[Docneeley]

I just acquired this from a gentleman who had the late Weldon Bledsoe engrave it. Mr. Bledsoe is more famous for his "Branding iron" engraved guns, which he learned under Cole Agee.
The Colt is a 1956 dated 2nd generation in 45LC. I'm calling Colt today for a letter on it.
I never expected anything like this to walk in my door so I'm ecstatic to have it.
Here are some photos. Enjoy.

 

[Mike Faires]

Very nice gun PM sent about potential more info on it.

 

[1988RRC]

very nice.............

 

[jcs]

Sweet! I love the engraved SAA's.

 

[chaosrob]

Very nice. Is this the new weekend plinker There is something about the engraved SAA's that always takes me back to my childhood cap guns. Good guns, good memories

 

[Docneeley]

Very nice. Is this the new weekend plinker There is something about the engraved SAA's that always takes me back to my childhood cap guns. Good guns, good memories

Ha!! I don't think it's ever been shot and I wont. I may use it as my barbeque gun to replace my engraved Colt Mustang. Thanks.

 

[Docneeley]

Very nice gun PM sent about potential more info on it.

Thanks Mike. I contacted him. I appreciate the tip.

 

[chaosrob]

It is posts like this that make me look forward to things I would like to do to my own revolvers, and a goal to shoot for. Thank you very much for sharing.

Ha!! I don't think it's ever been shot and I wont. I may use it as my barbeque gun to replace my engraved Colt Mustang. Thanks.

 

[Docneeley]

Thanks Rob. I have a small shop (my retirement hobby) and I'm forever amazed at what walks in the door. Unfortunately, I'm my best customer.
I did get the info on the Colt letter from Joe Canali, and it is a 1956 made and it was shipped to Holts Sporting Goods in Lubbock.

 

[johnh]

I had Weldon engrave about 30 guns for me in the 1980s-90s. He charged $300 for full coverage, scroll or cattle brand, with your choice of gold or silver plating. He was by far the cheapest guy around. I would mail them to him and he would have them back to me engraved and plated within a week. He said the engraving just took him a few hours. He was a great guy, but his engraving was very crude and poorly executed. He could not make a round loop or an even scroll. We used to call them 3 foot guns, they looked great from 3 feet away, up close they were not very good. When I sold them people made comments like "well, someone is trying their hand at engraving" or "they must have been done in Mexico". No one was impressed.

 

[Docneeley]

I had Weldon engrave about 30 guns for me in the 1980s-90s. He charged $300 for full coverage, scroll or cattle brand, with your choice of gold or silver plating. He was by far the cheapest guy around. I would mail them to him and he would have them back to me engraved and plated within a week. He said the engraving just took him a few hours. He was a great guy, but his engraving was very crude and poorly executed. He could not make a round loop or an even scroll. We used to call them 3 foot guns, they looked great from 3 feet away, up close they were not very good. When I sold them people made comments like "well, someone is trying their hand at engraving" or "they must have been done in Mexico". No one was impressed.

In that case I'll just throw it away.

 

[Bill38]

I have not seen the 30 other engraved examples, but the one pictured is quite nice! Thanks for sharing it. Bill

 

[johnh]

By any standards it is poor engraving, even a quick examination makes that evident. Enjoy it for what it is, but don't try to pretend it is something it is not. Engraving has some basic standards, and his guns are more just cut metal than engraving.

 

[chaosrob]

Wow, just wow....Why would you ever step on someone like that?

 

[FFF21]

Nice pistola, I like it.

 

[MarshalC]

What idiot has 30 guns engraved by the same individual when he does not think the engraver does a good job. Nice gun and by the way they are fun to pull out and shoot (gets everyone's attention).

 

[johnh]

What idiot has 30 guns engraved by the same individual when he does not think the engraver does a good job. Nice gun and by the way they are fun to pull out and shoot (gets everyone's attention).

They were cheap. You get what you pay for. I no longer own them, I actually made a few bucks on each one selling them to new collectors who did not want to spend much. You certainly can go shoot them, his guns actually look a lot better when they get very worn and get an old time look. Then people call it "bunkhouse engraving".

 

[PonyLover]

I like his cattle brand engraving best.

 

[johnh]

I like his cattle brand engraving best.

Weldon was very accommodating, he would put any design you wanted on a cattle brand gun. I had him do one SAA covered with $ signs and gold plated. Some I used and carried quite a bit. Like I said, once they got worn down and smoothed out they got a lot better look.

 

[coltsixguns]

Did Bledsoe mark his work ?