Changed barrel and cylinder on 1st gen. SAA

What likely prompted the change was the impact of the Western on both the Silver Screen and on TV.

Untold numbers of SAAs were refitted to .45 by their owners, because that round was readily available, and so were factory replacement cylinders and barrels.

If it's clean and in nice shape - you can hope to find a .38-40 barrel and cylinder commensurate with frame condition, and have them fitted.

Or not.

You can try to find the appropriate barrel and cylinder, but remember, you'll have to find them in the same condition as the rest of your gun, or it won't look right, and then you might be tempted to re-finish, which means pumping money into a gun that might not be worth what you have into it. Also, it won't be original anyway, even with the correct caliber.

If the caliber change was done by Colt, then I'd definitely leave it as is.

Edit: I'll take a .45 any day of the week over a .38-40....

How would I know the change was made by Colt?

The round trigger guard on the 1st Gens looks great IMO. Very graceful.

Thank You

Thanks to the 'sport' of Cowboy Action Shooting, many of the old, original calibers have been resurrected and are loaded today - finding ammunition and brass isn't much of a problem.

It will never be original again. May as well enjoy it as is.

I have had more than one letter come for a gun and had wrong information. Latest one was a 4 3/4" 38/40 Bisley that the letter noted it as a 7 1/2" 32/20 shipped to Browning Bros. I knew the gun was un-touched. A call back to Joe who gladly looked it up again, discovered it was in fact a 4 3/4" 38/40 and a Territory shipped gun to boot. Accidents can happen….

swamprat said:

There will be some numbers stamped on the grip frame under the grips and/or an ampersand or star on the right rear trigger guard flat. The pictured numbers indicate that Colt did some work on this gun in September of 1933.

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I have never heard of this being a Month/Year code before. I have seen multiple examples where that doesn't quite work. One that is referenced in print is serial 342,478. It has a work/refinish number of 1004. It is a 1920-21 gun and I know it was not refinished in Oct. 2004?

It would be very hard to match it to the original configuration, and expensive to boot

Finding the correct period bbl (BTW, did Colt tell you which length bbl?) and cylinder, with the correct finish will be difficult and expensive. Then to have them fit to the gun will also cost some coin. I know that Dave Lanara, and probably some of the other SAA restorers can produce a new bbl, and cylinder to match the finish of you gun, but again a pricey proposition. Either way you're probably looking at at least $1,500.00, which doesn't make a lot of financial sense for a non-original gun which is likely not worth a whole lot more than that.

If it was me, I'd leave it alone, shoot it and enjoy it as is. It's a mutt, but sometimes those are the most fun.

Best regards,