Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Need some guidance. Issue with colt

Hey guys. Buddy of mine has given me a couple of these to play around with and possibly buy. I was shooting out back and one of them went bat chit crazy. When you load the mag, insert and fire, the gun empties the entire mag with one pull of the trigger. Damn dangerous. Something is obviously broke or worn out. I do not know much about this particular gun and i know there are a good many colt guys here. Anyone have a bit of guidance on fixing this? Thanks

Not good

Forgot to add that one time i just dropped the slide and the gun fired the entire mag. If you werent ready, could be a bad damn day for someone. Need to get this fixed for sure

I had a brand new S&W do that right out of the box. Emptied a 14 round magazine in the blink of an eye. Also recently had my Ruger 10/22 do the same. I purchased a new trigger group for the Ruger.

I cant tell you what parts to replace. I can tell you it’s not a death sentence for the gun. It can be fixed.

Sounds like bad sear or sear spring.

Yep

Well ???.... it clearly sez "Colt Automatic", NOT Semi Automatic... Sheesh!... (grin)

Lol

Do they still make parts for these?

There was/is a company making a replica of those, but danged if I can remember the name of it. However, I'm sure there's someone who can help at the Colt forum.

https://www.coltforum.com/

I'll go with gunk in the firing pin channel and the firing pin is not retracting.

I owned one of these once which does not make me an expert on them. That said, the first question that popped into my head was "do these things have a disconnector in them like the 1911 has?" I had the exact same issue with a Colt 1911 Series 70 many years ago - the gun went full auto on the first shot out of a full magazine. Quite a surprise to say the least, and I remember the muzzle was pointing about straight up when the gun went quiet. Sent the gun back to Colt and they replaced the disconnector and had it back in my mailbox in a little over a week.

I seriously doubt Colt would address a gun this old and long out of production. I would examine a schematic and if it employs a disconnector replace it. Betcha Numrich can help with the schematic and the part.

Anecdotally, when the incident happened to me of course I had to put a fresh magazine in it and spray seven more shots in, like, a second into the trees and bushes around the backstop. Ah, the hubris of youth.

Yep.

I was given one disassembled in a bag once and the pin (and 80 years of gunk) made it slam fire.

Check Numrich for parts, but they will still need fitted for protrusion and cleaned up.

Interesting. Ill start there. Thanks

Thank you very much for the info!

They are not fun to put back together; the hammer is encased and it needs positioned EXACTLY (under load if I remember) to go back together.

But most Browning designs are like that. They also wear, but that generally means lots of rounds, which I doubt your gun has seen.

I would recommend Kroll or hosing down the pin channel with evaporative solvent first way before tearing it down or send it to a gunsmith.

So Im assuming you can access the pin channel with just removing the slide, correct? Like I said, Im not up on this particular gun, but enjoy tinkering

Right on! I would've shot all the ammo I brought! The joys of youth!

The firing pin charge hole or the rear of the pin if the slide is removed.

The firing pin is retained by a cross pin. A 1903 schematic glance will show you.

I would hose it down good and blow it out.

The pin should push out and protrude from the slide face with a plastic or non marring punch from the rear and snap back immediately. If it feels gritty, doesn't move or doesn't snap back the firing pin or pin spring may be broke or rusted or stuck in place from caked lint.