1851 London Navy

[Blackpowder Burn]

A friend of mine I call "Magpie" (he buys any bright, shiny gun he finds) recently acquired for me an original 1851 Colt London Navy.  While the gun has clearly been refinished at some point (no case hardened finish evident, all blue), it is clearly an original London Navy in pristine condition. All serial numbers match (even the barrel wedge) and it is in the middle of the serial number range for the London Navies.  It has all the proper proof marks.  The barrel is slightly pitted, but in overall excellent condition.  The action is tight and has obviously been tuned by someone that shot it quite a lot. Also evident is the front sight being filed to regulate point of impact.  In all, an outstanding specimen for a very modest acquisition price.  I'd love to know how it found it's way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana over the last 167 years.

I've just received a new set of Treso nipples that should fit the gun and am anxious to replace the originals (badly mushroomed) and run a few rounds through the old girl.  My "magpie" buddy is also an outstanding carpenter and built the display box in the photo for me, as well as having the plaque printed.

[Abilene]

Excellent!

[45 Dragoon]

Yes, very nice!!

Mike

[Tascosa Joe]

Really Cool old Lady.

[Blackpowder Burn]

Well, I gave the Navy to Alan Harton to address a couple of minor mechanical issues - new nipples, tighten barrel/cylinder gap and tighten cylinder to arbor fit.  Then we re-casehardened her.  Here's how she looks now.  And on top of that is a photo of a group I shot with her offhand at about 20 yards.  The only non-original part is a new hammer spring. I'm darned impressed with this 168 year-old example of Sam Colt's hardware!

[LonesomePigeon]

Looks good! Nice shooting too. The color case looks to be real bone charcoal. I am wondering how long the job took from the time you sent it to the time you got it back?

[Blackpowder Burn]

Yes, that is real bone/charcoal - wouldn't do anything else for this old lady!

The gunsmithing and prep for case hardening was done by Alan Harton of Single Action Service in Houston.  The case hardening was done by John Powers in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Everything took a total of about 2 months.  It depends primarily on how much backlog Alan has.