My 1st USFA, what do I have?

[King Medallion]

Won the gun, USFA Pre War Black Powder Frame, and now that I have it in hand I'm able to take a few pic's to show and get more knowledgeable answers to what it is I have. I have asked over at the Colt Forum and seems the general guess is it's a parts gun. The main oddity seems to be the serial number, 113840. Is it from a special run? Or a coincidence of the caliber (38/40)? I found on flaw by the loading gate, an obvious opps.
Help me learn.

[Hair Trigger Jim]

Whatever it is, it's pretty!  And the cereal number is great!

[Buckaroo Lou]

Remove the cylinder and open the loading gate and take a photo where the loading gate stud fits into the frame so we can see if the hole is triangular or rectangular. Take a photo of the ejector shroud cam at the front of the ejector shroud where the ejector rod cams away from the barrel to see if it is the long or short cam. Take a photo of the firing pin to see if it is cone shaped or concave. The checkering on the hammer looks to be cast and not cut so based on that alone indicates an Italian hammer. Cylinders are sometimes a little difficult to tell unless you have a USA part to compare with, but I think the flutes are too pointed and not round enough.

The only person I know that could explain the serial number would be Gary Granger if he sees this thread.

[King Medallion]

Hope these help, I'll admit to not knowing too many techy terms, so hopefully these are what your looking for. The hammer and firing pin pic's are already above.

[Buckaroo Lou]

For the loading gate pivot stud look here: https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=55098.0

The ejection shroud cam looks to be the short one which means Italian parts.

There is no photo of the firing pin. The hammer has to be cocked to see it.

Your box is one of the early boxes that have the two haves hinged. That too can indicate an Italian parts gun. The later USA parts gun boxes had a separate lid from the box body with a cardboard sleeve that slipped over the entire box. 

I am thinking you have an Italian parts revolver, but it is an exceptionally nice revolver that you should be proud of, and hopefully an excellent shooter as well.

[King Medallion]

Ha! The hammer pic's I posted on the Colt forum, my bad.

[King Medallion]

Here are the pic's of the hammer and firing pin. I still am unclear where your talking about the loading gate part. It appears to be an Italian parts gun, and that's OK! Either way it seems to be something of a rarity, what with the caliber and serial number? Coincidence? I thank everyone who helped identify this gun. It's been a learning experience for sure that will help me on my next USFA!

[Coffinmaker]

Hey there KING 

To begin with, you have a really fine Revolver.  Nothing to be concern'd with at all.

The Hammer and Firing Pin as shown are Italian Parts as is the Ejector Rod Housing.  No reason not to believe it is built from Italian Parts.  USFA took Italian parts in the white and turn'd 'em into really FINE guns.  Folks also forget, when USFA began to make their won parts, they copied the previous Italian parts so an ALL US parts gun has exactly the same overall dimensions as the prior guns.

Oft, Collectors get all Wudge wudgy over the difference between Italian parts USFA and US parts USFA.  In the bigger picture, the only people who care where the parts came from are Collectors who don't even shoot their toys.  Log view, matters not if an Italian parts gun or US parts, as their all the exact same dimensions and doesn't have anything to do with how well the guns shoot.

Yours does have a little too much steel inna barrel though.  Near three inches too much.  That can be fix'd though   

[Buckaroo Lou]

I still am unclear where your talking about the loading gate part.

After you remove the cylinder, with the loading gate open and the barrel pointed away from you look down from the top with your revolver slightly tilted to the left at where the loading gate pivot stud fits into the frame and you will see either a small triangular shaped hole or a slightly larger rectangular shaped hole right where the pivot stud and frame meet. If it is rectangular shaped, then USA frame and if triangular then Italian frame.

And I agree with Coffinmaker. You have a very nice revolver to enjoy for years to come.

[Black River Smith]

King,

Look at the two pictures in this link.  https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=55098.0
Jahoody has very good pictures of what is and is not USFA (correctly abbreviated this time, HA HA).  The two photos are the loading gate cut-outs for Uberti's and USFA's.  This is also the third (3rd) sticky above in the USFA CSS Forum section.

Also go back to this link that I posted previously in your other posting about the USFA's.   https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=57348.0
Buckaroo Lou's photos of Ejector housing and cylinder flutings are still present showing Uberti vs USFA down in Reply #15.

[King Medallion]

Ah, I see it now!

[Graveyard Jack]

In the bigger picture, the only people who care where the parts came from are Collectors who don't even shoot their toys.

Not true at all. I care because the USA-made guns are better made guns, by a wide margin. The USPFA guns look like better finished Uberti's because that's what they are. The domestic guns have far superior machining, tighter tolerances, smoother actions and better polishing.

[LonesomePigeon]

The very early USPFA had a hammer block safety.
At some point they changed to a traditional non-safety hammer with a concave firing pin. I'm not sure if this took place while they were still USPFA or if it was after they changed to USFA.
Finally they went to a non-safety traditional hammer with a cone shaped firing pin. From what I understand the cone shaped firing pin is more difficult to manufacture.

The cylinders also went through changes. Early ones were Italian and had pointy flutes. Then they were Italian cylinders but the flutes were redone in the USA to a more rounded, historically correct shape. Finally the cylinders were manufactured completely in the USA with rounded flutes.