Colt Anaconda

As a country, we are loosing craftsmen, because the powers that be think human ingenuity is expendable, and gets in the way of their profits. One shop that has a history of good work with Colt wheelguns is Cylinder and Slide. You can find them via any decent search engine.
Good luck.

grantcunningham.com    I don't know anything about him but he advertises Colt double action tuning. Good Luck. Chris
P.S. His website says 2 year backlog, that may be a long wait for a tune-up. Chris

Thanks Chris, Grant Cunningham is not accepting new work because of his backlog.  I sent an e-mail to Cylinder and Slide, Will see how that goes, Thank you Mak. I have sent about 14 e-mails out most don't respond the ones that did don't want to work on an Anaconda even tha dedicated revolver guys like it's the plague. Maybe there's something about it that I should know, Disposable gun?

Did you read the chapter (32) in The Book of the 44 about the Anaconda? The link is in the Book topic on this forum. JT talks about it and it is interesting, I don't think a Colt Anaconda is a "disposable" gun. Even bad Colt's are good guns mostly. Chris

If you can work on a Colt D.A. you can work on an Anaconda. Problem is too many jackleg gunsmiths learn Smith and Wessons, and then think they can use this info on a Colt. Two different beasts. The Colt is not a "take a stone to it, and make it smoother"gun. It takes a bit of finese, and thought to tune one. Once done, they are the finest guns in the world. Actions feel like they are sliding on greased ball bearings. No other gun has that feel.  Cylider and Slide has a good rep for 1911s, but I have no idea if they know Colts. Do not let someone learn on your gun. Get a pistolsmith that knows them, and has worked on them in the past.

C & S has a good reputation with all the work they perform, including DA Colts. The Anaconda is a unique machine-it is the first and last Colt .44 Magnum. Keep in mind that the last Anacondas made were essentially special order items. In other words, there are not a lot of them around, and while I hate to put words into anyone's mouth, it may well be that the smiths you have talked to have little to no experience with this gun. I can't guarantee that C & S will work on it, but they did a high profile tune up on another rare Colt-the late Dave Arnold's Magnum Carry, which met with positive reviews.
Today, there are a lot of people who call themselves gunsmiths who are not craftsmen. The good craftsmen are going to be booked up-count on a wait. Being a good craftsman does not always mean being a good businessman.

If all else fails, the Factory is the place to go.

Just got an e-mail from cylinder and Slide today, They say that their cr006 action job will cure my problem, I don't know how much experince they have with Colt's but at least from their web site it looks like they know what they are doing, I will call and talk to them before I send mine, As far as the factory is concerned I think they had their chance, If you do a search on the subject their seems to be many Anacondas that have the same problem that mine has, So with all due respect to Colt I know that they have the experence to do better than this but I think that production pressures forced them to allow less than what we would consider good work to slip by. I also want some work done that the factory does not offer, So so if someone can do both the timing job and other stuff then no reason to pay shipping two times ($50.00 one way last time I checked).  I will report on cylinder and slide after I talk to them but right now they are the only ones that will accept the work that I have found, To be continued.......   PS.  Thanks guys for all the comments, I think that you are a great bunch to talk to, I had forgotten about Cylinder and Slide, Thanks again Mak

From the 1950's through to the 1990's Colt changed their actions considerably. Much of the change was motivated by two competing desires-reducing labor costs by eliminating as much skilled labor as possible, and creating an exceptionally smooth and light trigger pull. Original Colt lockwork, as seen for example, in the Officer's Model, was painstakingly hand fitted by expert craftsmen. By the time the Anaconda came around, Colt action parts were cast-as is common practice today. Unfortunately, the use of assemblers instead of skilled labor meant that some actions that were not up to Colt quality slipped through the cracks. This surfaced in timing issues, and sometimes in failures to fire.

To their credit, Colt gunsmiths will work to fix this problem, and may even do it at reduced cost-if they determine the problem came from the factory. It should be noted that many more late model Colt revolver owners report flawless actions with wonderful triggers than experience problems.

As to why this all happened, it is directly related to the efforts of anti-gun politicians and their lawyer henchmen & women. They decided to destroy the firearm industry through lawsuits, and onerous legislation. As the '80's morphed into the '90's lawsuits became grander and more expensive. Colt, as a leading manufacturer, was a principle target. Legal fees were causing Colt to constantly look for cost cutting measures. By the 1990's, lawyers were telling Colt what guns they could make, and what guns they could sell, with predictable results. We really did almost loose one of our most storied manufacturers. Keep us posted on your project. By the way, I personally think the Anaconda is my favourite DA in the 44 magnum.

I think you are right Mak, When I said disposable gun I am mostly refering to it being so hard to find a gunsmith to work on it, It will be a sad day if Colt ever closes their doors. I think that the Python, Single Action army the 1911 and the Anaconda are the best looking handguns ever made and I have run across a lot of pythons that had actions that I only wish my other guns had,   Just wish they made a Blue Anaconda like some of the older Pythons that I have come across, Yes we are all paying for the lawyer garbage.  

www.heffronfirearmclassics.com        I know nothing about this guy other than he is listed as a Colt revolver smith? FYI only. Chris

Thank you Chris, I have already talked to him, He is not accepting new work untill he gets caught up. I also talked to Colt customer service today, Very good talk very informative. to fix this gun it will need a new star and Colt is the only one with parts, They will not sell Anaconda parts so Colt will do the work and do an action smoothup/accuracy job for $130.00 plus shipping. I also talked to three other gunsmiths and they all want to do an action job and say that streching the hand is the fix but from what I have learned that only works on Python type actions. Bowen says send it to the factory too, So I am going to ship it to Colt tuesday. They say about 90 days, So will report on how good their custom work is when I get it back.  Thanks everyone for all your input It has helped me to do the right thing.

Sounds like you will get it fixed and hopefully a good fix. We will all be interested in the report on how Colt repair work is since quite a few of us like Colts and it would be nice to know the factory is an option. Thanks Chris

OK, Here is an update on my Anaconda, After going to
UPS and getting sticker shock! It costs $93.00 to ship my gun to Colt! Not going
to happen! I was OK with Paying Colt $130.00 plus shipping back to me, Colt
say's $30.00, So $160.00 to them. But for me to pay 3X what Colt has to pay? NO!
I know the gun is worth more than this but I have already paid for it. Anyway
sorry for the rant, But the real news is: After all the years of not shooting
this gun (15) I decided to open it up to see if there was anything obvious
wrong, And I'll be damn, The problem was when Colt machined the dovetail slot in
the side plate for the cylinder release lever they must have fed the milling
machine too fast or in some way bent the very thin area at the bottom of that
dovetail slot that is the area that is the left side of the slot for the hand,
Making the solt too wide so the hand had too much slop. So with the sideplate
off and the cylinder latch and spring removed, Holding the sideplate up I could
see the bent area. I laid the sideplate on a flat surface and inside the
dovetail at the bent area I used a 1/8th inch punch and a Very small plastic
hammer, Hit it 2 times lightly and it looked good so I put it back together. I
will be damned, The cylinder lockes up like it should have 15 years ago! Another
thing is, the cylinder latch was always loose and that is tight now and works
great. The sideplate fits perfect just like always. I am stoked! I Thank
everybody for their input, Had it not been for talking about it with you It
would have sit in the safe untill my grandkids made a lawn toy out of it. Anyway
thanks again everybody and UPS for making me get on it!