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Old 12-13-2017, 03:59 PM
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Default Converted DAO Chiefs Special to SA

I have a friend who has an old 5-screw Chief’s Special that wasn’t working in single action and he wanted it fixed and I offered to take it home and take a look at it. After looking at the action the sear end of the trigger was much too long. The hammer would have to be cocked quite a bit further back than the hammer spur hitting the back strap would allow for the SA sear to engage the hammer. I do not know how factory DAO guns were/are designed so the SA is not functionable. Anyway, I had to file a LOT of sear length off to get the hammer to engage, and did, using only a common file and fine whetstone. All by hand with no jig. I didn’t know if I could do it or not but things worked out fine.
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Old 12-13-2017, 04:13 PM
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Here is the problem. I might be wrong, but I believe that until MIM parts the forged hammers and triggers were only case hardened. This only makes a thin layer of truly hard steel on the outside. In all probability your new sear ledge is soft and may not last long
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Old 12-13-2017, 04:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steelslaver View Post
Here is the problem. I might be wrong, but I believe that until MIM parts the forged hammers and triggers were only case hardened. This only makes a thin layer of truly hard steel on the outside. In all probability your new sear ledge is soft and may not last long
Then I’ll get a new trigger at that time. I done what was needed to make “that” trigger work.

Last edited by bluetopper; 12-13-2017 at 04:44 PM.
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Old 12-14-2017, 10:58 AM
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The hammer spur hit the frame because it had been bent, probably from being dropped. The fix would have been to straighten the hammer spur so it didn't strike the frame. And yes, the spur may break off trying to straighten it. There was nothing wrong with the trigger!
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Old 12-14-2017, 11:36 AM
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the usual problem when this happens on a Chief's special is ... it was likely dropped, bending the hammer spur that it hits the frame when cocked back, thus, won't allow it to lock into single action.

If this is what happened, you can .. very gently, bend the hammer spur back until it clears. If it is bent too much if will break when bent back to the proper position. Just do it gently. A Vise grip with a piece of leather lined jaw will do the trick. I have an old BMW leather seat cover that I have been using for the past 20 year for this purpose and to line the jaws on a bench vise.
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Last edited by model3sw; 12-14-2017 at 11:39 AM.
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