Pam, if you do take off the side plate but are not comfortable removing the stocks, you can still clean out the innards but do it a little more carefully.

Position the gun so that the stocks are higher than the frame and gently place your favorite degunking recipe into the area under where the plate was. A spoon or an eye dropper might allow you to place the liquid without fear of it migrating toward the stocks. After letting it sit for a while, gently blow it out with a can of air as Mike suggested making sure to not blow it in the direction of the stocks. Once dry, replace the cleaner with some oil and the internals should function a lot better.

If the trigger or hammer are worn so as to not function, you can either replace them or have one of the restoration welding shops add back some metal. The second option requires a lot of filing and shaping and one would need to know what an original part looked like in order to make the duplicate.

Perhaps someone here would be willing to send you a tracing of an original part to work from if you chose to go in that direction.

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James Redfield
LM #497