Uberti 1851 London model: three or four screw?

[Riot Earp]

Taylor's website shows a Uberti 1851 London Navy with a three screw frame (i.e. not cut for shoulder stock). Cimarron's website, however, shows this same model with a four-screw frame. Are these guns being made in two different configurations? I want a three-screw model, if they're still being made. Problem is, customer service rarely knows details such as this. Has anyone seen this model recently?

[Flint]

I looked it up, in Nathan L. Swayze's book "'51 Colt Navies".  Some 1851s  were cut for a shoulder stock, but they were not very popular, and the production was ended at some point, although Colt never wasted parts, so some (real) 51s are out there with frames cut for a stock, but with a standard uncut brass backstrap, rather than the notched iron backstrap required for the clamp.

There is a slight reference to the London cut for a shoulder stock, but no pictures of any, and it would seem unlikely many were produced. 

Actually, Uberti notwithstanding, not many 1861 Navies were either.

I have an Uberti London, it is not cut for a shoulder stock.

[Riot Earp]

What year did you buy the London? I wonder if the four-screw frame is a recent change.

How's the quality?

[Flint]

Bought it about 2 years ago, it is an Uberti, not labeled Cimarron.  If the Uberti site shows no shoulder stock cuts, I would presume they don't have them.  If Cimarron does show it, they may have ordered a lot made that way, or just photographed one that was cut that way.  I wouldn't want it, and if I ordered it, I would ask before they shipped it to make sure.

[Riot Earp]

Uberti's site doesn't show the London. Taylor's, Midway, and Dixie all show it with a three-screw frame. Only Cimarron shows the fourth screw and the recoil shield cutouts. I'll call Taylor's on Monday, but I really doubt they'll have an answer. Someone will have to search their inventory to make sure. I prefer the steel gripframe to the brass.

[Flint]

Original London Navies, with few exceptions, had iron gripframes, and Uberti made 1851 Londons have steel gripframes, and the word "London" stamped atop the barrel.  I personally have never seen a repro London 4-screw, other than Cimarron's picture.

The brass framed original Colt 51 Navies with shoulder stock cut frames, but brass gripframes were, as indicated in the research books, reflected Colt's habit to never waste a part, so they used parts from discontinued models on production guns until they were gone.

This habit even carried into the 20th Century, where you find seconds, or reject parts being polished up real pretty to be used in the Commemorative Models, supposedly because they would be collected, not fired.

[Riot Earp]

Thanks, Flint. I changed my mind and special ordered an 1861 Navy "Civilian" from Taylor's (see my avatar). It has the three-screw frame, no cutouts, and a brass backstrap and triggerguard. I'll get a steel backstrap and triggerguard from VTI. I decided I preferred the 1861.

P.S. Regarding my ROA: I sent you an e-mail