Jeff Higgins |
04-09-2021 02:14 PM |
Darned Unreliable Colts...
Dang it. It finally happened to me...
Those of you who run in Single Action revolver circles are probably aware of the story of the Ruger Blackhawk and its many "improvements" over the old Colt Peacemaker design. The Ruger's most touted improvement is, of course, having replaced those "notoriously unreliable" leaf springs used in the Colt with "far more reliable" music wire and coil springs. I own many examples of both, shoot them all regularly, and thoroughly enjoy them all. And I've always scoffed at this supposed "problem" with the Colts...
Until now. I just managed to break the half of the trigger/bolt spring that pushes the bolt up into the cylinder notches to lock the cylinder from turning. I couldn't believe it. I mean, geez, I've only owned this particular gun since 1989, when I bought it brand new as a "shooter". It is certainly my most fired Peacemaker by a long, long shot, but I don't feel like I've used it all that much. There are some years when I hardly shot it much at all but, granted, some years when it saw several thousand rounds. I'm going to be really, really conservative and guess an average of 500 rounds per year on the low end, with certainly less than a thousand average on the high end. So, maybe 16,000 rounds on the very lowest estimate, and no more than 32,000 rounds on the high end. What gives? No wonder its garnered such a bad reputation.
Fortunately, it's Wolfe Springs to the rescue. They have evidently solved this terrible problem with the introduction of a full music wire spring kit for the venerable old Peacemaker, dragging it screaming into the early 20th century... I'm told it will lighten up the action, improve the trigger pull, never break, and maybe even get me more dates in those coboy bars. So I ordered two, just to be on the safe side, since I own a number of other Peacemakers. The new objective is to actually live long enough to need the second one. Or maybe more realistically, to leave it somewhere my kids can find it when they need it.
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