Colt New Service .455 orig now 45 Colt (pics added 2nd Response)

cpt dan blodgett · October 08, 2020, 05:45:40 PM

My loving wife gave me an envelope today she had in her office. Inside was the Colt Letter for my Colt New Service I acquired probably 2 years ago. The gun came with a certificate that it had been used in the movies. The colt letter dated Jan 2019 (either post office really screwed up or it has been laying around the house 22 months) states the guns is .455 and was one of 500 shipped to London Armory Company July 13, 1915. I expect it must have crossed the channel but one never knows. One wishes these old guns could talk what a tale many could tell.

Major 2 · October 08, 2020, 07:15:27 PM

Looking forward to the photo's

cpt dan blodgett · October 08, 2020, 08:29:26 PM

As requested

Silver Creek Slim · October 08, 2020, 09:00:52 PM

Very nice.

Slim

Major 2 · October 09, 2020, 01:33:14 AM

Oh Yeahhhhhh!

Tascosa Joe · October 09, 2020, 07:50:33 AM

Nice, I love New Services

smoke · October 21, 2020, 04:41:06 PM

Very nice! I have a 1915 built one also. Originally a .455 but reamed to .45 Colt. Mine has a London Proof House proof on it. Is yours English proofed?

Baltimore Ed · October 27, 2020, 11:58:30 AM

While we're having a NS moment here's my small collection. A couple of unaltered .455s on top[need to sell them], a 7.5 and 4.5 in .38-40 on the bottom [my favorites], a pair of .38 spcls [second favorite] and a .455 rebated to .45lc on the right with stags-it has a WW1 provenance. The short bbl .38 with the mismatched bbl/cyl was a .455 rebuild a friend did. If I ever find a correct short bbl .38 I'd sell it. They range from 1914 to 1928, most are 1915 to 1918. Great old Colt revolvers.

Major 2 · October 27, 2020, 03:54:41 PM

very nice

Tascosa Joe · October 28, 2020, 07:28:17 AM

Very nice Ed.

Bat 2919 · October 28, 2020, 09:21:52 AM

I was thinking I'll need to go home and take a picture of my New Services and then I remembered they have already made the move to my retirement house in Texas, just waiting for me to join them. Three were made in 1911, 1 in 1914, 1 in 1915, 1 in 1916 and the last two in 1919, all in .45 Colt (3) or ACP (5). Only 4 of them began life as U.S. issue, 2 1909's and 2 1917's. One began life as a .455 but a previous owner sent it to Gary Reeder and now it's a very pretty .45 Colt. One had been nickel plated at some time in it's life but is being restored to it's original blue finish. All of them began life with 5.5 inch barrels, two were cut down when I got them. One had been cut down to 4 inches and the other had been cut back to about 3 inches and the front sight was never reinstalled. I knew when I bought the 3 inch gun what I planned to do with it, I sent it to Run N Iron to return one day as a full blown Fitz Special.

It's funny, I saw my first NS in a gun shop in Kansas when I was attending an annual match. I didn't buy it but the following year there it sat on the rack waiting patiently for me to return. This frame size has become one of my favorites, right behind the Single Action Army. After I bought this first NS they seam to haunt me like zombies, I see them every where. Most of them people want too much for, I've never paid over $650 for any of them, many of them much less. I would really like to run into one of the Hollywood modified guns with the fake ejector rod added to make them look like a Single Action Army.

Tascosa Joe · October 28, 2020, 12:27:21 PM

Bat:
Where is your retirement home?
T-Joe

Baltimore Ed · October 28, 2020, 12:43:45 PM

That's the way my first .38 NS was. A good friend who dabbled in buying and selling handguns at a few local shows to support his collecting named Don Upchurch had this .38 NS for sale. I picked it up and looked at it at multiple shows but didn't know what i really wanted it for. He told me to buy it anyway and I finally did. I think I paid like $236.00 so it's been a long while. I'm glad that I did as it's one that I use when I put on my Span Am uniform along with the shorter bbl .38 NS. They work so much better than my 1892s. My heel base loads are ok but those old Colts have such a horrendous trigger pull. Bought a bunch of stuff from Don over the years, Smiths, Webleys and other Colts. I also had a .45acp 1917 but sold it. Always thought that I wanted a legit pair in .45lc but I'm happy with my very nice original .38-40s.

Bat 2919 · October 28, 2020, 11:42:02 PM

My new home is in Borger, TX. About 50 miles NE of Amarillo.

Pitspitr · October 29, 2020, 08:53:45 AM

Quote from: Bat 2919 on October 28, 2020, 11:42:02 PM
My new home is in Borger, TX. About 50 miles NE of Amarillo.

Given the area you're going to be in, I'm surprised you didn't move a few miles west to Masterson.

What's the moving date?

1961MJS · October 29, 2020, 09:54:34 AM

Nah, Masterson is too close to Dum ass Texas, spelt Dumas like the dude who wrote the Three Musketeers.

It is close to Palo Duro Canyon which I need to go see.

Later

Pitspitr · October 29, 2020, 10:16:00 AM

Quote from: 1961MJS on October 29, 2020, 09:54:34 AMIt is close to Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon is BEAUTIFUL!

Bat 2919 · October 29, 2020, 10:37:43 AM

Quote from: Pitspitr on October 29, 2020, 08:53:45 AM
Given the area you're going to be in, I'm surprised you didn't move a few miles west to Masterson.

What's the moving date?

With that name you would think it had something to do with Bat but it doesn't. Place was named for a guy by the name of Robert Masterson. I've driven through it, looks like a terrible place to live, Oil company town on the top of a bald windswept hilltop.

On the other hand there is plenty of real Bat history where the new house is. Borger was a 30's oil boom town and didn't exist in Bat's lifetime, but the Adobe Walls site is also in Hutchinson County where Borger is located.

If you look east about 50 miles on Hy 152 you'll find a little town called Mobeetie, TX in Wheeler county. In Bat's time it was known as Hide town and/or Sweetwater where an Army Trooper from nearby Cantonment Sweetwater (latter Ft. Elliot) by the name of Melvin King took exception to a dance hall girl by the name of Mollie Brennan's affection for Bat. King shot a 22 year old Bat in the pelvis through Mollie, killing her. Bat killed King and walked with a limp causing him use a cane the rest of his life.

1961MJS · October 29, 2020, 10:57:50 AM

Yep, Borger was an exciting place. I need to go there too assuming I survive the 19 and AOC's bunch. I'd love to follow Bad Hand's foot steps, but I bet I'd get hurt.

Later

Bat 2919 · October 30, 2020, 06:50:04 PM

I guess I didn't answer your question. I'm thinking I'll pull the pin just after the first of the year for tax reasons but I don't have a firm date right now. Cate and the dog have been down there more than they're here in the last month or two.