Brass hardware legal?

[Will Pluggum]

I'm  thinkin on buying a used EMF Dakota Marshall, .357 mag.  This 1873 SAA colt copy has a brass trigger guard and brass grip frame (I think, not sure on the grip frame).  I know during the Civil war the Confederacy used some brass on revolvers but I don't know for a  fact that brass hardware was actually used in the later old west cartridge guns.  Is this gun legal for NCOWS competition?  For that matter, do you know of any CAS comptition it's NOT legal for?   

[Will Ketchum]

First yes they are legal.  The Colt cap & ball revolvers had brass grip frames and trigger guards.  The Confederate guns you are thinking of also had brass frames.  As far as I know no one is producing a brass framed cartridge gun.  The The Dakotas only have  brass GRIP frames and trigger guards.

Many don't like the look so they use Brass Black on them.  But they are legal.

Will Ketchum

[Dutch Limbach]

I'll second what Will said. I bought one last Fall as a back up for my Remingtons using conversion cylinders. Ol' GW gave me a hard time about the brass trigger guard, but if you've ever met GW you'd know he isn't happy unless he is giving someone a hard time.

[Paper Chaser]

I'm with Will. I checked the EMF catalog and they say the Marshal features "... a polished brass backstrap and triggerguard ...".  So, what the heck, let 'er rip!  If they shoot anything like my GW II Californians then you'll smile every time you squeeze the trigger.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

As mentioned, they're legal.  I also believe that Colt never made an 1873 with a brass grip frame, but I could be wrong.  The Army model 1860 has a brass trigger guard and front of the grip frame, but the back strap was steel or iron.  The civilian model, however, had a brass trigger guard and gripframe.  As you mentioned,some of the Confederate guns have brass frames, due to metal (steel/iron) shortage.

Personally, I think the brass gripframe looks very cool!  Even if it's not very authentic.

[Frenchie]

Colt at least was pretty acommodating about special requests and I wouldn't be surprised if someone asked for and got a brass trigger guard and/or backstrap on a revolver that normally had steel ones. I have an affinity for the metal - it's decorative and classy and I prefer to keep mine nice and shiny. Not surprising, I guess, being a former squid and reenacting a Regular Army private - both require lots of polishing brass items. I have a small jar of something called jeweler's rouge that literally puts a mirror finish on brass.

[St. George]

"NCOWS Legal" questions aside - there's one thing to think about and that's the fact that brass stretches...

Brass is a lot softer than the later steel backstraps used by Colt.

Colt only put brass triggerguards and backstraps on their percussion revolvers.
Apparently - it proved too soft for the later cartridge guns - though it was easier to work.
As such - you see them properly on the various Conversions as well as the earlier revolvers.

Any special ordering usually featured plating and/or engraving - not replacement of steel parts with those of an inferior metal.

You're using a .357 Magnum, and there's always a tendency to shoot stout loads in those.

Maybe someday - looking at steel replacement parts might become necessary as your screw holes oval out.

Some of those Confederate revolvers were made of "the church bells of Macon, Georgia" and a couple of other sources - as a wartime emergency measure - not as a preferred metal.
As such - their alloy was far harder than regular brass.

Good Luck.

Scouts Out!

[Cuts Crooked]

Isn't there some evidence that some cartridge Colts were retro fitted with grip frames from 51s or 60s? Seems like I recall reading this at some point....that some "shootist" types prefered the shape/feel of the grip frames from the older guns and had thier guns altered this way!?!?!

[St. George]

I think the "shootist type" you're referring to was Elmer Keith.

He mentions it in the book -  "Sixguns" - and about every other place where he talked about modifying Colt revolvers.

The backstrap and triggerguard of the 1851 Navy and 1860 Army will fit one another's frames.
Not too surprising, all in all - since Colt wanted ease of manufacture.

Some of the "newer" gun writers also mention doing this for personal comfort - but as far as someone actually doing it during the period of issue/usage - nothing has come to light.

Scouts Out!

[Cuts Crooked]

Yeah, that's likey where I picked that up. Hard to tell though, this thing on top of my shoulders that's 'sposed ta function as a my hard drive has run outta room I think!