USFA Catalogs

[what would you say]

Na

[Buckaroo Lou]

I received an email today that my 2005 catalogue is in the mail. It will be the first USFA catalogue I have ever seen other than what use to be on their website.

[GaryG]

The 2005 catalog was the last full run of USFA catalogs.  There was a run of two thousand 2006 catalogs that were brought to the Shot Show.  They were very similar to the 2005.  A couple of different pages and a different cover.   After that, catalogs were printed at the factory on a color copier.  Not a very high quality item.  2008 or 2009 was probably the last year of the catalogs.

When the 2005 catalog came out there was a picture of a USFA revolver with "45 Colt" on the barrel.  Apparently, this was a no no back then and other than the few that got shipped out, the remainder ended up in my garage.  Eventually, whole boxes (100/box) were shipped out to various dealers.

[RVK]

I just wanted to add some information regarding the 2005 USFA catalog.  On page 18 you will see a photograph of a pair of Henry Nettleton revolvers.  Those are mine.  When I ordered them in 1999 I asked USFA who photographed their 1998 catalog.  It was Michael Sundra of Sundra Photography whose studio was in the same building at 55 Van Dyke Ave, Hartford, CT.  I called Michael and asked him if he could photograph my revolvers, before they were shipped back to me, in the same historical theme as the other revolvers he photographed for the catalog.  He said he would and I commissioned and paid him for the work.  The result was incredible; a pair of sequentially serial numbered HR revolvers photographed at the USFA factory 'under the Blue Dome' just as they might have appeared back in 1878.  Michael did an excellent job of photography.  I was then very surprised when in 2004 and 2005 that same photograph showed up in the USFA catalog and on their website too.   I still have those revolvers today, unfired and unturned in their original factory boxes just as I received them from USFA. The case hardening on these revolvers was done by Turnbull Mfg. Co. in Bloomfield, New York.

[Pettifogger]

If I am remembering correctly that 2005 catalog was absolutely gorgeous.  I wish I hadn't lost mine.

[RVK]

Thank you "what would you say" for the scan of the USFA catalog. I contacted Michael Sundra at www.sundra.com and received permission to post a digital image of the original photograph that he took of my revolvers in 1999, that appeared in the the 2004 and 2005 USFA catalog. Note: The photograph has been cropped and is a reduced resolution from the original negative. The 1998 catalog is what I consider to be the best catalog that USAF ever produced.  It was the best work they ever did in advertising. It was the reason I purchased four of their revolvers, which included an 1851 Richards-Mason Conversion. One of the most beautiful revolvers they ever made.

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

RVK,
I, too, have one of the 1851 conversions.  I was told by the folks at USFA that "less than 35" were made.   I had a presentation case made for it (www.billscases.com) and it is the centerpiece of my USFA collection.
CJF