Frankencolt SAA?

B

Bootz

Inactive
I have been reading TFL for years and finally have something to post!

I inherited a Single Action Army a few weeks ago and am having a gut feeling that only the frame is original... maybe the loading gate and cylinder as well. The rest of the revolver seems to be chiseled, filed, welded, pounded and etc. Hopefully with the attached pictures ya'll can help me out! A little background followed by some questions:

Serial number stamped on the frame indicates it was manufactured in 1929, serial number cannot be located anywhere else on the revolver. Barrel was clearly replaced with a Christy barrel, but the cylinder is not the same finish nor shows the same amount of wear. Thus, I don't think the cylinder was replaced with the barrel. Came in a well worn holster and clearly has some use.

When I disassembled the gun a washer fell out that was cut/filed down to fit...somewhere. After the washer was out the hammer could not be drawn past the safety position and would not lock in any position. Thus, the cylinder would not spin either. Have not reassembled as of yet. Additionally, not a single screw washer came out during disassembly, could they be stuck in and just be extremely difficult to see?

Markings/stamps:

Frame: Serial Number in correct location, "U" on bottom, "1355" under right backstrap screw hole

Barrel: "Christy" under ejector tube. Typical I believe

Loading Gate: "R.A.C.". Typical inspector stamp I believe

Cylinder, ratchet side: "V"

Cylinder, base pin side: I can identify "44" clearly. looks to be followed by a "1". The last digit I am not sure of, could be a 3 or B, but would be aligned different than the three proceeding numbers. Could be a deep scratch, a 0, I am at a loss.

Stocks: "1929" hand carved. Previous owner probably engraved.

Any light shed on the following would be greatly appreciated!:

What caliber is this? My gut says .45, but the cylinder is clearly marked with two 4s (and a 1, and a mystery).

What do the following stamps indicate?
-Frame: "U" and "1355"
-Cylinder: All. I have no idea at this point.

Trigger guard, backstrap and hammer all look darn near homemade. Just what the heck is going on!?

Thank you, thank you, thank you for anything and everything you can provide/recommend/think up!

All photos can be viewed here (much too small a limit on TFL):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4U92c95eQSJQVBreGE4TkhDSUE
 
Frankencolt for sure. 1929 cylinder frame, military loading gate, Christy barrel, blacksmith trigger guard, likely the whole grip frame.

As for caliber, I would poke some cartridges at the cylinder. A .45 won't go in a .44.
Might ought to slug the barrel, I think it was John Taffin who bought a well worn revolver that had been a movie studio gun. Different caliber barrel and cylinder, the prop man didn't care as long as it would shoot 5 in 1 blanks.
 
The washer could have come from the mainspring.
Does it fit between the base of the spring and the frame?
Denis
 
The trigger guard/front strap looks like it was welded together from multiple pieces.

I have a Colt that's the equivalent of, "This is the axe that George Washington used the chop down the cherry tree. The handle's been replaced a couple of times. New blade. But it occupies the same space as the one Washington used."
I have the opposite "problem" that you do, in that Colt stamped the original serial number on replaced parts, so the gun is a hodge-podge of parts from the 1890s, 1950s, 1970s, but all Colt.

If your barrel, cylinder, & frame are all in good shape, it might be worthwhile to rebuild it, even if you used Italian repro parts. 1st Gen Colt parts are really expensive.

Miking a round hole can be a problem, but it should be easy to tell the difference between ~.427" and ~.454" for the cylinder and barrel.
 
I still can't see the photos. Photobucket wants me to disable my ad blocker. Not gonna happen -- why do they think I have it?

Can you post direct links to the most informative photos, rather than a link to your album?
 
The walls look extremely thin and the curve of the star looks off, but I don't know. If someone rebarreled it there would be a temptation to chamber to a bigger round.
 
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