Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is it! Every young "Old West" fans dream: A real Colt Cowboy Six-shooter! This beautiful Colt Frontier Six Shooter SAA (Single Action Army) Revolver has a full length 7 1/2" barrel and lovely Colt hard rubber grips, bearing the iconic Colt "Prancing Pony" on top and U.S. Federal Eagle on the bottom. 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.

The Colt Single action army's "First Generation" of production spanned over 65 years, from 1873 to 1941. During this time, it was very common for worn revolvers to be returned to the Colt factory for restoration and refinishing, and that is exactly what happened with this example. During the early 20th it was returned to the factory, and looks to have had the cylinder, barrel, and grips completely replaced, along with any worn internal components. The gun had a new nickel plated finish applied, and then was returned to the owner, who used it for a time before cleaning it and putting it into storage. It displays much as it would have when it was first returned.

The revolver's serial number is 109660, which dates production to 1885. It has the serial number on the frame, trigger guard, and grip frame, while the replaced cylinder and barrel are unmarked, though they do have some assembly markings on them. 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 7479 marked on the loading gate. It is in full working order and condition, showing fantastic factory restored finish, 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 in the lower left corner. The paper used has the correct Colt Letterhead and bears a raised Colt seal stamp over the signature. It is dated March 12, 1998, and indicates it is a COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER in .44/40 caliber, also known as a Frontier Six Shooter. The gun was made with a Nickel finish, with the barrel length 7 1/2" and the stocks listed as Rubber. The gun was shipped on September 5, 1885 with 10 other guns of the same type to J. P. Moores Sons in New York, New York. This firm was a major distributor of Colt firearms in New York City, and was in business from 1859 until 1888 when the business was sold to Schoverling, Daly & Gales.

The original single line address marking on the top of the barrel, correct for this length of barrel, is still factory crisp:-

The left side of the frame has the Colt patent dates mostly fully legible as well, showing the high level of the refinishing, which would often remove these:

PAT. SEPT.19.1871.
 "  JULY.   2.  --72.
 "  JAN.   19. --75.

We also noted that the frame was stamped with the correct Colt "Prancing Pony" logo on the frame, introduced in 1891, when it was restored in the early 20th century. The there is no marking on the trigger guard, however the barrel is clearly marked COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER 44-40 on the left side, the roll stamped markings used from the 1890s and onwards. The "Frontier Six Shooter" model was almost identical to the .45 "Long Colt" chambered Single Action Army model, except that it was designed for Winchester .44-40 ammunition, also called .44 W.C.F., which was and is a popular "cowboy" ammunition. While some may question why colt made guns chambered for a competitor's cartridge, having a repeating rifle and revolver that took the same ammunition was a big selling point. We have checked the cylinder with a real cartridge and confirmed the caliber.

As this revolver was manufactured in 1885, the original barrel never had an etched panel that read "Colt Frontier Six Shooter", as the serial number range for such marked revolvers was between 45000 and 65000. Revolvers like this were marketed to the civilian frontier market, as the U.S. Cavalry issued the identical model finished in blue.

The revolver is in excellent condition, with the nickel plating still almost fully retained, and the grips are in fantastic shape as well. Mechanically, the action is smooth, with a strong cylinder lock up, and strong main spring. The action has all four clicks, and we did not notice any finicky behavior during cycling, as we often would on a revolver from this time period. Colt definitely did their work well! 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, still showing clear rifling and a mostly bright finish. There is some wear and grooves as well as some light past oxidation and fouling, but overall this is in great shape for a frontier used black powder revolver. The ejector door swings open easily, and the ejector itself works great.

Pistols such as this are extremely difficult to find today at any reasonable price. This factory restored example is just ideal for any Wild West Collection. A great collector's revolver, ready to display along with the original Colt Letter!

Specifications:

Year of Manufacture: 1885
Caliber: .44-40 Winchester
Ammunition Type: Centerfire Cartridge
Barrel Length: 7 1/2 inches
Overall Length: 13 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.