My father has an original old Colt I have tried to figure out which one it is but I'm not sure. As best I can tell it's an 1860 Army but it's .36 cal. Did that model come in .36 cal?
It has a round barrel and has no other visible markings on it other the .36 cal stamped on the trigger guard. It's in fairly good condition, the original grips are in surprisingly good condition but the metal is pretty rusty all over.
It has been in the family since the Civil War, his Great+ grandfather carried in the war, (for the south in case you were wondering) his family hailed from Tennesee at that time.
For years it was frozen up, the mechanics were jammed and it wouldn't cock and the wedge wouldn't budge and it was missing the loading lever. Several years back, probably 25 years now, he took it in to a gunsmith and had it worked on. The gunsmith soaked it, cleaned it etc.. and repaired the workings and it would cock and operate normally and would disassemble just fine, he replaced the loading lever with a modern replacement that stood out like a sore thumb.
Anyway, I remember him saying the gunsmith was not sure which model it was becasue the round barrel threw him and that's kind of what I'm finding now too.
Any ideas about which one it might be? I'll take a picture of it next time I'm over there and post it but for now any ideas?
Now that I'm getting into this sport, I might have to drop the hint that it's time to pass it down, it sure would look good in a display case on my mantle!
It has a round barrel and has no other visible markings on it other the .36 cal stamped on the trigger guard. It's in fairly good condition, the original grips are in surprisingly good condition but the metal is pretty rusty all over.
It has been in the family since the Civil War, his Great+ grandfather carried in the war, (for the south in case you were wondering) his family hailed from Tennesee at that time.
For years it was frozen up, the mechanics were jammed and it wouldn't cock and the wedge wouldn't budge and it was missing the loading lever. Several years back, probably 25 years now, he took it in to a gunsmith and had it worked on. The gunsmith soaked it, cleaned it etc.. and repaired the workings and it would cock and operate normally and would disassemble just fine, he replaced the loading lever with a modern replacement that stood out like a sore thumb.
Anyway, I remember him saying the gunsmith was not sure which model it was becasue the round barrel threw him and that's kind of what I'm finding now too.
Any ideas about which one it might be? I'll take a picture of it next time I'm over there and post it but for now any ideas?
Now that I'm getting into this sport, I might have to drop the hint that it's time to pass it down, it sure would look good in a display case on my mantle!