CVA 1862 Colt Pocket Police Kit

[David Turner]

Does anyone have experience with this kit? I purchased it and a CVA 1861 Colt Navy Sheriff model some years ago. On trying to assembly, I find the instructions are terrible. I am having trouble getting the action on the Colt Pocket Police to function at all and when I attach the trigger guard, the hammer will not go to full cock position without the trigger running into the back of the trigger guard. I can't return them and I asked for and received new copies of instruction which are even worse than the first set?

 

[twotoescharlie]

want to sell it?

TTC

 

[Zonie]

I would jump in here with some wisdom, but its been so long sense I had one of my Colts apart it would be a guess.
The first thing I would look at is to make sure there are no burrs around the notches on the hammer.
It does sound like there might be some extra metal trying to force the trigger too far to the rear as the sear trys to engage the full cock notch.

The problem also could be caused by the upper end of the trigger being too long, but before you start grinding or honing it, it would be best to see if someone who has had recent experiance with these jumps into the post with some real wisdom.

To get a jump on this, I will post something over in the pistol section to see if one of them can come over here and give you some help. :grin:

zonie

 

[PitchyPine]

Without seeing it it will be hard to diagnose, my suggestion would be to find a gunsmith in your area and have him get the action up to snuff for ya then finish the rest yourself.
That way you will have a smooth shooting pistol when finished.

 

[PitchyPine]

I`ve never worked on the model you have but have tinkerd with a few 1860 and 51`s.
So if the innerds are the same i went too bed and had a thought. Do you have the trigger spring in the gun, if you do you should be able to freely move the trigger back and it should return on its own. When you put that flat two prong spring in the end of the spring goes on top of a little ledge on the trigger. If you had the trigger pulled back when you put the spring in it may be possable it is in front of that ledge and holding the trigger too the rear.
Well back too bed, hope that helped.

 

[biliff]

Without seeing the pistol, I'd tend to agree with Pitchy Pine. The trigger return spring is not engaging the trigger properly. As PP said it could simply be the spring is not in the engagement notch (shelf) on the trigger. It could also be you have it reversed. There are two fingers on the spring. The long side should engage the trigger and the short side should engage the bottom of the bolt stop. Its easy to flip it the wrong way.

 

[crockett]

Hey Dave: We need some more information. When you start to cock the hammer, do you know when the bolt drops out of the cylinder notch? You can't see it on a percussion revolver but maybe you can slide a piece of paper under the cylinder to find out. The bolt ought to be dropped before the hand starts to rotate the cylinder. Now listen for the bolt to pop back up into position. Is it popping up early(typical) or does it pop up into the leaded/notch.
Now what about the half cock position- is that alright?
As the hammer comes all the way back the full notch position ought to be reached. Theoretically the cylinder ought to lock just a moment before the full cock is reached. Too much movement from the cylinder locking to when the hammer goes into full cock just puts stres on the internal parts.
You could probably take some plexiglass or the like and make a couple of holes that match those on the frame of your gun and then put pins in the holes that will hold the hammer, trigger, etc and in that way test out how the parts are fitting. If the revolver locks up before the hammer goes into full cock, then your only problem is getting the trigger to engage and the answer MAY be to shorten the top of the trigger. Unfortunately the parts all inter-related and if you rush in and start fixing one problem- you may only screw up something else. Don't fret- you can always get some replacement parts for a few dollars but proceed slowly and try to tell us a bit more- it sounds like if the trigger guard had more room to the rear that all would be well but I have never heard of that problem before.
Cheapest out- maybe buy another trigger (Dixie Gun Works) and mess with that to see if you can get it to fit.

 

[David Turner]

Thanks for the suggestions guys and crockett, you are way ahead of me. You are talking a lot about timing but I am at the frame assembly stage. I have the brass frame with the hammer, bolt, trigger, and trigger/bolt spring installed. No cylinder, grip frame, barrel, etc. I now can cock the hammer to half cock and full cock both with a distinctive click. When I pull the trigger and push the hammer forward, it will go completely back into the brass frame as it is supposed to do. But, when I install the trigger guard, the hammer will again go completely to full cock with no problem but upon pulling the trigger, the hammer will only go back to about halfcock and no further. I have filed as much out of the back of the trigger guard as I dare as it is getting thin. I believe I either have the wrong trigger with the supplied with the kit, or the trigger I have either needs filed or bent to clear the trigger guard. I do have another unassemblied kit, a Colt CVA Navy sheriff model, that I will take the trigger from and experiment per crockett's suggestion. More later; Happy Holidays ! David Turner

 

[Moose_Meat]

David didn't your kit come assembled?

 

[David Turner]

Moose Meat: Absolutely not. It came in a bunch of pieces. If one reads the sales literature all you supposedly have to do is the metal finishing and finish the one piece grip and go shooting. That is a long way from the truth!!

 

[Tomski]

Does anyone have experience with this kit? I purchased it and a CVA 1861 Colt Navy Sheriff model some years ago. On trying to assembly, I find the instructions are terrible. I am having trouble getting the action on the Colt Pocket Police to function at all and when I attach the trigger guard, the hammer will not go to full cock position without the trigger running into the back of the trigger guard. I can't return them and I asked for and received new copies of instruction which are even worse than the first set?

Wrong kit you may have to modify. I'm having the same problem with a 1862 pocket police 36 cal can't find the screws or cylinder hand