Need Help For Armi San Marco 1851 Revolver

[Raymo]

Is there a gunsmith or someone who could check my revolver? 1851 Sheriff Model in .44 caliber.  Was working fine until a few days ago.  Now the cylinder locks up and you can't pull the hammer back without taking the barrel off.  Probably not worth spending a lot of money on.  Might have to make a wall hanger out of it.

Thanks,
Raymo
.

[Sagebrush Burns]

Do you have a shooting friend who knows a bit about traditional single action revolvers.  They are wonderfully easy to take down, diagnose and fix if you have any experience at all.  There are books with step-by-step instructions which all but the most severely challenged can follow.  Any reasonably competent gunsmith can probably fix it up for not too much money.

[Mike]

I would take the barrel off and see if the hand is working. Push it with a pin punch. Some of the ASM have a spring and plunger to work the hand and they can cause problems.

I re built a 38 ASM Richards that had the same problem.

Good luck mine shot well once it was sorted.

[Coffinmaker]

Very real possibility you just have cap fragments down in the lock works.

Coffinmaker

[Cactus Mac]

Bolt leg may have broken.  When the hammer tries to cock the cam lug cannot draw the bolt down and the cylinder will stay locked while the hand keeps pushing to no avail.

[Octagonal Barrel]

I have an Armi San Paolo 1858 which just lost its handspring.  Very similar results.  VTI Gunparts still has hand and spring assemblies available for Armi San Marco 1858's (the Armi San Paolo and San Marco parts are very similar).  You might have the same luck with any parts for your 1851.

1851's are really are easy to take apart and put back together.  Whether it's a stuck cap frag, a broken hand spring, or something else, I bet you can locate the problem real easily yourself.  All parts are very distinctively shaped, and if something's broken, you'll spot it pretty fast.  You can find plenty of assembly diagrams on the internet.

When you put it back together, though, make sure you use some sort of anti-sieze lube on all screw threads.

By the way, VTI does offer a "fix my gun" service if you aren't mechanically inclined, and would rather go that route.

[Pettifogger]

As you can see, you have gotten all kinds of "guesses."  The only way to tell what is wrong is to take it apart.  Very simply machines with only four parts: hammer, trigger, bolt, hand and a couple of springs thrown in.  If you are shooting it, you need to know how to take it apart for cleaning and maintenance.

[Raymo]

As an update, I just disassembled the revolver and found no apparent broken parts.  Watched a video on YouTube showing how to take it apart.  I'll clean everything up and see if it works when I get it back together.  Not sure of what else to do.

Thanks for all the suggestions,
Raymo