helps some.

Bud

Click to expand...

Right you are Bud. All the springs I've experimented with were aftermarket, not the originals.

Thanks guys! The easiest fix seemed to be the leather route. So I grabbed an old guitar strap of mine, cut into it, punched a hole in it, and it did the trick!

WOW! Where was I? Didn't mean to say thin, I should have said "to narrow" the spring. I described it as a "tapered spring as viewed from the side" and that the firsts were on the stiff side, so he may more identify his spring as a true first. I agree that I would prob put a new tuned spring rather than tune my orig. first. I prob wouldn't shoot my first gen. either so sring tension wouldn't be a factor. Sorry if I offended anyone, I was just answering a question.

By the way, I have yet (in 25 years) to break a main spring, tuned or not. The tuners of the time tuned them like the methods mentioned, I just added the one about dressing the spring down(dressing it down "hour glass" style i.e. Wolf style, is not recomemended. They are in business to sell springs). If I had a "race gun" from the 1880's, (meaning tuned from that era) I wouldn't be ill.


Dragoon

You won't like the leather. Over time, it will change texture which will change your hammer pull. It can also cause your gun to rust, especially if it is tanned a certain way. Jim Martin recommends a small lock washer behind the spring. That method works much better than the spacer sold by Brownell's which is too thick. This extra thickness results in the hammer roller to be in the wrong place on the spring. I've tried cutting the spacer down and didn't like that either. The lock washer works MUCH better.

Leather was the old stand by simply because it was easily available and it worked.

I rarely did anything with Single Actions but I found a better, albeit more complicated technique was to use plastic or brass shim stock to make up a "sandwich" pad. This allowed actually tuning the power of the spring by adding or removing layers to get exactly the power needed.

I cut pieces of the shim stock to size, then punched holes to fit over the screw.
I used my jewelers staking set to punch very clean holes in the stock.
This gave whatever power I wanted, and unlike leather there were no issues with rusting or the leather rotting or compressing.

These worked on my friend's 1882 SAA.

Colt SAA Spring Kit : COLT SAA REDUCED POWER SPRING KIT | Brownells

Head out to you local hardware store (probably not a big box store) and look in the plumbing section and you should be able to find a selection of small fiber washers. These work well and hold up better than leather, and already have the screw hole.

Best regards,

To the hardware store I go!