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Colt Single Action Army

• moderate
• Shop tier 2
• high confidence
• Revolver
• revolver
• single action
• historic
• loading gate
• load five
• collectible

field strip ~3 min · reassembly ~4 min · detail strip ~40 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• Colt's own manual instructs carrying this revolver in the safety position with an empty chamber in front of the hammer. Load five, rest the hammer on the empty one. Do not carry six.
• The safety position is not simply lowering the hammer. Thumb firmly on the hammer spur and WITHOUT touching the trigger, draw the hammer back about a quarter inch; at the click, ease it slightly forward so the safety notch engages.
• Colt cautions against engaging the safety notch directly from half-cock or full cock unless you release the trigger completely first — otherwise the notch may not engage correctly.
• Half-cock is a loading position, not a safety.
• The base pin is normally held by a spring catch on the left side of the frame ahead of the cylinder. Blackpowder-frame revolvers instead have a base pin retaining screw in front of the frame which must be removed first. Identify which you have.
• Colt's manual opens by describing this as a collector's firearm recreated from a historic design, and says it is extremely dangerous to handle when loaded. Their advice for a collector's revolver is not to strip it at all — only to wipe it externally with a soft, dust-free cloth.
• A revolver is not cleared by looking at it. Open the loading gate and check every chamber individually.
• Modern reproductions from other makers may or may not have a transfer bar or hammer block. Identify what you actually have — do not assume.

Under spring tension

• Mainspring (a flat leaf spring)
• Hand and bolt springs
• Loading gate spring

Easily lost parts

Base pin · Base pin retaining screw · Cylinder

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among revolvers, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Single-action frame-screw strip of about 67 pieces with flat springs (mainspring, two-leg trigger/bolt spring) and a hand with its own leaf spring; no lever system as on the Colt DAs, but bolt and hand timing interact and owners warn it is no job for a novice. Hardest single action here, still moderate within revolvers.

Parts: 56 numbered parts (Colt’s single list for SAA, Sheriff’s/Storekeeper’s and New Frontier (56 line items); adjustable rear sight parts are New Frontier only), from Colt Single Action Army Revolver Instruction Manual — Colt's Manufacturing Company, p. 40–41 colt.com [1].

Bench time: about 30 min to strip, 50 min to rebuild (estimate). Estimated for an experienced single-action tech: grips, backstrap, trigger guard, mainspring, trigger/bolt spring, trigger, bolt, hammer and hand, gate and catch, ejector, base pin. Rebuild longer for the trigger/bolt spring legs, the hand and its leaf spring, and the bolt/hand timing check.

Small parts: 10 pins, 11 springs, 4 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

• Cylinder and ejector: base pin (catch or front screw), cylinder out to the right, ejector tube screw, ejector tube, rod, head and spring — fitted hollow-ground screwdrivers
• Grip frame: stock screw and stocks, backstrap screws and backstrap, mainspring screw and mainspring, trigger guard screws and trigger guard — fitted hollow-ground screwdrivers
• Lockwork: sear and bolt spring and screw, trigger and screw, bolt and screw, hammer screw, hammer with hand and hand spring, hammer roll, gate catch spring, catch and screw; gate — fitted hollow-ground screwdrivers
• Frame: recoil plate and firing pin left in place unless required, New Frontier rear sight leaf, detent balls and springs — pin punch

Special tools

• Fitted hollow-ground screwdriver set (SAA screw sizes) — All frame, backstrap and lockwork screws; SAA screws burr easily
• Base pin puller (if the base pin is stuck) — Drawing a fouled base pin straight forward

Known pain points

• Hand timing and bolt timing interact with trigger pull, and correcting them is an armorer job (hand stretching, heat treat). (reassembly)
  Source: AGI Armorer’s Course for Colt Single Action Revolvers — American Gunsmithing Institute americangunsmith.com [4] — “In what order (trigger pull, hand timing, and bolt timing) should you make your corrections”

See also 4 documented reassembly problems and their fixes.

Fit or check on rebuild

• Hand timing and bolt timing (bolt drops into the lead, locks before full cock) — Hand, bolt and hammer cam interact; AGI teaches the order of corrections.
  Source: AGI Armorer’s Course for Colt Single Action Revolvers — American Gunsmithing Institute americangunsmith.com [4] — “In what order (trigger pull, hand timing, and bolt timing) should you make your corrections”
• Trigger/bolt spring legs bear on the trigger and bolt correctly; trigger pull and half-cock/safety notch work — Flat two-leg spring; Colt warns about the safety notch.
• Cylinder rotates freely with the base pin fully home — Entry reassembly failure: base pin not fully home or cylinder not seated.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Colt's Manufacturing Company. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (Colt Single Action Army Revolver Instruction Manual — Colt's Manufacturing Company, p. 40–41 colt.com [1]) — Section 6 Parts Illustration and List (1993 manual): one list for the SAA, Sheriff's/Storekeeper's and New Frontier; adjustable rear-sight parts are New Frontier-only (figure inset). Only list in the manual.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

Function check

• Verify every chamber is empty before each check.
• Cock the hammer slowly and listen for the traditional four clicks.
• Confirm the cylinder indexes and locks at each chamber before full cock.
• With the hammer at full cock, confirm the cylinder is locked with minimal play.
• Press the trigger and confirm a clean hammer fall.
• Confirm the half-cock notch holds the hammer and allows the cylinder to rotate freely.
• Confirm the base pin is fully seated and its screw is tight.
• Remember: load five, rest the hammer on the empty chamber.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Base pin
• Cylinder centre bore
• Hammer and trigger pivots
• Hand and bolt contact surfaces
• Loading gate pivot

Cleaning notes

Keep the base pin and cylinder centre hole clean — fouling there is the usual cause of a dragging cylinder. Black powder cartridges, if you shoot them, demand same-day cleaning with water-based solvent.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 1000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Hand and bolt springs (the classic breakage point) · Cylinder bolt · Base pin · Firing pin on the hammer

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Colt SAA 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Generation · Uberti, Pietta, and other SAA-pattern reproductions (but confirm whether yours has a transfer bar). Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Ruger New Model Single-Six
• Ruger Vaquero

Sourcing