Well, I was at the gun show yesterday and saw this .22/.22 mag convertible and just couldn't pass it up for $220. They had a .45 Colt version right next to it and they look to be exactly the same gun, made to the same standard which is to say "just fine for a .22 and not so great for a .45".
The gun is clearly a budget piece, sort of like an H&R from days gone by, but as you can see it's not junk and that's the problem I have had with many other SAA .22s over the years - they were so horrendous as to make it just no fun whatsoever. The frame is clearly aluminum but it's not ugly and a terrible mismatch for the cylinder like some I've seen with the trigger guard being the only place where it really falls down (cast marks and a small hole in the bottom for the U.S. mandated lock). The steel cylinder and barrel both look nice but they have sharp edges (as if they've never seen a buffing wheel) and the bluing looks thin. But again, for a plinker it's not anything off the scale or outrageous. The grips are walnut and plain but absolutely serviceable and at least they're one piece and not some sort of fugly catastrophe.
As far as sizing it appears to be pretty close to clone dimensions because I was pleased to find that it fits my 6.5" rig perfectly. That was a very pleasant suprise because I don't have any other 6.5" single actions at this time!
The only troubling issues I've come across thus far are tight/sticky chambers in the .22 mag cylinder and an ejector rod that wanted to lock back when you ejected a cartridge. The latter I've run across before so I fixed it with about 15 min shop time and was happy to discover that Birchwood Casey's Aluminum Black worked perfectly on the ejector rod housing to refinish the areas where I'd removed some metal. Works like a charm now. The former is my first trouble with this so after scouring the forum for topics on it I took the recommended path and used a jag and a drill to (carefully/conservatively) polish the chambers.
I've yet to shoot it again so I hope that the sticky .22 mag issue is solved but here are a few pics of my Bargain Blaster rig for you:
Wish me luck.
Best,
Oly
The gun is clearly a budget piece, sort of like an H&R from days gone by, but as you can see it's not junk and that's the problem I have had with many other SAA .22s over the years - they were so horrendous as to make it just no fun whatsoever. The frame is clearly aluminum but it's not ugly and a terrible mismatch for the cylinder like some I've seen with the trigger guard being the only place where it really falls down (cast marks and a small hole in the bottom for the U.S. mandated lock). The steel cylinder and barrel both look nice but they have sharp edges (as if they've never seen a buffing wheel) and the bluing looks thin. But again, for a plinker it's not anything off the scale or outrageous. The grips are walnut and plain but absolutely serviceable and at least they're one piece and not some sort of fugly catastrophe.
As far as sizing it appears to be pretty close to clone dimensions because I was pleased to find that it fits my 6.5" rig perfectly. That was a very pleasant suprise because I don't have any other 6.5" single actions at this time!
The only troubling issues I've come across thus far are tight/sticky chambers in the .22 mag cylinder and an ejector rod that wanted to lock back when you ejected a cartridge. The latter I've run across before so I fixed it with about 15 min shop time and was happy to discover that Birchwood Casey's Aluminum Black worked perfectly on the ejector rod housing to refinish the areas where I'd removed some metal. Works like a charm now. The former is my first trouble with this so after scouring the forum for topics on it I took the recommended path and used a jag and a drill to (carefully/conservatively) polish the chambers.
I've yet to shoot it again so I hope that the sticky .22 mag issue is solved but here are a few pics of my Bargain Blaster rig for you:
Wish me luck.
Best,
Oly
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