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Original 1860 Colt Army 44 cal revolvers..need help


Sidewinder Bill

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For Christmas my father-in-law gifted both his original 1860 Colt Army's that were his fathers pride & joy. I have a great father in law! He used them last in the 1960's. I am trying to identify them and get more detail. I have no experience with revolvers of this type. Both my father in law and his father were born in Texas and presume the guns emanated from there. The butt end of one appears to have been used as a hammer. :( With the other one the serial number is still readable. With both...the barrel, stock, cylinder and butt (one at least) serial numbers all match. Everything appears original. 2 missing screws at the trigger area on one (the other does not have the screws at all) and the one is missing a pin holding the rod under the barrel. Any help on these guns or a good source for research would be great! Hope all my cowboy family had a great Christmas like I did! :D Hope the photos come through... SWB

 

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/SidewinderBill4/library/1860%20Colt%20Army

Edited by Sidewinder Bill
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Just generally speaking, without sitting down with you and the guns to address separately, what you have are two different versions of the same gun. One is a "Civilian" Model 1860, it has no provision for the shoulder stock screws. You also have a martial version, although the shoulder stock screws are missing. Many folks removed them because they scratched their fingers. One of your guns has an odd, non-OEM gripframe screw in it. I would hope the flaky screw is at least the correct thread. You may also have one gun with a loading lever not original to the gun, you may also be missing the spring to the loading lever latch and your missing one cross pin to retain the latch and spring in the loading lever. It would appear once gun has a bad cylinder locking bolt.

 

ALL of the missing and or miss-matched parts are out there. You may wish to chase actual antique parts (very available) to maintain the original appearance or there are new manufacture reproduction parts available.

 

I suggest you spend sometime on the Colt forum(s). There are sufficient collectors and shooters of Colt Cap Guns, restoring your should be no problem. A little expensive, but no real insurmountable problems for the parts you need.

 

Coffinmaker

Edited by Colorado Coffinmaker
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Keep 'em (it)...

 

Don't put a price on yore heritage. If all heck breaks loose... that heirloom... will be big money. In times of crisis... ANY gun... will be better... than... NO GUN. In most catastophic instances... "collectibles"... become more so.

 

Besides... I gotta coupla lupara's... from my ancestrial folks... given to me by my Dad before he passed. Why would want to regret the give-away?

 

Justa... FYI... for ya....

 

Somethin' to ponder, friend... don't take it to heart.

 

ts

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I'll trade you my pair of pietta 60s straight up! I'll even throw in an extra set of 5 1/2" barrels for them! You pay shipping.

Wow the stories that they could tell, I have my great grandpa's krag-Jorgensen rifle and I'll never part with it.

Rafe

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You have a very Nice Father inlaw !

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Thank you for the information Coffinmaker...these will stay in the family. Just want to do some research and get information for my father-in-law and he hopes I get them to a point where they can be used at least one more time...as does my son where they will go next!

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Thank you for the information Coffinmaker...these will stay in the family. Just want to do some research and get information for my father-in-law and he hopes I get them to a point where they can be used at least one more time...as does my son where they will go next!

 

Get a factory letter from Colt.

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There are a number of web sites that will list serial numbers for Colt pistols, including percussion types. A call to Colt might be in order to determine if they have any information on yours. Replacing missing or incorrect parts will do no harm. It might be worth your while to have them appraised for insurance purposes.

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If you GOOGLE Colt 1860 Army Parts, you'll find several sites with original parts and reproduction parts. Returning your guns to a serviceable state should not be very difficult..

 

There is no reason not to replace missing or warn parts. Shooting the old war horses will be major fun

 

Coffinmaker

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IF you get the notion to fire them ...

and unless my memory has turned entirely to sawdust ...

The originals were choke bored with a gain twist.
Bore diameter at the barrel breech is larger than at the muzzle.

Rifling started out straighter at the breech and twisted faster the closer to the muzzle.

This results in two things:

1) You start out with a round ball and end up with a bullet, and

2) You have a phenomenally accurate pistola!

An old and dear friend of mine has one he bought as a boy, he shot the daylights out of it, still has it, won't part with it (yes I tried!)

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