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Posted: 5/31/2012 7:03:50 PM EDT
A friend of mine brought this to me in an attempt to ID. History is, this handgun was found by his father in law while doing some excavation on his property about 40 years ago. I went over it with a bright light and magnifying glass. The only thing I could find was "1873" stamped on the left side of the frame. The topstrap has been welded along with several other areas. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Besides wanting to know what it is, is there any value besides being a paperweight/conversation piece?
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It was a black powder frame so it would be pre-1898 "antique" per U.S. law. No need for any paperwork.
It appears to have been blown up, the top strap is welded where it came apart from the frame. The cylinder was replaced probably because the original was blown to pieces... probably from an overload of smokeless powder. The firing pin is not original. The triggerguard shows a casting seam so it does not belong to this gun. Colt SAA did not have a cast triggerguard.. or any cast parts. Actually, the triggerguard appears to have no rust so I think it's POT METAL. That would help date this... whatever it is. Whoever did the "repair" (term used very loosely) had initiative but little skill. It looks like a gun that came out of Mexico or the Philippines. A very crude attempt to make it functional after it was destroyed. There's another possibility that I hesitate to bring up.... that this revolver was "fixed" by a black man. There is an obsolete term used to describe this that I'll have to let the reader come to terms with... but I see that as a very real possibility in this case. This gun shows a level of desperation in it's history. Somebody was very desperate to have this gun functional when it was, in reality, damaged beyond rational use. If I could hold this gun in my hands I could do a Vulcan mindmeld  .
It has "paperweight" value... next to none except as a curiosity. It would be more interesting to know WERE it was found. "Excavated" could mean somebody dropped it down the hole in the outhouse and 100 yrs later it was uncovered during that excavation. If the cylinder turns when the hammer is cocked it would ~appear~ to function as a slip gun. In olden times there were some gunfighters who tied back the trigger so that the hammer could be thumbed back and released thus firing the gun and it could be done very fast. Usually the hammer spur was lowered to make this function easier to manipulate. I'm not saying that's the case here but that this gun COULD STILL FIRE without a trigger. That it has even a crude firing pin tells me it was intended to be fired. If it had NO firing pin or was otherwise made "safe" I might think it was put together for some kid to play with long ago. I just noticed it has NOTCHES on the grip panels. Woo Hoo! That adds at least $25 to the value  .
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| It was found in North West/Central PA. I wonder why someone would grind even the front sight off? The cylinder will wiggle a little, but I'm not messing with it since it's not mine. The hammer does not cock at all, but does spring down. I'm thinking the same thing that it might have been some kid's toy after it's useful life. |
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There should be 3 screws in the frame. There are only 2 showing. This may be a Belgian copy.
I don't think it was a toy. The firing pin tells me this. The hammer spur does look lower than a Colt SAA. Shortened or modified at least. But the 2 screw frame says it is not a Colt. There are other numbers in front of the 873 showing.... ? A slip gun with no trigger: sometimes the front sight was removed to allow quicker draw. See "Sixguns" by Elmer Keith. Does the cylinder rotate when the hammer is thumbed back? Dutch |
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Actually you can see there is no ratchet on the end of the cylinder so there's no way it could rotate.
The only "internal" parts on a Colt are the hammer/sear interaction, the hand that rotates the cylinder and the cylinder bolt that locks the cylinder in place. I'm looking at Belgian and other copies of the Colt SAA. Dutch |
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