[Kanatak]

This is a topic that has confused for some time now and I would very much appreciate hearing from some of you Colt Double Action Revolver Collectors.

I had a recent opportunity to inspect about 25 NIB Colt revolvers manufactured in the late 1970s. Each revolver had been stored in its original Colt packaging, never removed from the Colt plastic bag. Each Colt was still covered in what appeared to be dried grease. None of these guns had been sold on a retail basis and were owned by the gun store owner, who had placed them in storage upon receiving them from his Colt Distributor. Among the 25, I bought several of them (enough to develop this theory) and upon inspection, each had some degree of cylinder rotation line. A few showed a very light rotation line between 3 or 4 bolt notches. Others displayed a light rotation line between each bolt notch. Not one was 100% "clean". The Colt Custom Shop Pythons I inspected revealed a more pronounced cylinder turn line compared to the standard production Pythons. These Custom Shop Pythons, by the way, also displayed a greater degree of powder burn around the chamber edges on the forward face of the cylinder (unlike the others that, more times than not, had an almost indistinguishable powder burn "halo" around the forward edge of every other chamber).

Based on this limited experience, and my belief that these revolvers were indeed un-handled after leaving the Colt factory, I theorized the cylinder rotation lines must have been created at Colt while being assembled, inspected and test fired. In the mid 1970s no one at Colt would have assumed that a standard production Python would command the prices they are fetching today. My guess is the Colt technician was not trained to avoid creating these cylinder rotation lines. I also concluded the Custom Shop Pythons were handled more and test fired more at the factory when compared to Colt's standard production revolvers.

So this is my theory, for now. I would love to hear from some of the double action revolver collectors on this. Are my conclusions consistent with your experiences? Are they misguided, in part; in full?

Thanks guys and a very Merry Christmas to you.

 

[A1A]

Based on this limited experience, and my belief that these revolvers were indeed un-handled after leaving the Colt factory, I theorized the cylinder rotation lines must have been created at Colt while being assembled, inspected and test fired. In the mid 1970s no one at Colt would have assumed that a standard production Python would command the prices they are fetching today. My guess is the Colt technician was not trained to avoid creating these cylinder rotation lines. I also concluded the Custom Shop Pythons were handled more and test fired more at the factory when compared to Colt's standard production revolvers.

I suspect that it is entirely possible.

 

[Kanatak]

Thanks!

Thanks very much AIA, I always appreciate hearing your thoughts on all things Colt.

 

[dfariswheel]

Your theory is almost certainly the case.

During fitting and test firing no effort would have been made to carefully align a chamber when the cylinder was opened and closed during assembly line adjustment for timing, or during test firing.

As has been stated many times, the Python was a super-premium gun that got a lot more hand fitting and adjusting than regular production guns.
Being opened and closed more, they'd have more of a cylinder line.

No mystery.

 

[Kanatak]

Thanks Again!

dfariswheel, again, thank you very much.

 

[JudgeColt]

I do not think one can assume that just because the guns were found in factory packaging, that they were never handled. It would not be unusual that the owner liked to play with them from time to time, and would remove them from the packaging, cycle them a few times, and return them to the packaging.

It usually takes more than one session of improper handling to develop a turn line. I have used guns that have no turn line. Maybe 1970s guns have "rough" bolts so that a turn line will develop the first time the cylinder is improperly indexed when closing the cylinder.

 

[bedbugbilly]

I'm certainly not "expert" nor do I profess to be. I'm more of a shooter - and not a good one at that! just making an observation here . . . . over many years, I've seen pistols written up that were NIB. I'm talking anything from collector series cap and ball to cartridge. Most times, it lists "cylinder never turned" . . or some such description. Isn't that a little far fetched? Sometimes they list "never fired" . . . another claim a littl far fetched if they have been "proofed". Yes . . . they can be NIB . . but come on folks . . . they were assembled by workmen/women and they had to be cycled to make sure they functioned correctly for quality control. As has been stated, even if NIB at a dealers, the possibility always exists that the fellow may have taken them out and "played" with them . . . you have no idea one way or the other. It may be "minty" and in the original wrapper, grease, box, etc. . . . but I think that you really can't claim that the cylinder is "unturned" . . . unless you walked with it down the line when it was being assembled and know for a fact that it hasn't been turned. To me, when I read this in the description, I take it with a grain of salt . . . it's just another way of saying that it is about as perfect as you can get. I'm not saying that the gentleman who examined the Colts is wrong about any of his conclusions . . . and they may well have never been touched since they left the factory . . . but even so, being new . . they obviously were not "un turned".

 

[OldGarandDad]

@Kanatak

While I am in no way a Colt expert I too have seen several NIB revolvers from Colt while helping to appraise estate sales where I have been brought in to look at Garands. I too had noticed the same thing. I think the cylinder ring thing has been a collector hype phenomena that has grown legs like an urban legend and has somehow self perpetuated itself.

I'll add my vote to your hypothesis.