Working the Great Western Single Action Army

Due to slow sales and a need to produce more appropriate firearms for World War II, Colt Both before and after the war, Colt’s SAA was a great favorite in Hollywood’s western movies, and with the war over anew demand began to appear for the old single action that Colt did not chose to immediately fill. Thus, it happened that, in 1953, a man named Bill Wilson formed the Great Western Company in Los Angeles, California, with the intention of producing a modernized copy of the old workhorse SAA.

I have no verification of this, but the story I was told is that Wilson asked Colt if they were going to resume production of the Single Action Army because he was interested in producing a modern, shootable copy. The answer he got was reportedly "No, we’re not going to make that gun again. So go right ahead with your plans." I believe this was probably true, because—years ago—I seem to recall an announcement from Colt that they would not be producing the Peacemaker again.

The new Great Western Single Action was a near clone of the Colt in almost every way. In fact, the takedown instructions I’m going to give you here are nearly identical. After examining quite a few, it’s apparent that the Great Western Company was never concerned about putting out a revolver with the wonderful fit and finish of the original Colt. The Great Western revolvers I’ve seen are full of tool marks and the quality of polish, fit, and finish work leaves something to be desired.

The Great Western revolvers have a frame-mounted, rebounding firing pin in place of the big "canine tooth" that was mounted on the Colt’s hammer face.

This odd hammer configuration gives the Great Western a strange profile when cocked; the cutout made to clear the firing pin results in sort of an "upside-down L-shape." These new hoglegs were cataloged in the same barrel lengths that Colt had produced—4-3/4, 5-1/2, and 7- 1/2 inches, plus Great Western offered a "Buntline" version with a 12- 1/2-inch barrel as well as a 4-inch "Deputy" model that sported a fulllength barrel rib.

A few were made in flat-top configuration and equipped Although they were not produced with the same degree of quality as Colt’s, the Great Western revolver filled a niche for a short while. with Micro-adjustable rear sights. With .45 Colt and .22 Long Rifle as the standard chamberings, Great Western also offered versions in .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .357 Atomic, .44 Special, 44-40, and .44 Magnum. I’ve never seen one, but I understand that the "Atomic" was simply a hot-loaded .357 Magnum.

A few examples have also been seen chambered in .22 Hornet, .30 Carbine, 32-20, and .22 Magnum. The standard GW grips were imitation staghorn, although from what

22 Single Action being checked for loaded cartridges. The hammer is at half-cock and the loading gate is open. The guy holding this gun should have been warned to keep his finger away from the trigger. Place the hammer at halfcock, open the loading gate, then depress the base-pin lock and withdraw the base pin out the front. I’ve seen they were offered with a great variety of other optional grips.

The Great Western company advertised that its revolvers were manufactured of the highest-quality materials, with frames made of 4130 and cylinders of heat-treated 4140 chrome-moly steels. Great Western produced their single-action revolvers from 1953 to 1961, although the company was plagued by quality-control and management issues along the way. While some Great Western revolvers I’ve examined were reasonably well fitted and functioned perfectly, many others were crudely machined and poorly fitted.

I can recall taking several early manufacture Great Western Single Actions apart and, after examining the poor quality of the parts inside, simply tossing out the bolt, the hand, and all the springs, and replacing them with good-quality Colt parts in order to rebuild the guns into acceptable shooters. The company did make quality improvements in later years but, sadly, they had already developed a reputation for suspect quality.

On top of this, as you may know, the folks at Colt changed their minds and reintroduced the Single Action in 1955. As many collectors now refer to it, this new Colt became the "2nd Generation Colt SAA." This reintroduced Colt revolver spelled the beginning of the end for Great Western, and a mere six years later the company closed its doors for good after producing about 22,000 single actions in all.

The Great Western revolvers made in California from 1953 to 1961 should not be confused with the modern Great Western II revolvers being marketed by EMF. The original GWs were made entirely in the U. S., in Los Angeles, while EMF’s GW II revolvers are manufactured in Italy by Pietta. The modern Pietta version is, by and large, a very well-made high-quality replica of the original Colt.

If you’re interested in learning more about Great Western arms, I recommend you find a copy of the September/October 02 issue of Shoot! magazine, and read the excellent article by John Taffin. Disassembly Instructions 1. First, make certain the weapon is unloaded by holding the revolver around its grip with your left hand, being careful to keep your finger away from the trigger (#43) and keeping the revolver pointed in a safe direction.

Roll open the loading gate (#23) with your right hand, and then cautiously pull the hammer (#27) slowly to the rear until you hear two audible clicks. This should place the hammer in the half-cock or loading position, where the cylinder (#12) will spin freely in a clockwise direction. Slowly rotate the cylinder by hand while examining the chambers through the opened loading gate at the rear of the frame (#20), making certain the cylinder chambers have no cartridges in them.

If there are cartridges in the chambers, then assume you have a loaded gun. What you see could also be fired cartridge cases or dummy rounds, but treat this situation as if it were live ammo. Leave the hammer right where it is, in the half-cock or loading position, and leave the loading gate open. Continue to hold the revolver in your left hand by its grip and, keeping your fingers away from the trigger, tilt the revolver so the barrel muzzle is facing upwards (and away from you and anyone else).

Use your right hand to rotate the cylinder slowly, one chamber at a time, stopping as you hear each audible click and allow each cartridge to fall out of the chamber onto the bench. If a cartridge doesn’t fall out of the chamber of its own accord, manually operate the ejector by pushing the ejector-rod head (#13) to the rear with your right hand until the cartridge falls out of the chamber.

The backstrap can then be lifted away from the frame. This exposes the action components. When you’re sure there are no more cartridges left in the chambers, you can proceed with the disassembly. I like to remove any live cartridges to a secure location before moving on to the next step. 2. To remove the cylinder, leave the hammer resting in the loading or halfcocked position and keep the loading gate open.

Single Action Army cylinders rotate on the base pin (#5), and this must be removed out through the front of the frame before the cylinder can be removed. The base pin is locked in by a sliding, spring-powered cross-bolt. To remove the base pin, you have to depress this cross bolt, called the base pin screw (#7), and then you can pull the base pin straight out the front of the frame. The cylinder is now loose and can be carefully rolled out to the right (the loading-gate side) of the frame.

This may be done either before or after removing the trigger and bolt parts, although it may be preferable to remove the hammer first. Be sure to take note of which of these very similar screws goes with which part. (Hint: If they get mixed up, the trigger uses a slightly longer screw than the bolt.) 3. Next, remove the grips and grip straps. If the revolver is equipped with two-piece grips, as most of these are, unscrew and remove the grip screw (#42) from the center of the grip and then lift off both grips.

In some cases, you will find these revolvers equipped with one-piece grips, which are disassembled like this: Unscrew and remove the two back-strap screws (#2) which are located at the top-rear of the back-strap (#1). Unscrew and remove the single screw (#22) from the bottom-front of the back strap. The back strap, along with the one-

Great Western SAA Single-Action Revolver 1 Backstrap 2 Backstrap Screw, Upper (2) 4 Barrel 5 Base Pin 6 Base Pin Bushing 7 Base Pin Lock Screw 8 Base Pin Lock Nut 9 Base Pin Lock Spring 10 Bolt 11 Bolt Screw 12 Cylinder 13 Ejector Rod Head 14 Ejector Rod 15 Ejector Spring 16 Ejector Housing piece grip, can now be removed by pulling them down and toward the rear as a unit. After they’re off the frame, the grip itself can be pulled forward and off the back strap.

Regardless of which type of grip the Great Western is equipped with, your next step is to unscrew and remove the mainspring screw (#33) from the lower area of the trigger guard (#44). Then the mainspring (#32) is lifted off. Unscrew and remove the two rear guard screws (#34), which face straight up, and then remove the front trigger-guard screw (#21).

The trigger guard is now loose and will pull down and off to the bottom. 17 Ejector Housing Screw 18 Firing Pin 18a Firing Pin Spring 18b Firing Pin Cup 18c Firing Pin Nut 20 Frame 21 Trigger Guard Screw, Front 22 Backstrap Screw, Lower 23 Loading Gate 24 Loading Gate Detent 25 Loading Gate Detent Screw 26 Loading Gate Detent Spring 27 Hammer 27a Hammer Cam (not shown) 28 Hammer Roll 4. Disassembling the action begins with unscrewing and removing the sear and bolt-spring screw (#37).

This screw faces straight up and is located inside the frame, just forward of the trigger. The sear and bolt spring (#36) will now fall out the bottom of the frame. Make careful note of the bolt spring’s position for correct reassembly later. The hammer screw (#30) can be unscrewed and removed so the hammer can be rotated slightly to the rear, then pulled down and out of the frame.

Note that the hand assembly (#31 and 31a) is connected to the hammer, and will come out of the gun with the 29 Hammer Roll Pin 30 Hammer Screw 31(a) Hand Assembly 32 Mainspring 33 Mainspring Screw 34 Trigger Guard Screw, Rear (2) 36 Sear and Bolt Spring 37 Sear and Bolt Spring Screw 39 Grip, Left 40 Grip, Right (not shown) 41 Grip Locating Pin 42 Grip Screw 43 Trigger 44 Trigger Guard 45 Trigger Screw hammer.

Once the hammer is out, the hand assembly is removed by simply lifting it out of its pivot hole on the left side of the hammer. Next, unscrew and remove the trigger screw (#45). This is the center screw of the three screws passing through from the left side of the frame. The trigger (#43) will now be loose. Unscrew and remove the front screw of the three screws passing through from the left side of the frame. This is the bolt screw (#11), and it holds the bolt (#10) in place.

The bolt can now be dropped out the bottom of the frame. Be sure to keep the bolt screw with the bolt and the trigger screw

It can be made quickly and inexpensively by altering a Magna-Tip screwdriver bit. Simply use a carbide cutoff wheel to remove an area from the center, allowing the bit to clear the firing pin and enter the spanner slots. with the trigger while they are out of the gun, since these two screws are easily mistaken for one another. (Hint: the bolt screw is the slightly shorter one.) 5. Now let’s disassemble the peripherals. The ejector-tube screw (#17) is unscrewed and removed from the front of the ejector tube (#16).

Now the ejector-tube assembly is pulled to the side by its front to move it slightly away from the barrel. While in this position the entire assembly is drawn forward and off the barrel. The ejector rod (#14), the ejector head (#13), and the ejector-head spring (#15) are removed next by pulling them straight back and out of the ejector tube. Look on the underside of the frame in the right-side frame rail. There you will notice a small headless screw that faces up. This is the loading-gate catch screw (#25).

Unscrew and remove this screw so that its plunger and the gate spring (#26) can be removed out through the screw hole. The loading gate can now be pulled out into the cylinder opening toward the front of the frame. The firing pin is held captive in the frame by what are basically a hollow bolt (#18b) and nut (#18c). Look inside the frame from the rear and you’ll note the two spanner cuts on the nut surrounding the pin.

I’ve included a drawing (above) of a quick, shop-made spanner tool that uses a Brownells #270-4 Magna-Tip screwdriver bit as its base. I used a rotary tool equipped with a heavy-duty cutoff wheel to shape the cutout that forms the spanner "arms" and to make the clearance cut for the firing pin to the dimensions shown. (This entire operation took me less than five minutes.) Once the tool is made, insert it in the nut and turn it off in a counterclockwise direction.

This frees the firing pin (#18) and its spring (#18a) for removal. The firing-pin cup (#18b) is now free and can be pushed forward and out of the frame. Note how the flat area on the firing-pin cup’s face fits the frame to be sure you align it correctly during later reassembly. That completes the disassembly of the Great Western revolver. To reassemble, simply reverse the order of the process outlined above. ■