Hammerli SAA 357 Magnum

[Sharps40]

Yep. Hammerli made SAA Revolvers. For the American market, the Dakota 357 and 45 were made 1969 to 1972. Nice ones too. Pretty much like a Gen 1 and Gen 2 Colt SAA. Much better quality than the majority of the imports and often compared to Colt SAAs as good or even better quality in some respects.

So. It arrived with 7.5" of barrel and a 1/4" tall front sight. Too much barrel to be useful or convenient. Likeing the look of a 5.5" barrel where the barrel is just about .875" longer than the ejection rod, I scalled it down.

Selected the short cammed ejector rod housing from the 3.5" barreled Thunderers and adding .5" gives me the same look but with a much more convenient and useful 4" overall barrel length. I'll finish up bluing the ERH now that its fitted and functional.

As for the front sight....original was 1/4" tall. Decided to go with the percussion style Remington cone sight. They screw on and it allows sight height changes. I made the cone from extra brass cleaning jags on hand....setting the max height at .385" and the useful height at .185" via an undercut. The groove in the topstrap is fine and colts are ment to be fired with 1/3 to 1/2 of the sight leaf above the topstrap depending on barrel length. The .185" height of the undercut should get me close on proper elevation given the sight has moved back and up the tapered barrel. We'll see at the range.

Cleaned up the wood grips by buffing back the finish with some rotten stone. The brass triggerguard and back strap were in fine shape, so simply antiqued those parts.

Here it is. Ready to try fit in the cross draw desantis holster.

 

[Sharps40]

Oh yeah.....that should make for a good ride. Now to shoot it and see if I even like it. Got two. Other one is about 40 odd away on the SN range and still has its long tom barrel. Needs a hand though....colt hand is inbound and maybe I can get it running.

 

[EMC45]

What's the wheel on the hammer?

 

[Sharps40]

Import safety. Roll it forward, no contact with primer....roll it back....Bang. Gun still has all for clicks and Spells COLT when you run it. Its a better safety than the cylinder stud safety, where you turn and push in or out on the cylinder rod to get it from safe to fire and back! Dayum import laws. Really don't need a safety on a revolver or even most autos. Makes not much sense to me. But if ya gotta have one, at least up on the hammer where you can get to it quick is good and I can always leave it on or off as I see fit.....prolly off since its a 5 shot Six Shooter.

 

[EMC45]

Cool. Thanks for the intel

 

[Sharps40]

On the long barreled gun, a broken hand and a broken firing pin tip. Fanning damage, I suspect. Respect, respect, don't fan a gun. Even the Hollywood prop guns didn't last long between overhauls.

So. A factory colt spring and hand is a near perfect drop in fit. Timing is perfect with the bolt droping into the lead and not onto the cylinder and if anything the new hand is just a RCH long as the cylinder locks just a whisker before the hammer and trigger enter the full notch. A touch of stoneing on the hand should have the forth click, which is currently quite, spelling the letter T in short order.

Here the abused and broken Swiss Hand and bent spring......Don't know how ya curl a spring like that except by some abuse.

And overall. I simply measured and dropped in the Colt factory part and gave it a gentle try with and without springs. I'm quite pleased. Good function that should be great with a touch more attention. I'll try a firing pin repair but may also just get the Colt Frontier pin and balls (the hammerli does not use the Gen 1 or Gen 2 firing pins.) just in case.

Years and continents apart but I think Mother Colts parts will rescue this Swiss fire stick.

 

[EMC45]

The case hardening on those pistols is really nice.

 

[Sharps40]

They are both in pretty good shape for about 50 years old. I may keep one for a while!

 

[Sharps40]

Sometimes it helps to take photos of small parts, specially with bifocal glasses. Here both hammers, notches all in good condition.

 

[Sharps40]

Just finishing up some checks and tweaks. Both look great inside and out. Each received a .002" stainless cylinder bushing shim. One tightened each gun nicely, it was not possible to install two (total of .004") and still install the cylinder. So, plenty tight and the very small amount of endshake is now nearly eliminated.

On the long barreled handgun, a light cleaning and tweaking of the trigger/bolt spring brought the T back in C-O-L-T. Both guns are nearly 50. I think it'll be prudent to replace, or at least have on hand, spare new and unworn Colt springs. For now, both are running well, perfectly timed and clicking out Colt with each stroke of the hammer. The new hand on the long barreled gun was thinned to run freely up/down and back and forth in the window. The lower step received a couple three strokes on a stone to shorten it slightly to tweak the cylinder carry up.

I think its about time to shoot the short barreled one, probably this weekend with Dad. And, proper firing pins are on the way to do the final fixes on the long barreled gun. With luck, it'll be ready for a test ride in a week or so.