First year '51 Navy prototype

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Judge Menday Coming is the landowner for the Tejas Caballeros range. This is his gun.  He was showing it to some club members a while back and when he got it back, it was jammed, locked up tight with hammer down.  He asked if I could fix it and I said I'd try.  Well, it was a broken bolt leg, and I was able to rework an Uberti bolt to fix it, so he is happy. 

This gun is s/n 11xx and per Colt was made in 1850, but the owner says these were actually made in 1849 and sent out for testing and feedback.  So this gun is 175 years old!!  You can see that the arbor/wedge configuration is different, with the slot at the top of the arbor instead of through the center.  That is why I am calling it a prototype.  I would assume this was a cost-saving modification, easier than cutting a slot through the middle of the arbor.  But it apparently was not a success.  The barrel of course had to have a matching slot a bit higher than subsequent barrels, so if one of these guns ever needed a new barrel, the arbor would also have to be changed.

This particular gun has no finish, but otherwise is in fantastic shape for the age.  The grip frame silver plating is in excellent shape - maybe 90%?.  The grip has about half the finish still on it.  I can't guarantee these are original grips, but they are very thin which I like, and everything else on the gun is original - all matching numbers.  All the markings are perfect.  Look at how crisp the cylinder scene is and check out the condition of the bolt notch and leade, looks brand new!  You can see at the rear of the barrel on top a few small spots of bright blue (looks like charcoal blue). I have a theory, which is that this gun has been used VERY little but at some point lost all its finish in some sort of accident.  It could have been left outside and got rusty, or maybe somebody mistakenly soaked it in vinegar trying to clean it - who knows, but there is no pitting.  There are some dark stains all over the gun.  I think a lot of this is very old dried grease.  There was a lot of black grease inside the action. 

The screw slots are thinner than modern Colts - I don't know when those changed.  It was a very tight fit for my Grace screwdriver.  Fortunately all the screws came out fairly easily.  The Uberti bolt I used needed mainly to have the front pointy ledge thinned down quite a bit so the bolt would rise enough to engage the cylinder notch.  As it is now, there is a bit of play, not "bank vault lockup" but really not bad, no worse than a few of my CAS guns.

I made a video of putting it back together (including not being able to get a screw started for a couple minutes, and I can't edit out the middle with my phone    but the video is nothing special, just like putting together any other gun except for pointing out the odd arbor slot. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI0wqoaBgUc

 

 

I was glad he trusted me with this quite valuable item since I am not a gunsmith, and it was fun working on it and getting it back in working order.  While I was at it I compared the grip to Uberti Navy grips, finding that the change Uberti made to their grip around 2009 makes it much more like the originals (I can only assume that's why they did it).  I will probably do a separate post with pics about that later.

 

 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Nice story but like a lot of owner stories is BS.  Serial number 1 was produced in about September of 1850.  None were produced in 1849.  By the time they got to serial number 1100 it was certainly no prototype.  The notch on the top of the arbor ended at about serial number 1250.  So it is a rare 1st Model Squareback but no prototype.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Yeah, prototype was my word, test guns would be a better word and I guess it sort of was for that feature, because earlier models had the regular slot.

[J-BAR #18287]

Getting an original into working condition is an admirable feat.  Well done.

[Warden Callaway]

Mike Bellevue did a video on the 51s. Pretty exhaustive.  Gets into detail of the early 51s about 10 minute mark.

 

 

[Dapper Dave]

Whatever the story, that's just plain nifty. Stupid question - does the owner ever shoot it?

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

Not a test gun or prototype.

 

But yes, rare as stated above. I believe all had the upside down wedge.

 

Phantom

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

1 hour ago, Dapper Dave said:

Whatever the story, that's just plain nifty. Stupid question - does the owner ever shoot it?

No, not this, although I think it would be shootable.  He has shot some of his cartridge guns.