ASM 1858 New Army Buffalo brass frame

B

bigminnow

New member
I searched ASM on the forum and seems it was a so so shooter from times going by...

I just got a used one today and was wondering if anyone has any info on the manuf date, etc...

It looks like a Pietta 1858 New Army Buffalo brass frame with a 12 inch barrel...the 12" barrel is something else!

Anyway...the ser# is B 16829 and it has the ASM stamp on it and the letters AT in a square box.

I cleaned it up tonight and the barrel looks real good, clean and shiney with no pits etc...

It has initials RD etched in the brass so I guess someone named RD used to own it...

Bummer that parts are hard to come by so I haven't made up my mind whether to keep it or sell it.
Thanks for any info...
 
Big,

AT is the date code for 1988.

I personally think ASMs are under-rated. I own a bunch of them and for the most part I find the quality to be essentially the equal of present day Pietta revolvers.

I do have one pistol from ASM which was severely defective from the factory. The timing was off by about 20 degrees and I am relatively convinced it was never sold as a shooting pistol. Their quality control would have had to be completely asleep to miss the problem.

There seems to be a high number of Brass frame specimens around from ASm and I do not know if that is because brass is what they offered most or if brass is what people bought most. It is chicken versus egg thing but my suspicion is that at the time when ASM was making revolvers, there were many folks who were new to BP shooting. The foibles of brass frame revolvers were not well understood by the inexperienced shooter and those brass frames sure to shine up pretty. Thirty years ago I fell into that category myself.

Interestingly enough, I have a couple of ASMs which appear to have been shot frequently which are still tight revolvers. I have brass frame revolvers from other manufacturers which clearly did not stand up to the stresses ovr time. All of my early Colts, Walker and Dragoons are ASM from the seventies and they are universally in good condition.
 
Go shoot it and see if it's a keeper. I have a nickle plated Buffalo and it's a dandy shooter, I think it needs to go to the range next week.

58buf01.jpg
 
Thanks for all the info!

I took the ASM out yesterday and put about 40 to 50 rounds through it. It was accurate. The only thing I noticed was there was some blow back or something. Every time I would shoot it seems there would be flecks hitting me in the face. And the cylinder seems to get coated on the outside with powder soot/black. Maybe that is the way its supposed to shoot.

It seemed pretty tight. I can see just a hair of daylight between the barrel and cylinder. The hammer/trigger mechanism seems tight and solid. It has a stronger spring than any of my other guns.

The brass needs cleaning and there are a few "spots" on the bluing where there is a wee bit of pitting/rust. I would like to steel wool those spots and touch them up with some bluing or something. What is a good way to clean up these areas?

I will see if I can post a picture of it later.
 
Big,

Prolly work if you do it just as you described.

Not uncommon to get hit in the face with stuff.

What is the cylinder gap like?

Surface of the barrel at the forcing cone should be nice and even and the gap on that pistol should be somehere around .007 + or - .002 (I think....Someone else correct that if it is wrong.)
 
Close enough Doc but a .012 gap isn't unreasonable. My last 60 had a .004 gap and it didn't foul as bad as you would think.
 
robhof

I've got a little ASM 31 cal. Colt Baby Dragoon clone and it's a real tac driver, I had to do some adjusting to the hand when I 1st got it, but it was cheap and shoots well.:D
 
I'll have to get some feeler guages and check the gap...I'll post when I find them and check. I was curious about that. Thanks for the specs.
 
Blue Wonder Gun Cleaner and 0000 steel or brass wool will remove those rust spots without damaging the bluing.
 
A month ago I would not have attempted to take this apart but after reading on the forums here and watching some videos I stumbled through. Best advice is to get the proper screwdrivers...picked up a set at a gun shop this afternoon for 20 bucks. Best money spent.
Two things left to do is to check the cyl/barrel gap and clean up the rust spots. Here's some pics such as they are. Brass shined up pretty good too.
 

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Two or three requests

This is a little of topic but:

For Robhof....I would love to see some photos of that Baby Dragoon.

For anyone who knows:

What kind of muzzle velocity can you expect from that revolver?


Also for anyone who knows:

What is the historical prototype for a "Buffalo" revolver? Did Remington make a 12 inch barrel version and call it a Buffalo? Did after sale modifications produce a 12 inch barrel version that was typically refered to as Buffalo? Did the Italians or Cabela's do their magic?

Also for anone who knows:

I had a 12 inch barrel .44 patterned after the 1851 Navy (brass frame). It was called a "Ballister". I thought I remembered where the name came from but now I can not find any historical reference to it. Anyone know?
 
Also for anyone who knows:

What is the historical prototype for a "Buffalo" revolver? Did Remington make a 12 inch barrel version and call it a Buffalo? Did after sale modifications produce a 12 inch barrel version that was typically refered to as Buffalo? Did the Italians or Cabela's do their magic?

Also for anone who knows:

I had a 12 inch barrel .44 patterned after the 1851 Navy (brass frame). It was called a "Ballister". I thought I remembered where the name came from but now I can not find any historical reference to it. Anyone know?
Click to expand...


No historical connection at all, Italian gimmickry. Only Ballister I can think of is Ballester Molina.
 
Doc said:
What is the historical prototype for a "Buffalo" revolver? Did Remington make a 12 inch barrel version and call it a Buffalo? Did after sale modifications produce a 12 inch barrel version that was typically refered to as Buffalo? Did the Italians or Cabela's do their magic?
Click to expand...

Good Italian wine, and lots of it.
 
How about...

...the ballistics on a twelve inch barrel?

My questions was,

What kind of MV could be expected from that 12 inch barrel?
 
Doc Hoy said:
This is a little of topic but:

For Robhof....I would love to see some photos of that Baby Dragoon.

For anyone who knows:

What kind of muzzle velocity can you expect from that revolver?
Click to expand...

And I thought that you were referring to the Baby Dragoon. :)
 
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