I recently purchased a Military Model 3rd Model Dragoon w/shoulder stock off of GunBroker. It hit the doorstep today. The pistol was made by Armi San Marco in 1977. At first glance, it looks to be in very good condition. Metal was dry as a bone. A little surface rust in the cyl notches, around the nipples and on the barrel; but nothing that a little RB-17 and 0000 steel wool won't fix. Bore is dirty; but in excellent shape, Nipples are in good shape, no mushrooming and only the faintest hint of nipple mark on the hammer face. All in all - damn fine shaper for a pistol that's 32 years old and probably hasnt seen any oil in a decade.
First thing I did was cycle the action. Boy, was that a dissapointment. Action was terrible, and hammer hung up when the trigger was pulled. So, I proceeded to break it down. When I pulled the barrel off, the cylinder fell off, Bolt doesn't hold very well. In looking at it, it looks like it's a little too short coming through the window.
Found out why the action was so bad, hammer spring screw was only screwed in about half way. Only thing that kept it in cocntact with the hammer was the grips. After tightening the hammer spring screw, I put the grips & backstrap back on. Thats when I found out why the screw was loose. The hammer spring musta come from an overload spring on a 1 ton or 2 ton truck. It was all I could do to cock it one handed. That'll need some lightening.
The shoulder stock furniture is brass - It just has a lot of patina. I'm not sure if this is the stock that ASM sold with them in the 70s. The brass around the hammer slot & the underside is too clean, so it may be an Army/Navy stock that was machined to fit.
I havent striped it down totally - yet. That will come after I run a few cylinders full through it - with and without the shoulder stock. I plan is to take it out tomorrow sometime and seeing what it will do. Will save the tune-up for after the first shooting session.
Here are the first pictures of it
Front leaf on sight flipped up:
With stock attached: