Improving the Colt's Action

By Dan Wagner
Our first step in the process will be in accessing the gun's

internals. To do this, we must first flip the gun on it's back

and remove the 3 screws surrounding the trigger guard.

This brass area is known as the Backstrap. You'll want to grip

firmly or vice the gun, as the mainspring inside the grip is under

pressure. We don't want to strip the threads as we unscrew.

Next we remove the 2 screws located on either side of the hammer.

Now that our grip is off, we want to focus on the hammer. This

is the key point in our modifications. Remove the rearmost of

the 3 screws and the hammer and hand should slide downward

and out of the frame.

Now we see the inside of the frame- another area that will

Require a bit of work, so our action will be a good bit

smoother.
Now let's concentrate on removing the next obstacle on the list,

namely, the trigger. This is held in place by the middle screw.

Remove this screw, and the trigger should slide out, just as the

hammer earlier.

And so the fun begins. Here I've taken VERY FINE sandpaper

the likes of which one would use to finish auto paint. Did I

mention VERY FINE? It is important. Fold this over a flat

surface (in this instance a knife beacuse we're so bloody macho)

for stability and overall eveness in your smoothing.
Now we slip the sandpaper into the frame and lightly sand away at both

sides. Please note the object of this is NOT to get the inside FLAT.

Rather, we want to level off the bumps a little. If you go too far and

flatten the bumps, your hammer will rattle and shake like a 1978

Chrysler. Yes, that's very bad, no I don't own one.

Now on to a little experiment of mine. It worked magnificently

and as 95% of my experiments fall flat on their face, I'm quite

pleased with this. Very fine Jeweler's Rouge. You can pick

up a stick at any half decent hardware store.