GUN SPRING 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
EXTREMELY RARE COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER IN 44 RIMFIRE.COLTSAA23544RFCal 44RF. Blue and color case hardened with 7-1/2" bbl, full front sight and 1-line script letter address with serifs at each end. Left side of frame has 2-line, 2 patents dates of Sept 19,1871 and July 2, 1872. Left shoulder trigger guard is marked "44 CAL". Ejector housing is first type with bullseye ejector rod head and base pin is orig type with dimpled ends. Hammer is color case hardened with riveted rimfire firing pin. Firing pin slot in the frame is rectangular style with a small "C" below the slot. Mounted with 1-pc varnished walnut grip that has a small "M" hand carved in the left side. Bottom of the bbl, near the frame is marked with a tiny "44". Rifling of the bbl is the earlier style with 6 wide lands & grooves. Bottom of the bbl also is marked with a small "C", another of which is on the rear face of the cyl. The bbl & firing pin slot of the frame of this revolver are pictured on pages 33-34 of the book A Study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver, Graham, Kopec & Moore, a copy of which accompanies this revolver. Mr. Kopec's autograph appears inside the fly leaf. Mr. Kopec used this exact revolver as an all correct rimfire revolver. Accompanied by two Colt Factory letters, The first addressed too Mr Richard Atkinson and dated Sept 8 1971 indicates Cal.44 Rim Fire, Barrel Length, not listed Finish, Blue. Types of stocks, Not Listed. Sold and shipped to, Spies, Kissam & Co, New York N.Y. Date of shipment Feb.8 1876. Guns in shipment 12 and is signed by R.H Wagner. The second letter is dated March 31 2014 indicates Cal. .44 Rimfire, Barrel 7 1/2, Finish, Blue. Type of stocks, Wood. Shipped to Spies Kissam and Company New York N.Y. Shipped February 8 1876. Guns in shipment 12 and was signed by Beverly Hayes. Colt single action Army revolvers in rimfire caliber are some of the most rare of all single actions. The book Colt Peacemaker Encyclopedia Cochran, reports that there was a total of 1,863 such revolvers manufactured in caliber 44 rimfire in the period 1875-1880. By the time these revolvers reached the market they had already been made obsolete by the center fire cartridge and therefore saw very little acceptance from the buying U.S. public. The vast majority of this production was sold primarily into Mexico and South America where the Henry & Winchester model 1866 arms chambered in 44 rimfire were still popular. Apparently the 7-1/2" bbl was not well regarded in those area of the world and the majority of those revolvers repatriated to the U.S. have had their bbls shortened and are generally in pitiful condition showing heavy use and little or no maintenance. In the period 1888-1890 Colt converted 107 of the 44 rimfire revolvers and frames to caliber 22 rimfire which was also not a popular product. Extremely few of these big bore rimfire revolvers are encountered today in any condition and one in completely orig configuration with any orig finish is a great rarity. PROVENANCE: Richard Atkinson, Tommy Rholes, Vince Sepulveda Collections. CONDITION: Very good, all matching including bbl and cyl, as noted. Overall the revolver is mostly a light gray metal patina. Bbl retains 15-20% bright orig blue mostly under the ejector housing with scattered spots of fine pitting on the right side toward the muzzle. Frame retains traces of smokey case colors in sheltered areas, stronger on the rear edges of recoil shields with scattered fine flash pitting in the forcing cone area of the frame and on left recoil shield. Cyl retains plummy blue in the flutes with the balance matching condition of the frame & bbl. Ejector housing retains about 30-40% strong orig blue in the top and bottom gullets, strong & bright in the bottom. Trigger guard retains about 20% strong orig blue and the backstrap traces orig blue in sheltered areas. Hammer retains about 75% strong case colors, faded on the top edge. Screws show light use. Grip is sound showing edge wear and light nicks & scratches, retaining 90% orig varnish. Mechanics are crisp. Strong bore with moderate pitting. The accompanying book is crisp & clean. 51546-2 JRL (17,500-25,000)