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In times past...

3K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  smutt 
#1 · (Edited)


One could call up Colt and get a gun built to your specs. Few did over the years compared to the number of Colt SAAs they produced. I get that. Most were, as we have heard many times over here, just tools. Bought like a saw or a shovel at the local hardware store. Colts' have never been cheap or common. Something custom made for Bat Masterson then or Bighipiron now not so common.

A few years back I came into some money unexpectantly, took a part of it and bought as many "fine" SAA hand guns as I could find. At the time it might have seemed a unwarranted risk. But my impression was Colt and USFA were then in easy supply and under priced if one looked around. I had some time on my hands so I did indeed look around. For a guy who sweated over the labors of owning just one Colt SAA suddenly having over a hundred was nothing short of breath taking. But from the get go I bought those guns with the idea of selling them in the future at a reasonable profit.

Call it the poor man's "stock market". All it takes to make money, is having some money to risk and be willing to do your own home work.

With a hundred guns to sell off and wanting to keep only a very few, more a little long term if I could, one might begin to wonder which to keep and which to sell.

Back to the original idea of "times past".

I knew I wanted to keep and shoot Pairs. Consecutive pairs if I could find them. While there might be much better values and better shooting SAA style guns than a Colt there is no reason not to own Colt's best handiwork if at all possible.

I've kept two pairs. A pair of 44 Special with spare, fitted 44-40 cylinders with smooth ivory. And this pair of 45s with carved ivory.

If I'd had the money at the right time I might have had them built by Colt, top to bottom. Truth was I made these up from a NIB consecutive numbered pair I found on GB'er. Once I discovered they shot better than most I fit new cylinders with removeable bushings and a bullseye ejector rod head. Then I had the hammers recut to a 1st Gen style serrations, re-nickeled and did a trigger job. Finally I turned the barrels to shoot POA/POI. All things the Colt Custom Shop could have done for me but sadly had been refusing the work.



If I were to do it again I would have Paul Persinger do the ivory and not Nutmeg. But I can live with the results as is most days. I hadn't had these out of the safe in a while. Grips fell apart on one of the guns as they were glued improperly. Easy enough to fix but better done first time around.

Hope you enjoy. I'll post a few current pictures when I get a moment.

 
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#7 ·
I had a number of Colt Commemoratives purchased individually over several years' time, Gen'l Nathan Bedford Forrest, Maine Sequi-, and such. In 1981 I spotted a Powder Springs MAC-10.......

You can guess. Several commems went on consignment to get dough to buy the MAC. It's a 9mm, he had a .45 also; I figgered the 9 might be quieter, loaded subsonic. Best load I developed for that used Green Dot, believe it or not! Took 3 months for Treasury to clear the danged thing....
jaroslav
 
#8 · (Edited)
Thanks everyone! They are fun guns to won for the moment. You can't take them with ya after all :)

I have better shooting SAAs and even a pair of better shooting Colt's than these. But they are pretty comparing all the 3rd Gen Colt's I have shot. Targets were only 10 yards, but I look for a one hole group and POA/POI at that distance to tell me what I might have in the gun. This pair I thought good enough to deserve enhancing. They are a consecutive numbered pair and this gun is the better of the two for POA/POI. 255gr Colt and 200 gr C45SP targets shown here.




These days SASS gives one reason to have a "brace", a pair of guns. I started SASS when you only needed one handgun. I like shooting two handguns at once but it really doesn't make much sense to me. If I need two hand guns...give me a lever gun instead will ya? But my Great Grandfather had a brace of engraved 5 1/2" guns as a younger man. Not because he carried two guns...he didn't. And later in life he lived/slept with a 1911. But early on he knew the SAA was prone to failure so having a spare was simply prudent if you had need for a hand gun. He obviously thought he did as his attachment to the 1911 late in life showed.

Family tradition I guess. Or an excuse I use with the family more likely :) Consecutive serial numbers made some sense to me back then. Not so much now as I'd rather have a pair of guns that both shot exceptionally well. My 44s do. The .45s not so much. One is great shooter, the other mediocre at best and only one digit apart. Makes one wonder who built them doesn't it?

Either way I allowed myself to set this pair of guns up the same. Carved and checkered ivory. Ivory? Big Uh-oh yesterday on Nutmeg's part as I pulled the gun out of safe and one pair of grips fell apart. They didn't have the small wooden rods installed and were glued together haphazardly at best. Thank goodness I didn't need to shoot them. Rather inept workmanship for a pair of $1500 grips. $1500 was just a $100 shy of what the NIB guns cost me at the time of purchase! This pair of grips from Nutmeg was by far and away the biggest blunder I have made in ivory or SAA purchases. Have to laugh that it continues to plague to this day. This from a guy who bought several dozen pair of ivory in that time frame. The majority of them from Nutmeg. With 4 engraved gun purchases, ivory wasn't the only problem I had with Nutmeg.





One thing about carved ivory that one might miss today is the carving really needs to have a low enough profile to enable you to shoot it inside your hand. These grips are now, are being recut twice. Better yet make the carving on the inside of your grip and not on the palm side where you will be holding the gun. With this pair I had them make a right and a left hand gun just for that reason. Carved ivory can be a pleasure to shoot. These weren't originally.

I've always liked the SAA. I could take the cylinder out of one and clean the gun long before I could shoot a handgun of any sort. TOMBSTONE the movie was pure magic for me. I wanted a nickel plated 45 with smooth ivory from that day forward. Likely never thought about it prior. Having the luxury a pair of nickeled Colts seemed pure fantasy frankly. I'm lucky enough to have them now. If I were to do it again I'd find a pair of nickel, etched panel 44-40s and have Paul Persinger do the ivory. I'm sure it sounds like I am complaining over all. I'm not. I am truly blessed to have what I've got for guns and know it. I like these guns. I only mention the down side hoping the next guy can avoid some the pitfalls I tripped over.



I got two guns. One for each of ya...
Val Kilmer as Doc.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I'm sure it sounds like I am complaining over all. I'm not. I am truly blessed to have what I've got for guns and know it. I like these guns. I only mention the down side hoping the next guy can avoid some the pitfalls I tripped over.


Val Kilmer as Doc.
Yahoody, you are really blessed. Living a cowboys dream in a great country, ranching and cattle raising, owning and shooting countless gorgeous SAA's, a lot of them with fantastic carved ivories handles. That is really a dream that hardly can be fulfilled again even when the next guy is young and wealthy.
I only can congratulate you to what you have and wish that you can enjoy it a lot more years.
As a German with a big heart for cowboys, the Amrican West and SAA's I'm a little bit jealous. :cool:
 
#14 ·
ussmanlovede36 said:
...What do you use to clean your nickel Colt's? I used Ballistol to clean a Nickel 2nd gen and the first time I took it shooting some nickel fell of the cylinder.....
Thank you. Admittedly I'm a barbarian by some standards :) Having spent 30+ years cleaning guns everyday I have pretty much used everything. You can't imagine different "systems" I've used. For most of that 30 years I have consistently used paper towels and WD-40. When things get really ugly I use a Birchwood-Casey cloth and some FP-10. But the stand by for everything is WD-40 and a decent paper towel. Never hurt a finish with either. WD-40 is mostly just kerosene.
 
#17 ·
I love carved and/or checkered ivory! There is nothing better.
I have had "one-piece" ivory grips fall apart on at least two guns I purchased over the years. None had pins used in the original installations. I re-fitted them with small wooden dowels as cross-pins and they have been secure ever since. I don't understand why some professional grip fitters do it with out the pins.

- - -Buckspen
 
#18 ·
Thank you Sir. And certainly true, I am blessed. Young and wealthy? I'm neither. Have to believe today than very few with the good fortune to have both would ever willingly choose this life style. Like fine old wines I believe it takes a well developed palate to appreciate what it is this kind of life offers the soul. Truth is, it will work the body into the ground. But thankfully, you'll never be boarded getting there :cool:



 
#27 · (Edited)
The famous stud, Navajo Joe, Jim used for his mare.


"Navajo Joe was a shuffler,
and could outwalk anything."

Common thing in foundation Appy's. My big gelding was an "easy" 100 mile horse when I was up to it. Have yet to see another horse do any thing but lope trying to keep up with his fast trot.



 
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