Original Item: Only One Available. This is every School boy's dream! A real Cowboy six gun! The Colt Single Action Army Revolver, often referred to as the SAA or M1873, was the first Colt cartridge revolver to see wide acceptance and use, having been developed to meet the needs of the U.S. Government. Dubbed the "Peacemaker", the design is a famous piece of Americana and the American Wild West era, due to its popularity with ranchers, lawmen, and outlaws alike. While Colt has fielded many other designs since its introduction, none have been able to capture the same type of romance, resulting in the design being reissued several times since originally being discontinued.

This great frontier-worn Single Action Army Revolver in .41cal has a "gunfighter friendly" original short 4 ¾" barrel and lovely lightly worn Colt hard rubber grips, bearing the iconic Colt "Prancing Pony" on top. Blued from the factory, it has seen decades of careful cleaning, and now displays a lovely polished bright steel patina on the frame, with light oxidation on the barrel and other components. It also comes with a beautiful open top "two loop" period tooled leather holster, showing lovely foliate designs on the front. It has a lovely chestnut brown color, and really adds to the piece.

The revolver's serial number is 140412, which dates production to 1891. It has the serial number on the frame, trigger guard, and grip frame, making this a very nice "ALL MATCHING" example, without any parts swapped out over the years. This revolver was made after 1883, when Colt stopped marking the cylinders, which they did not do again until 1912. There is also assembly number 422 marked on the loading gate. It is in full working order and condition, with a great patinated look, sure to delight any "Old West" Americana collector.

The revolver came to us with an original Colt Factory letter from the office of the Colt Historian Beverly Jean Haynes, which has her signature and correct raised seal applied in the lower left corner. The paper used is the correct Colt Letterhead and is dated July 28, 2023, indicating it is a COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER, with the caliber listed as .41/c and finish listed as Blue. The barrel is listed as 4 ¾", while the stocks are Not Listed. The standard grip material for this time period was hard rubber, so this revolver is still completely in the original configuration as shipped from Colt. The gun was shipped on April 27, 1891 as part of a shipment of 10 similar guns to the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company of Chicago, Illinois. They were a famous hardware store in the city, having been founded during the mid 19th Century. It would eventually grow to be one of the leading wholesalers of hardware in the United States, introducing the "True Value" line of tools in 1932.

The original double line address marking on the top of the barrel, correct for this length of barrel, is still clear:

The left side of the frame has the Colt patent dates still fully legible:

PAT. SEPT. 19. 1871.
JULY. 2.72. JAN. 19.75

These are the correct later pattern markings, and to the right is the correct Colt "Prancing Pony in a Circle" logo on the frame, introduced in 1891. The markings definitely show a bit of wear on the revolver overall, so it definitely has seen a lot of cleaning over the years. The left side of the barrel is marked 41 COLT., the bottom has a small 41 stamp, and we also have checked the cylinder and barrel with real cartridges to confirm. This revolver is definitely chambered for .41 Colt, also known as .41 "LONG" Colt, originally introduced for the M1877 "Thunderer" Double Action Revolvers. It also caught on with the Single Action Army, and was actually the 4th most popular cartridge among the variants of this design, behind the .45 Colt, .44-40, and .38-40.

The revolver has the great worn look that only use in service can give. The original Colt hard rubber grips have a fantastic "broken-in" look, with the original checkering and logos still clearly visible, but worn, and there is a bit of the brown color that the grips acquire over long periods of time. There are a few scratches and the usual wear around the bottom of the grips.

Mechanically, the action has all four clicks, and cycles correctly, with a strong cylinder lockup. It has a functional loading position at the second click, and we did not notice any of the finicky behavior we often see with these revolvers. Really a great functioning action, though as with all revolvers of this age we recommend being very gentle with cycling it, so we do not recommend "fanning" or "fan firing". The bore is in very good condition, showing a bright finish with crisp lands and grooves. There are just a few areas of past fouling and oxidation, and it does not look to have seen extensive use in firing during its life. Definitely a fantastic bore for a black powder era revolver! The ejector door swings open easily, and the ejector itself works great. Overall this is a lovely pistol with a great bore!

Pistols such as this are extremely difficult to find today at any reasonable price. This honest lightly used example is just ideal for any Wild West Collection, especially with the lovely tooled leather holster! A great collector's revolver, complete with a Colt factory letter and ready to display!

Specifications:

Year of Manufacture: 1891
Caliber: .41 "Long" Colt
Ammunition Type: Centerfire Cartridge
Barrel Length: 4 ¾ inches
Overall Length: 10 ¼ inches
Action: Single Action
Feed System: 6 Shot Revolver

History of the Colt Single Single Action Army

Bound by the Rollin White patent (#12,648, April 3, 1855) and not wanting to pay a royalty fee to Smith & Wesson, Colt could not begin development of bored-through revolver cylinders for metallic cartridge use until April 4, 1869. For the design, Colt turned to two of its best engineers: William Mason and Charles Brinckerhoff Richards who had developed a number of revolvers and black powder conversions for the company. Their effort was designed for the United States government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and adopted as the standard military service revolver. Production began in 1873 with the Single Action Army model 1873, also referred to as the "New Model Army Metallic Cartridge Revolving Pistol".

The very first production Single Action Army, serial number 1, thought lost for many years after its production, was found in a barn in Nashua, New Hampshire in the early 1900s. It was chambered in .45 Colt, a centerfire design containing charges of up to 40 grains (2.6 g) of fine-grained black powder and a 255-grain (16.5 g) blunt roundnosed bullet. Relative to period cartridges and most later handgun rounds, it was quite powerful in its full loading.

The Colt Single Action Army revolver, along with the 1870 and 1875 Smith & Wesson Model 3 "Schofield" revolver, replaced the Colt 1860 Army Percussion revolver. The Colt quickly gained favor over the S&W and remained the primary US military sidearm until 1892 when it was replaced by the .38 Long Colt caliber Colt Model 1892, a double-action revolver with swing-out cylinder. By the end of 1874, serial no. 16,000 was reached; 12,500 Colt Single Action Army revolvers chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge had entered service and the remaining revolvers were sold in the civilian market.

The Colt .45 is a famous piece of American history, known as "The Gun That Won the West". The Single Action army is a very popular firearm, even today, and it continues to be produced in various configurations.

IMA considers all of our antique guns as non-firing, inoperable and/or inert. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 921(a)(16) defines antique firearms as all guns made prior to 1899. This law exempts antique firearms from any form of gun control or special engineering because they are not legally considered firearms. No FFL, C&R or any license is required to possess, transport, sell or trade Antique guns. All rifles and muskets sold by IMA that were manufactured prior to 1899 are considered Antiques by the US BATF (United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). Therefore, all of IMA's Antique guns may be shipped to most US States and most U.S. territories.

These antique guns are not sold in "live" condition, and are not tested for the the ability to feed or load any type of cartridge. They are sold as collector's items or as "wall hangers" not for use, and we make no guarantees regarding functionality aside from what is stated in the description. Any attempt at restoring an antique gun to be operational is strongly discouraged and is done so at the risk of the customer. By purchasing an antique gun from IMA you thereby release IMA, its employees and corporate officers from any and all liability associated with use of our Antique guns.

Pre-1899 Manufacture, no licenses required, allowed to ship to most addresses within the United States.