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 .45cal has a "gunfighter friendly" original short 4 ¾" barrel and lovely worn Colt hard rubber grips, bearing the iconic Colt "Prancing Pony" on top and U.S. Federal Eagle on the bottom. Original blued from the factory, it now shows a worn oxidized patina overall. This definitely looks to be an example that saw long use on the frontier, with parts replaced over the years, giving it an impossible to duplicate look!

The revolver's serial number is 96072, which dates production to 1883. It has the serial number on the frame, trigger guard, and grip frame, while the cylinder and barrel are unmarked, or the markings have been worn away. Colt had stopped marking the cylinders in 1883, mostly due to how often they wore away, and they did not start these markings again until 1912. There is also assembly number 2817 marked on the loading gate. It is in full working order and condition, showing a gorgeous worn patina of age, 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 April 19, 2024, indicating it is a COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER, with the caliber listed as .45/c and finish listed as Blue. The barrel length and type of stocks are Not Listed, however as noted towards the bottom of the letter, the standard configuration for the time would have been a 7 ½" barrel with walnut stocks, so this revolver is now in a very different configuration from what it was ordered in. The gun was sold to the United States Government, shipped on August 3, 1883 with 150 other guns in the same configuration, with the recipient listed as the U.S. Government Inspector located at the Colt plant.

After that it saw long use, and was fitted with a replacement 4 3/4" barrel, which still bears the original double line address marking on the top of the barrel, correct for this length of barrel:-

The left side of the frame has the Colt patent dates still faintly present, having been mostly worn down from cleaning and use. Close examination with a magnifier shows that the bottom two lines are very faintly present, while the top line only retains a few letters:-

[PA]T. S[EPT.19.1871.]
 "  JULY.   2.  --72.
 "  JAN.   19. --75.

These are the early 2nd pattern markings, and this was made before the "Prancing Pony" logo began appearing on the frame in 1891. As it was sent to the government, it should have a "U.S." next to the paten markings, but given the amount of wear, it was probably worn away. The trigger guard is marked with 45CAL on the left side, while the replaced barrel is roll stamped 45 COLT. on the left side, and we have also checked the cylinder and barrel with real cartridges to confirm the chambering. This revolver is definitely chambered for .45 Colt, also known as .45 "LONG" Colt, one of the most legendary handgun cartridges of the old west. When you hear people talk of a "Colt 45", this model gun is the reason why. The marking on the left side of the barrel also verifies that it was replaced with a later barrel, as it was not until the 1890s that Colt started roll stamping the caliber on the barrels.

The revolver has the great worn look that only use in service can give, showing some evidence of peppering on the exterior, as well as some past pitting on areas of the barrel and cylinder. These are consistent with being in a leather holster for long periods of time, which tends to attack the areas that are in closer contact with the chemicals in the leather, such as the cylinder and end of the barrel. The Colt hard rubber grips have a lovely worn look, with the checkering still easily apparent, as well as the designs on the top and bottom.

Mechanically, the action is smooth, with a good cylinder lock up, and strong mainspring. The action has all four clicks, and cycles correctly, though there is definitely some slop in the mechanics due to wear. The loading position is present, but the cylinder can move back and forth on the base pin quite a bit. We also noticed that occasionally the hand will get stuck, requiring the cylinder to be removed so that the hammer can cycle fully. 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 revolver can still be easily taken down by removing the cylinder base pin, though we did note that the base pin bearing is rust seized in the cylinder, as we often see. The bore is in very good condition, showing a partly bright finish with clear lands and grooves. There is definitely overall wear, as well as past fouling and oxidation, so this revolver definitely looks to have seen a good amount of use during its service life, enough to put this much wear on even a replacement barrel. The spring loaded ejector is still present, and works well, though we did note that on the bottom it is nickel plated, so it was also swapped out.

Pistols such as this are extremely difficult to find today at any reasonable price. This honest worn example is just ideal for any Wild West Collection, especially with the long history! A great collector's revolver, ready to display!

Specifications:

Year of Manufacture: 1883
Caliber: .45 "Long" Colt
Ammunition Type: Centerfire Cartridge
Barrel Length: 4 3/4 inches
Overall Length: 10 1/4 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.