Color-Case Rodeos

[FloraBama Kid]

Any of you gunsmiths ever do a color case job on a USFA Rodeo?

Been shooting Rugers but they are a little too big for my hands. So I've been considering everything from a Stampede to a Remmington to an actual Colt and have decided (after several months of study)  to get a pair of Rodeos. The only down side it that dang matt black finish.

Any ideas on the expense involved with doing a color case finish?

Thanks.

[Caucasian Wingnut]

These are the ones made from Italian parts, but put together in Hartford CT. right? How about seeing if the company can import bare metal pistols that can be case harden over here or if some could be fully done in Italy and then shipped over?

Swamp Yankee

PS I live in CT if you need help on this. Hartford one hour away

[Big Hext Finnigan]

Howdy pard,

Five String and I were visiting about re-finishing the Rodeos before.  I thought they would be good candidates for nickeling, since the finish must be removed before nickeling and all..
Sadly, Five String has stripped enough of them to be firm in his opinion that the metal polishing and finish work to get the Rodeo ready for a finish, other than the matte would exceed any cost savings.

Ask around, but that was true about a year ago.
Adios,

[FloraBama Kid]

These are the ones made from Italian parts, but put together in Hartford CT. right? How about seeing if the company can import bare metal pistols that can be case harden over here or if some could be fully done in Italy and then shipped over?

Swamp Yankee

PS I live in CT if you need help on this. Hartford one hour away

Thought they were homegrown and not imports:

From the USFA web site
"Rodeo® rides into the USFA product line to meet the demand of the SASS enthusiast. The Rodeo® is an affordable, Made in U.S.A. entry into the world of cowboy shooting, giving SASS shooters a choice of a 100% American made product instead of the imported clones so often found at the lower end of the price/quality market."

[RRio]

These are the ones made from Italian parts, but put together in Hartford CT. right? How about seeing if the company can import bare metal pistols that can be case harden over here or if some could be fully done in Italy and then shipped over?

Swamp Yankee

PS I live in CT if you need help on this. Hartford one hour away

All USFAs are totally made in the good ol' USA, and have been for a couple of years now.

[bushman66]

Hello the fire,

Yep, the USFA Rodeos are 100% US made, they are the same as the USFA SAA's without all the finish work.  Turnbull Restorations sells a Rodeo that has been CCH and blued and blows away anything by Colt or USFA (stock).  The Turnbull Cowboys MSRP is $995.  I understand that Turnbull gets his USFA's in the white then does his magic on them...

Bushman

[St. George]

Wholesale on a Colt Single Action Army is about $980.

If you have a friend with an FFL - it'd make more sense than to buy a clone - no matter who produces or customizes it.

If you ever sold it - you'd be selling a Colt - not a look-alike.
Most likely - you'd make money on the deal.

Good Luck.

Scouts Out!

[RRio]

From my understanding, the person that does the CCH for USFA, used to work for Turnbull. From the way my last USFA looks, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. I don't think I could.

[FloraBama Kid]

Got a call today from my gunsmith that has my "new" Rodeos. They went in for an action job and it turned out to be a little more:
One had a timing problem
One had Hammer cocked back to the frame
Both shot 3" left, so the bbl were turned
Ejector housing and ejector rods on both had to be stoned, smothed and blued

Now that the price of the Rodeo has gone up to about $650 retail, I would probably go for the Doug Turnbull SSA and get a "smooth", color case work of art.

But now that these Rodeos are 100%, I'll shoot the @$%^ off them and enjoy every minute of it..

[Micheal Fortune]

Quick note here,

   We are talking about CAS right?  A shooting iron that you are going to put thousands of rounds through on a yearly basis?

   If you're stuck on the color case harden look then I suggest Uberti Cattlemen.  The twins I shoot have the 4 3/4 inch barrel, brass trigger guard and back strap.  Solid walnut grips (no grip screws) with a great finish.

http://www.uberti.com/firearms/1873-sa-cattleman.tpl
   
   They retail around here for about $300.00 and I picked up one on sale for $279 and one for $269.

   They shoot great out of the box and if you are committed a spring and action job would make them that much better, and you can afford to do a lot of work and shooting with the price difference.

   Just a thougt.

[Bigchuck000]

a color case rodeo seems like an awful lot of effort when you could just buy Cimarron or uberti or Navy arms

[Virginia Gentleman]

US Firearms are 100% US made in Hartford, CT.  I guess you could send the gun to get case colored and polish blued.  I would recommend Fords Custom Guns as they can reblue the gun to a 500 grit polish and have the frame and hammer case colored.  Their work is top notch and not as expensive as some of the other companies. Do a google search on Ford's Custom or Ford's Guns.

[LazyK Pejay]

I agree with Mr. Fortune. My 5.5" color case Cattleman is a beaut!

LazyK Pejay

[Virginia Gentleman]

I am a big fan of US Firearms, but for a plinking or competition gun, the Cimarron or Uberti guns are more than adequate.  I have resisted wanting to buy a Rodeo because I know myself, I too will find a way to justify sending it to Ford's to get case colored and re-blued.  This doesn't make sense in that I could just buy a US Finish Cimarron and get the gun at about the same price, but finished the way I wanted it to begin with.

[jiminy criquet]

I imagine you could strip them down and nickel them yourself using a Casswell (sp?) electroless nickel kit.  The smallest kit is well under $100 and will easily do two revolvers.  On a revolver such as that the nickel would come out with a slightly 'orange peel' look to it, i.e. slightly 'bumpy' ....but that would just make it look more authentic, IMHO.

The bone case color hardening involves encasing the pieces in bone charcoal, heating them to cherry red, then quenching the works in water.  I would hesitate to try it myself on a real Colt, but on a cheaper revolver I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it if I ruined it in the process
Who knows ...a 'homemade' bone case color hardening job on such a revolver with a rough finish may turn out looking pretty cool...and 'authentic' for a 100+ year old revolver.

I'm getting ready to experiment with bone case color hardening right now ...I'm waiting for the clay box (which will contain everything during the heating/quenching process) to dry so I can bisque fire it.  I was also thinking that one could probably forego the clay 'wrap' and wrap the works up in a heat treating foil....which is something I'll have to look in to.

Another idea would be to wrap the works up in Playboy photos (potters use Playboy photos to wrap raku pottery as the colors in the ink transfer to the pottery during firing) and then dip the works in a high fire clay such as Satanite.  That might also turn out pretty cool looking ...a bone charcoal/Playboy ink case color hardening

[Virginia Gentleman]

It would be wise to polish the bead blasted surface to about 320 grit or 400 before trying to case color the frame as it will look more authentic.  The other parts could be polished and reblued in house if polished to 400 grit and then either rust blued or Belgian blued.  If you can boil water you can do Belgian bluing.  I would then Nitre blue all the small parts.

[jiminy criquet]

Here's an example of charcoal bluing I did yesterday.  The knife is forged from an 'HC' marked railroad spike, with a bronze inlay (OK, I did the inlay because there was a big 'ol pecker mark on the blade ).  As you can see, the blade has been epoxied and pinned to the antler handle with a nickel/silver pin, and the charcoal bluing has been sanded off the tang and the tang roughed up in preparation for the poured pewter bolster.  The antler handle has also been recessed in order to 'lock in' the poured pewter bolster.

Notice how the charcoal bluing appears dark blue from a distance, but in the correct light one can see many colors similar to a case color hardening (which by the way is done in a somewhat similar manner to the charcoal bluing i.e. the charcoal imparting its mineral elements to the steel during the process.)  Much nicer than the cold blue chemicals...and unlike the chemicals, leaves the bronze inlay unchanged.

(Oh, and supposedly this is very similar to the method that was once used by Smith & Wesson ...a likely story, eh? )

Thanks for looking.