November 5th & 6th 2016 Premier Firearms Sale
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/6/2016
The first year that Colt shipped its new Model P of 1873, the famed Single-Action Army, this December, 1873 dated packet is still sealed with its pull-string intact. Such packets were only dated from October, 1873 (rare!) through August, 1874, with none later; therefore, as May and July 1874 are not known to exist, there are only nine month-dated “pure” .45 Colt packets available to collectors. With the introduction of the .45 S&W Schofield into the arsenal, the 1875 and later packets are year-dated only, not month-dated, and contain the shorter Schofield length cartridge with “.45 Revolver Ball” title rather than the 1873-74 “.45 Colt” callout. This of course allowed use of the same cartridge in both revolver types. All were Benet-primed (internally primed) until 1882.