The Astra 45 Colt DA Revolver
Posted: 08 Dec 2016 20:14
I just picked up a near-new 6" Astra in 45 Colt. The DA pull on this revolver rivals my late nickel 29. The SA has a little creep but I can cure that. This revolver's cylinder lock-up exhibits utterly no movement at the 'moment of firing' position or even with the hammer at full cock.
I ran three cylinders of my basic 45 Colt load (8.5 Universal/255 RNFP) through it, to get a feel for it. Function is perfect DA or SA and it left deep, centered hits in fired primers. I didn't shoot long as we just fertilized the range pasture with turkey do-do and SCUBA equipment would be needed for anything more. It still managed a six shot, 3" 25 yard group on the steel plate with some overlapping bullet splashes. I'm going to have some fun with this one.
I gutted it out, polished the DA bearing surfaces and cleaned up a substantial burr that was on the single action sear point of the trigger. The gun was dry inside so it got scrubbed & oiled, too. The cylinder was sluggish so I cleaned & polished the arbor, while I had the cylinder out.
My trigger scale only goes to 8 pounds so I can't measure the DA pull, but I'm guessing it about 10 pounds- and it is really slick now. The SA trigger finished at 4 pounds and is as crisp as any S&W I ever owned.
Bore appears to be 0.454 and cylinder throats are YUGE at a uniform 0.458"... at least I won't need this one reamed, LOL.
I got it pretty well dialed in that afternoon and as it turned out, the large throats didn't hurt accuracy at all. Cleaning up the single action pull also made it easy to shoot well. This is group 6 shots at 25 yards and includes one vertical sight adjustment. All six went into 2 1/2" and the five, fired after the adjustment, spanned 1 3/4". Same load, is 8.5 grains of Universal with a Lee 452-255-RF sized to 0.454" I believe the old revolver will shoot.
I ran three cylinders of my basic 45 Colt load (8.5 Universal/255 RNFP) through it, to get a feel for it. Function is perfect DA or SA and it left deep, centered hits in fired primers. I didn't shoot long as we just fertilized the range pasture with turkey do-do and SCUBA equipment would be needed for anything more. It still managed a six shot, 3" 25 yard group on the steel plate with some overlapping bullet splashes. I'm going to have some fun with this one.
I gutted it out, polished the DA bearing surfaces and cleaned up a substantial burr that was on the single action sear point of the trigger. The gun was dry inside so it got scrubbed & oiled, too. The cylinder was sluggish so I cleaned & polished the arbor, while I had the cylinder out.
My trigger scale only goes to 8 pounds so I can't measure the DA pull, but I'm guessing it about 10 pounds- and it is really slick now. The SA trigger finished at 4 pounds and is as crisp as any S&W I ever owned.
Bore appears to be 0.454 and cylinder throats are YUGE at a uniform 0.458"... at least I won't need this one reamed, LOL.
I got it pretty well dialed in that afternoon and as it turned out, the large throats didn't hurt accuracy at all. Cleaning up the single action pull also made it easy to shoot well. This is group 6 shots at 25 yards and includes one vertical sight adjustment. All six went into 2 1/2" and the five, fired after the adjustment, spanned 1 3/4". Same load, is 8.5 grains of Universal with a Lee 452-255-RF sized to 0.454" I believe the old revolver will shoot.
I know it's not a 44 magnum but it's same style gun 
