After a night of soaking in it I was not pleased. So a quote came into my head. I said I would not disassemble it. Then today this: "Psychotic... but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!" NSFW youtube:
That would be me of course! So we get to it.
For the first time ever this book actually has some useful info:
It says that the barrel and cylinder can be removed by using finger pressure to remove the wedge from right to left. That worked and I was rewarded with this.
Barrel is 6" in length. It is a five shot. Breech end measures out at 0.374" and the muzzle at 0.376". Top of the barrel is engraved with "Address Col. Sa*** (unreadable) COLT NEW-YORK US AMERICA".
Serial # on butt plate of 4320.
Serial # the same on the front of the trigger guard and the frame:
Here is the right side showing the loading gate.
Left side of triggerguard:
Barrel looks pretty good:
A bad shot of the cylinder.
It shows a stagecoach robbery and the defender of it on the right hand side of this picture. You can see the wheels of the coach and sadly very little else. In fact if I was not steered to the Colt 1862 Police I would not have figured that out.
The Standard Catalog of Firearms states that the Model 1862 Police and Navy Conversions were mostly found with the stagecoach holdup scene. I still don't know what it is but I don't think it is a reproduction. Anybody got any ideas from here?
At the end of the day I must say this. Whatever this revolver is, what its provenance may be it pales in comparison to what it really is. To a dear friend this cold metal and wood is a connection to her Father. Monetarily it may be worth nothing. To her however it connects generations and a tangible reminder to her of her Father. I have spent most of the weekend on it. I will never get rich attending to such things. It is a labor of love. I enjoyed doing it. For now it will sit in the safe until I can deliver it to her. For now though I have this photo.
On behalf of my friend as much as I, thanks for all of the help on this Revolver friends! It means much to me.
That "unreadable" word is "SAML" with the "L" raised up a bit from the "SAM." This was a 19th-century abbreviation for "Samuel." I believe Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) used this abbreviation in letters.
ReplyDeleteLooks like "Col. Sam (superscript L with underline) Colt" That was how they shortened Samuel in the old days. I don't know much about guns, but my degree in English lit is good for something.
ReplyDeleteI just beat you at looking in Wilson's book... :-) Actually looks like it's not in bad shape an is probably shootable! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe SAM* in the first picture appears to be SAML (with the L in superscript), probably short for Samuel.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the engraving on the barrel is "ADDRESS COL SAM L COLT NEW YORK US AMERICA".
ReplyDeleteThe tricky part is the M is a bit faint and the L is half size and underscored.