problems with my Chaparral

[nbanders]

Just got a used Chaparral 1873 SAA and shot it for the first time. This is my first SAA. The revolver looks fine, but missfires about half the time. There are only very faint strike marks on the primers that don't fire.
The trigger pull is also VERY light, just brush the trigger and it fires. Really kind of dangerous. The firing pin seems a little loose in the hammer, but I've heard that's normal.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[nolongcolt]

Sounds like someone did a spring job on it and went too light. Some looseness is normal on the firing pin. Put factory weight springs back in and it likely will do better. A smith can tell you in five minutes.

[nbanders]

Thanks, that was my first guess, but as I said, I have zero experience with SAA. I've ordered a new spring from back East, it'll take a week or so to get here (I'm in western Canada), hopefully that will cure the problem.

[joeg0812]

You might also check behind your spring. Sometimes people put a buffer between the spring and the frame where the spring is screwed or attached to the frame. This can have the effect of lightening the spring as it takes some tension out of it.