U.S. Patent Firearms & U.S.F.A. Percussion Revolvers

[drjldavis]

I am posting a letter that I wrote to U.S.F.A. I have never received a reply.  Maybe some of the members of this forum can help me fill in the blanks about these revolvers.


November 2, 2007

Dear Sir:

My name is Dr. Jim L. Davis.  I am the Founder and President of the Replica Percussion Revolver Collector's Association.  The purpose of this organization is to promote interest in the collecting of modern production, replica, blackpowder, percussion revolvers as used in the Civil War and on the early Western Frontier. The association is now twelve years old with an international membership approaching one thousand members. This association manages the largest collection of replica black powder revolvers in the world.  Our Web Site is located at:    http://rprca.tripod.com  This Web Site has received over 550,000 hits since its introduction to the internet.

We have been researching the modern manufactured percussion revolvers for the past twelve years in anticipation of publishing a collector's guide for the many collectors of these revolvers.  Indeed, our research has shown that the collecting of replica percussion revolvers is one of the fastest growing areas of firearms collector interest.  The major block to the growth of their collecting is the lack of information concerning the many different manufacturers and importer/distributors that marked their guns, and the different models each produced and marketed.  We are in the final stages of producing the first edition of the guide and are attempting to verify the information we have.  Since U.S. Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, now U.S. Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company is a major player we would like to have as accurate information as possible for our book.  I have emailed the company in the past with very little success of obtaining this information.  I even talked with your president at the Shot Show in Las Vegas, Nevada a few years back as well as on the phone.  We are now at the deadline stage of publication and need your help.

We are in possession of the First Edition of your catalog but it is without a date so we are not sure when U.S. Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company was organized.  We also have the Dallas Shot Show announcements and price lists for 1996. The copyright date on an instruction booklet is 1994.

We also have specimens of the following revolvers.

1.   1860 Army with stag grips – Serial Number 5197, fitted with two piece stag grips.  NIB with original papers.  Originally sold to Harry DeGeorge.  Marked   -ADDRESS U.S. PATENT  HARTFORD CT.  U.S. AMERICA -  (Top Barrel)  U.S. Patent  (LtSd Frame) 
2.   1851 Navy – Serial Number 130988.  NIB with Sleeve and original papers.  Instruction booklet bears copyright date of 1994.   Marked   -ADDRESS U.S. PATENT  HARTFORD CT.  U.S. AMERICA -  (Top Barrel)
3.   1851 3rd Model Dragoon in the white– Serial Numbers 1960 & 1961. NIB with original wrappings.  Marked Under loading lever: (Italian Proof Marks in front of) CAL 44 BLACK POWDER ONLY - A. UBERTIITALY.   Very small lettering and very faint.

Information we seek is as follows:

1.   What year was U.S. Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company actually established.  Who was the President?  Are back issues of you catalogs and literature available?
2.   We are aware, by second hand information, that Colt did not like your name and you were forced to change it to U.S. Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company.  What are the true details?  Was there a legal action that could be verified on the internet?  This is of historical interest as well as the establishment of collectability and value of guns marked with the original name of the company.  Were any percussion revolvers produced with the new name?
3.   In the beginning you used Uberti parts and completed revolvers in your manufacture, but they were finished and reworked by you(same as Colt did continuously).  Since we have two Uberti Dragoons in the white in original U.S. Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Co. boxes we assume this to be true. 
4.   Are their any records of the number of different models that were actually made and sold?  Your 1st Edition Catalog show sixteen (16) different models, the same as what was produced by Uberti.  How many models did you actually produce and sell?  These numbers are extremely important in establishing potential collectability and value.
5.   Did Uberti grant you special serial number ranges for your revolvers?  The 1851 Navy with a 130988 serial number suggests that it did not as does the 1860 Army with a 5197 serial number.  The consecutive serial numbers on the two 1851 3rd Model Dragoons also suggest this.  We know that Uberti has always been notorious in their serial numbering of percussion revolvers.  Indeed, we have observed Uberti revolvers made for different importers/distributors with the same number.  This makes it impossible to speculate anything based on serial numbers in these guns.  Only you can provide accurate information as to the actual number of models produced and sold, and their serial numbering.
6.   The only revolvers that we have been made aware of by collectors and shooters on your own forums and other sources suggest that the only models ever observed were the 1851 Navy, 1860 Army, and the 1851 3rd Model Dragoon.  Are there others?  How many?

U.S. Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company has already established itself as a major player in the manufacture of historic firearms of the highest quality and it is for this reason that this information be shared with the firearms fraternity.  Since you no longer produce the percussion revolvers it is even more important that this history be documented before all is totally lost.  The sharing of this information will most certainly establish the percussion revolvers with your markings among the most desirable to acquire and the most valuable. 

Thank you for your help,

Dr. Jim L. Davis