New (Old) Revolver

[Frenchie]

I've just plunked down half the price on my first for-real SAA style revolver. It's apparently a Mitchell Arms import made by Uberti. It's in .45 Colt and has seen a lot of use. Why buy a used gun with a lot of rounds through it? Because to my way of thinking, it obviously works well - otherwise it would have been shot a few times and either sent in to be fixed or sold off. And because I'm cheap. 

I'll get pics up as soon as I get it home. For now, it's a 5.5" blued barrel with a blued cylinder and color case-hardened frame. The colors are nice, not spectacular but not badly faded either. No rust at all, rifling looks fine, and most importantly the cylinder-barrel gap looks good and the charge holes line up perfectly with the barrel.

There's a fair amount of honest holster wear on the finish, and unfortunately whoever owned it never bothered to get the too-high cylinder bolt down and it has a wide ring through the notches. The finish wear is okay, though, as my persona is someone who shares my general attitude that a gun is, first, supposed to work well, and then if it happens to be pretty, all the better. This one ain't all that pretty, but I expect to find that it shoots like a house afire. I've a box of Winchester cowboy loads to run through it. Hopefully a range report will follow soon after the People's Socialist Democratic Republic of Maryland actually lets me take it home. 

Now I'm looking for a right-hand cross-draw holster to match it, used and a bit worn but still serviceable. Leads appreciated.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Congrats, pard.

Slim

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Congrats!

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[Tjackstephens]

Frenchie, if it is like the Mitchell Arms I have seen in the past, they are indeed well made guns. The only draw back if you can call it that, the cylinders champers are recesses and makes seeing if they are loaded a little difficult. Ima Sure Shot shoots them and she really likes them. Hope you get a lot of service from your new weapon. TJ

[Frenchie]

Thanks, pards. I really am excited about it, a "for-real" close copy of the Peacemaker.

TJack, I guess I'll just have to be careful to load one round, skip one, then load four and not let myself be distracted. Once it's home, I'll see if small notches can be cut into the edges of the cylinder at the charge holes so the rims can be seen.

Matter of fact, I might go fetch it today! 

[Frenchie]

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-size pics. The finish looks better than the pics show, I made them really bright to make details clearer. All the worn finish is on the cylinder and there's that fading around the front sight, which I guess was replaced?

So what's with the doohickey in the hammer? I haven't found anything online about it yet. There's a set screw in the top and it looks like it controls the position of this piece of steel that butts up against a flat place just under the firing pin hole in the frame. I though it was a safety at first, but it's a darned inconvenient one if it is. Is it for adjusting the firing pin's reach?

[Frenchie]

That added part on the hammer was an Uberti invention used on the late 70's and 80s and early 90s models. It is an internal hammer block that is 'supposed' to keep the hammers firing pin striking the primer in case of an accidental dropping of the hammer ala Smith & Wesson hammer safety block.

Oh, okay, then it's a backup for the first or safety notch. Hmmm. I've been playing with the little set screw, trying to see how much movement it allows. I haven't figured out how it works yet. I've already taken the set screw out and managed to get it back in, but I'm leaving it in from now on because it would be SO easy to lose. I guess I'll just leave the thing alone unless it becomes a problem.

[Abilene]

Frenchie, that doo-hickie, often called a hammer-block safety, is not adjustable.  You don't do anything to that tiny setscrew, that is for installing the pieces.   There is linkage that goes down through the hammer to one of the notches.  Supposed to keep the hammer from being able to fall unless the trigger is pulled, or something like that. 

Actually, Uberti still puts that hammer on Cattleman, as sold by Taylors, Stoeger, etc. 

[Frenchie]

Joss, thanks heaps for the link, I am now enlightened! I'll look it over and see if I can't do some or all of those things to make the gun work more smoothly. I may remove the safety, but then, it's not making a nuisance of itself, so for now I'll just leave it alone.

Abilene, thanks to you also for the increase in my knowledge.

Actually, everything works pretty good now and I have no complaints, so I think I might just do a thing or two to increase spring life and leave the rest of it alone. One thing I won't do is mess with the sear, for two reasons: I don't trust myself to not mess it up, and it breaks clean with no creep at all. Why fix what isn't broken?

All you guys are the best, you know

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Frenchie...
The brass trigger guard and back strap may not be OK for NCOWS on your 1873 clone, you may want to check, if not, I may have a steel set you are welcome to if you want to change them.

Bill

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

My "old" SAA clone looks very much like the piece which is the subject matter of this thread.  Mine is in  .357, 4 3/4"barrel, and marked 'REGULATOR'' on top the barrel, and underneath the barrel it says AAINKC MO made in Italy.  I can't detect a year code, but the serial no. is AAO5XX.  The grip frame and trigger guard are brass, with a one piece grip.  The problem is that the profile of the grip is wildly "off" compared to my Colt, A Uberti '51, and Uberti R-Ms.  VTI says it is a Uberti product.

If Frenchie doesn't take that grip frame & trigger guard, I would be interested.

I'm not an authority on NCOWS rules, but I've never heard of any objection to brass grip frames?

[Frenchie]

Interesting, I never even thought that the brass trigger guard/grip frame might not be historically correct.

OC Bill, very kind of you to offer the steel frame. Tell you what, if Sir Charles is still interested, I'll let you two haggle over it. I have a way to make the brass look just like polished, black oxide steel to match the barrel and cylinder finish.

Add: Date code on my Mitchell Arms/Uberti is BB = 1992. Serial number is 96638.