I have a pistol that was given to me and I'm curious about its value. The man said it belonged to his dads dad, and this man is in his late 70's. So the pistol would be quite old. No markings as far as caliber; but he said it was a .45. Why would there not be a caliber marking? I know it's not the military version because it is lacking the US marking on the side of the frame. Pat. July 2 1872 (It also has the bottom set screw that holds the cylinder in place. I've been trying to read up on it; but that's about as far as I can get.)

Serial # 1702* (I'll leave out the last number) And in case anybody was interested, no it's not for sale.

Serial number would indicate an 1875 Single Action Army. Kinda looks like it has been refinished though. I have never seen a factory Colt with such rounded edges around the joints on the frame.

This may have been before they started marking calibers on the gun, or they could have been polished off. Looks like someone went heavy on the buffer when refinishing.

He did say that his father had it cleaned or refinished.


Not safe for modern ammo?

If it is an 1875, I think that would be a black powder frame.

If it were my gun, I would request a factory letter.

I'll google that tomorrow and find out how to do it. Thank you for the help sir! This man didn't shoot or hunt, so he didn't know much about it. Just said his daddy would whip his azz for even looking at the pistol and 3 months before his dad died he was given the pistol.

Definitely been refinished and caliber marking buffed off. Pre 1898 will be black powder frame, and I would definitely not shot modern ammo through it. You can call the Colt Archive Department and obtain a factory letter.

A very nice revolver, in any case.

I can see why your family has treasured this firearm, over the years.

Looks a lot like a three screw Ruger. It is beautiful and a keepsake. Priceless is the correct value.

Actually, the 3-screw Ruger looks like the Colt SAA---not the other way around.

It's unfortunate that the gun was refinished. Any collector value has been obliterated, but it should be able to handle standard pressure .45 Colt ammo and I'll bet it's a hoot to shoot! I'd pack that around and have some fun with it.

No expert by any means, but a beautiful piece of American history and hope you realize that and hand it down to your next generation...

It would be a shame not to use that beauty. Take it out and enjoy. Just use standard 45 loads. No hot stuff.

Here's one. Was my great grandfathers. He was a sheriff for Gainsville back around 1900. Glad it's in the family.

Now THAT is a collector piece. Nice revolver!

Sweet piece.

I believe Colt introduced those 41s for their new Double Action revolver, the Thunderer.

I cleaned it really good today and some observations: it has to be black powder because the barrel was fairly pitted due to corrosion, the cylinder walls are freaking thin and I'd be scared to shoot a current cartridge through it. Here's the oddest thing of all.... It was not a family member that gave it to me, it was a man I had never met in my life before last night. His wife was my wife's elementary school teacher back in the 80's and they are still friends. The man had nobody to give it to, so he figured I was as good as anybody else. He also gave me a few rifles, but they were nothing too special, still a very generous gift though.

It's cool to have a gun thats 124 or so years old.

Nice! And happy birthday too.

Groutscout, thats a cool story. You need to do something special for that old man.

Here is a Colt Lightning and Thunderer that belong to a buddy of mine.

Awesome double action. Doc Holiday preferred those.

Does it function correctly still? They would wear or go out of time and not a lot of gun smiths knew how to work them.

One of them works perfect and the other only works in double action if I remember correctly.

Yes I do, I'm trying to think what he'd like. Tough since I don't really know him.