January 23rd 2016 Firearms Sale
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/22/2016
7-1/2" barrel in .44 rimfire caliber. Approximately 1,863 Colt Single Action Army's were manufactured for the .44 rimfire cartridge. They were numbered in their own exclusive serial number range. 100 were altered to .22 rimfire, which makes total .44 unaltered at 1,763. According to the factory letter, this gun was shipped to Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, New York, November 3rd, 1877 in a shipment of 50 guns. Finished in blue, caliber .44 rimfire, barrel length and stocks not listed (which would indicate standard 7-1/2" with walnut). In the book "A Study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver", listed on page 16 as having both the script and block style barrel addresses. An example of the barrel stamp on this revolver can be found on plate six, page 15, which shows the die irregularity with the soft base and no period after "Co", with the hyphenated line at rear of "U.S.A.". It has the Hartford address. Other early features include the early two-line 1871-1872 patent date on left side of frame (page 13), "44 Cal" stamped on left rear trigger bow, has the donut head style ejector rod, black powder screw-in frame, one piece walnut grips slightly undersized with no cracks or chips. All matching numbers to include cylinder, frame, trigger guard, and backstrap. The hammer has the two-pin rimfire firing pin. Inside of frame is original and has never been altered or welded. The barrel is original and has never been stretched, and exhibits clean strong rifling the follows all the way through. Original front sight has not been filed. Metal finish is a smooth mix of blue-brown patina. All legends are sharp. Two left frame screws are only slightly off-centric. All four Colt clicks. Cylinder indexes and locks up tight. The majority of these weapons ended up out West and were a mate for the .44 Henry cartridge used by Winchester. Extremely difficult to find today in any condition as most saw very hard use, and a vast majority had the barrels cut to a shorter length. This is an extremely handsome, smooth .44 rimfire Colt Single Action Army.