NIB Can Mean Caveat Emptor--Act IV

I've received quite a number inquiries about the issue in this thread (see "NIB Can Mean Caveat Emptor"), some about the 1860 itself, some about the seller. Rather than compose individual letters, I'll just post an open reply.

First, an interesting footnote: Until now, I have acknowledged the possibility that the NIB misrepresentation was unintentional. However, when I reassembled the piece with the cylinder patent stamping in the proper position, the defective chamber was no longer in battery, as it was when I received the piece from Fugate Firearms. The cylinder had been rotated so that the rust-plugged chamber and nipple were concealed. There is no way to determine whether this was done by Fugate Firearms or by the party from whom they acquired the piece.

As for the gun: A six-week soak in Kroil followed up by ultrasonic cleaning removed all the rust from the chamber and nipple and actually loosened the nipple to finger-tight. I unscrewed it with a match stick and replaced it with a Dixie Gun Works nipple, which is indistinguishable from the original. I have put the gun on sale at GunsAmerica.com and GunsInternational.com. At Dennis Russell’s recommendation I list its condition as 99 percent. The description includes the Fugate saga. I did this at John Fugate’s urging. When we spoke in February, I explained that full disclosure would require that I do so. His closing comment, before hanging up, was, “Tell anybody anything you want, you s__ of a b____.”