Looking for a gunsmith or some solid help...

[Serrin]

Howdy, I'm not personally a CASer but I was thinking about getting into it just because I love the guns involved so much, so I picked up a Cimmaron 1851 open top, but it has a problem. The cylinder isn't aligning properly when I pull back the hammer.

It doesn't do it every time and if I'm really gentle with it, it won't happen very often at all, but even then I can't shoot it because I never know 100% if it is aligned properly or not without reaching up and grabbing it.

I have tried and tried to get someone from Cimarron to help me because I'm sure it's a problem covered by the warranty, but they won't return my calls or my emails. I've left messages and emails twice and gotten nothing back. Guess I won't be buying anything else from them  

So if there is a smith out there who wants to make some cash fixing it for me, or if it's something I can do myself with a little help in the form of information, I'd appreciate you guys letting me know. I've had this thing almost a year and never gotten to shoot it. Thanks.

I made a video and put it on YouTube, you can see it here:

[Major 2]

I've heard these Cimarron complaints before....something I thought they were try to get a handle on
Perhaps Amarilo will chime in....

I suggest LongHunter or Raven both in Texas ...I sure they work out your minor timing issue.
Frankly they are much faster, and great to work with...

Brian Buck @ 3B Shooter Supply might also tune it... ( also in Texas )

[Pettifogger]

Looks like it is over rotating.  Two things to check first off; the bolt/trigger spring and the hand spring.  The bolt/trigger spring is a flat leaf and can crack or break with the result being the bolt doesn't rise fast enough, far enough or at all.  The hand spring also acts as sort of a brake to slow down the cylinder rotation.  It it is to weak or broken, there is no drag on the cylinder and it will over rotate.  Cock it slow and see if it works OK.

[Serrin]

I suggest LongHunter or Raven both in Texas ...I sure they work out your minor timing issue.
Frankly they are much faster, and great to work with...

When you say LongHunter and Raven, I assume those are forum names for people who hang out here? Do you think they would mind if I private messaged them? (assuming these forums support private messages, I haven't looked around that much yet).

Do you happen to no where in Texas any of these folks are? I'm in Fort Worth, I'd love to use someone local or semi-local. I don't mind mailing it around, but obviously it would be cheaper if I didn't have to. I regularly travel pretty far north, near the OK border, to visit my mom. And I don't mind a nice drive in any direction really, I enjoy driving.

Thanks for the quick reply, I'm really looking forward to getting it working, it's so pretty to look at 

[Serrin]

Looks like it is over rotating.  Two things to check first off; the bolt/trigger spring and the hand spring.  The bolt/trigger spring is a flat leaf and can crack or break with the result being the bolt doesn't rise fast enough, far enough or at all.  The hand spring also acts as sort of a brake to slow down the cylinder rotation.  It it is to weak or broken, there is no drag on the cylinder and it will over rotate.  Cock it slow and see if it works OK.

it doesn't happen if I cock it slow.

How difficult would it be to replace those springs myself? I own several semi-automatics and I can field strip them and clean them and all, but I've never detail stripped any gun. I'm reasonably handy so if I can find instructions I should be able to follow them, but I don't have any specialized tools or anything available.

Any tips on a good place to buy replacements for those springs? I may as well just replace both springs with something strong. I'm 6'5" so I'm pretty hard on the hammer pull even when I don't mean to be.

[Pettifogger]

Longhunter and Raven are both gunsmiths in Texas.  Longhunters website, http://www.longhunt.com/  Ravens site, http://www.ravensroostcustom.com/

I noticed you were giving them a pretty hefty cocking action.  Open Tops are not terribly strong and won't hold up to extremely hard cocking for long.  They usually work well for duelists, but two handed shooters that really smack the hammer back often have problems.  If you are going to shoot these guns much you need to learn how to take them down and keep them clean and tuned.  You can go here and read up on the Open Tops.  I always fix the arbor and convert the hand to coil spring first thing.  Then give them a good action job and they will hold up quite well.  

http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=7988.0