Today a new Colt SAA model P1840 showed up at my door. This is a SAA in .45 Colt with blue/case color finish with black "eagle" grips. The serial number is S92644A. A check of the Colt serial number lookup returned "no data". I called Colt and was told that the gun was made just six months ago in March of 2025.
This is the first new then-current/contemporary production Colt SAA I have bought since about 2012. It just showed up this afternoon, and I have not fired it yet, but so far, I'm impressed. Overall fit and finish is excellent...
Case colors: Great classic Colt case colors. Not Turnbull style, not washed out year-2000 Uberti style, not nasty lizard vomit style (such as Colt had been putting out too frequently in the last 5 or so years.) Just great classic "Colt" style case colors.
Grip fitment: Perfect.
Cylinder timing: Absolutely PERFECT on every chamber. No matter how slowly I cock it, all timing events are absolutely perfect.
Cylinder lockup: Perfect. Zero end shake. Rotational play as close to zero as possible and still have the bolt move properly. Rock solid lockup.
Fitment of backstrap "ears" (with hammer and frame): Excellent. Not perfect, but very good and much better than what has been the norm for most of the last 50 years. Essentially perfect in the top half of this area, and in the lower part of this area the hammer is proud of the ears, but only by a few thousandths. Sometime in the last 10 years someone on here who is / was obsessed with the fitment in this specific area of the gun (weagle99? Cozmo?) got me paying attention to this, which I had never done before...and now I'm obsessed too! LOL!
Trigger guard and backstrap fit to frame: Perfect.
Trigger pull: Somewhat heavy, but crisp.
Mainspring: Heavy by "modern" standards. At least as heavy as factory 3rd gens of the late 1970s, probably a little heavier. Similar to 1st gens from mid 1890s to 1910 period. Still lighter than 1st gens from the 1870s and 1880s.
Some people may find the heavy mainspring and trigger combination to be objectionable. I do not. I actually like it. It feels more "real" when handling it. Whatever that means. More solid and substantial somehow. Both the hammer draw weight and the feel and weight of the trigger pull do feel more authentically like a 1st gen gun, which I like. Both can be lightened of course if people prefer lighter weights. By comparison, check out a late model Pietta clone such as imported by Cimarron or EMF ("Great Western II") in the last few years. They are so light and slick that to me they seem like toys, or like something is broken or otherwise wrong with them. To each his own.
The last (then) current production SAAs I bought before this one were all from the 2009 to 2015 period, what I think of as the "Brent Turchi Era" at Colt (one of the few good ones for Colt in the last 40 years.) If this new gun is representative of the SAAs Colt is turning out currently, now may be a good time to buy a new SAA!
The real test of course is how does it shoot. I have not found that out yet, but hope to do so soon. In the meantime, here are some photos:
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This is the first new then-current/contemporary production Colt SAA I have bought since about 2012. It just showed up this afternoon, and I have not fired it yet, but so far, I'm impressed. Overall fit and finish is excellent...
Case colors: Great classic Colt case colors. Not Turnbull style, not washed out year-2000 Uberti style, not nasty lizard vomit style (such as Colt had been putting out too frequently in the last 5 or so years.) Just great classic "Colt" style case colors.
Grip fitment: Perfect.
Cylinder timing: Absolutely PERFECT on every chamber. No matter how slowly I cock it, all timing events are absolutely perfect.
Cylinder lockup: Perfect. Zero end shake. Rotational play as close to zero as possible and still have the bolt move properly. Rock solid lockup.
Fitment of backstrap "ears" (with hammer and frame): Excellent. Not perfect, but very good and much better than what has been the norm for most of the last 50 years. Essentially perfect in the top half of this area, and in the lower part of this area the hammer is proud of the ears, but only by a few thousandths. Sometime in the last 10 years someone on here who is / was obsessed with the fitment in this specific area of the gun (weagle99? Cozmo?) got me paying attention to this, which I had never done before...and now I'm obsessed too! LOL!
Trigger guard and backstrap fit to frame: Perfect.
Trigger pull: Somewhat heavy, but crisp.
Mainspring: Heavy by "modern" standards. At least as heavy as factory 3rd gens of the late 1970s, probably a little heavier. Similar to 1st gens from mid 1890s to 1910 period. Still lighter than 1st gens from the 1870s and 1880s.
Some people may find the heavy mainspring and trigger combination to be objectionable. I do not. I actually like it. It feels more "real" when handling it. Whatever that means. More solid and substantial somehow. Both the hammer draw weight and the feel and weight of the trigger pull do feel more authentically like a 1st gen gun, which I like. Both can be lightened of course if people prefer lighter weights. By comparison, check out a late model Pietta clone such as imported by Cimarron or EMF ("Great Western II") in the last few years. They are so light and slick that to me they seem like toys, or like something is broken or otherwise wrong with them. To each his own.
The last (then) current production SAAs I bought before this one were all from the 2009 to 2015 period, what I think of as the "Brent Turchi Era" at Colt (one of the few good ones for Colt in the last 40 years.) If this new gun is representative of the SAAs Colt is turning out currently, now may be a good time to buy a new SAA!
The real test of course is how does it shoot. I have not found that out yet, but hope to do so soon. In the meantime, here are some photos:
