[Ginormous]

Went by the local shootery shoppe today to pick some consumables for this weekends' shooting festivities. Anyhoo, they have (had) 4 Colt Walkers on display for prices ranging between $300 and $350, from various manufacturers. So temptation got the best of me this time, and I grabbed up a used Uberti Walker for something less that what was marked. Haggling is fun, you know. Figuring he was in a selling mood, I asked to see an unfired Stanless Steel Navy Arms/Pietta Remington 1858 NMA, and wouldn't you know it, he met my price price on that one too! Walked out with with 2 new toys, some cleaning goodies, 24' of Visco cannon fuse (don't ask), a Lee Perfect Powder measure with stand, assorted CCI percussion caps, lead round balls, Ballistol Spray and a bottle of Birchwood Casey Perma Blue for $525 and tax. Pretty happy camper today!

Here are the boys as acquired, before cleaning:

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1156.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1154.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1153.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1165.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1151.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1160.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1161.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1159.jpg

[RugerBob]

Nice Gotta love them walkers. Always had a thing for the open tops.

[NobleSniper]

Love them Walkers and thats a nice one ;) That '58 is no slouch either ;)

[AussieTH]

Nice buying.

Good to see that your hand is cleaning up well Gin.

Aye

Tony

[Ginormous]

Thanks all, I really am happy with the purchase. Even managed to keep some cash in reserve towards the holsters I need to get going with Bigbadgun. ;)

Tonight I am stripping them all down and giving them a good cleaning. The Navy Arms '58 still has that blue-green grease packed into the trigger action, cylinder, and barrel. Darned thing has an AC (1977?) date code too! The Walker has been shot before, but appears to have been cared for reasonably well. It has a BN (2000?) date code.

Thanks AussieTH, my hand is finally making some real progress. Real live genuine Redneck brand pink skin is beginning to replace the burned areas. :D

[BHP FAN]

I really love those Navy Arms Remmies without the outsized modern grips.Saweet!

[messerist]

Nice grab! Good to see your owies are healing well too:).

[Ginormous]

Grab is right! I went in planning on spending perhaps $40 or $50, but things changed quickly once I started looking at guns. Walked out with a box full of stuff, and a smile on my face.

When good ol' boys decide they're selling, they are REALLY selling! When they aren't though, it's like pulling their last tooth. Heh.

[mykeal]

Yes, BN = 2000.

[1KPerDay]

Very nice! congrats!

[scrat]

WOW those are very very nice

[Ginormous]

I'm still grinning so hard my cheek muscles are aching. Trying get some relief by cleaning these 2 up, polished, lubed and in fighting trim.

One thing I've noticed about the Navy Arms/Pietta '58 (besides the interesting grips), the cylinder is significantly longer than the Uberti '58 I have. I haven't slapped the calipers on them yet, but I will later tonight or in the morning, and post some measurements. Also, the Navy Arms rifling twist is visibly slower than the Uberti, and not nearly so deep. Thought that was a pretty interesting difference.

The Uberti Walker is as tight if not tighter than my Uberti Dragoon of more recent manufacture. The bluing in its' day was a hella lot nicer too, but the worn appearance is really attractive and I am not changing a thing on about it. The varnish on the grips may have to go though. I just have a hard time getting into that shiny, slickery, finish Uberti uses.

One more thing, this gun shop has a Spiller & Burr replica for $145. Not sure of the manufacturer because I was blinded by the Walker and '58 at the time, but I probably should have tried to get that tossed in as well. Would have been my first .36 caliber BP pistol too. Darn, regret is setting in now . . .

[Ginormous]

WOW those are very very nice

Thanks scrat. I think I did well on this deal myself. BTW, see my formal application for membership at the end of the "The Official THR Walker Club (http://thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=5570269&postcount=1404)" thread. :neener:

[scrat]

hahhahhaha its about time

[Smokin_Gun]

Congrads on the new Revs both are beauties but I still favor the Rem :O)

[scrat]

Thats because your just an ole coot





Thats a friggen nice rem though wow

[Ginormous]

Truth be said, I do too Smoking Gun. The Remmies are refined elegant tools. The large Colts are barbarian weapons with but one purpose, hammer the lead home with authority!

[scrat]

You know me already. i would sand down the grips. Paint them 20 coats maybe of Black laquer then polish them out. Maybe then engrave a Skull on each side of the grips and paint the skull white. Then polish the bejesus out of the gun with some mothers mag and wheel

[Ginormous]

Way ahead of you scrat! Brilliant minds think alike. :D

[scrat]

hahahahahaha

[scrat]

there was a guy on handloads.com he has an 1851 navy all stainless. With white grips with the confederate flag on them. WOW that gun looks sooo nice

[Ginormous]

Yeah, that'll look just rosy in the gun rack hanging in the back of my Infiniti Sedan. :)

[scrat]

hahahahaha oh my gosh what a night


:cool:

some one go wake up GOTC

[BHP FAN]

I need another Spiller and Burr,to fill out my pair.Right now I have a highly unlikely [but not impossible] brass framed .36 engraved Remmie filling my lefty holster....

[Hellgate]

Great photos of that big one. I looks to be hardly fired at all. My two show alot more dinging on the cylinder stops. That one looks virtually unfired. Maybe you got a virgin.

[Ginormous]

If you're interested, I'll drop back by the shop tomorrow and see if I can get some pics for you of that Spiller & Burr. The $145 rack rate is already pretty low on that one, but I imagine it can be gotten for $120 or so.

Let me know.

[Ginormous]

It's no virgin, Hellgate. It's definitely been fired before. The previous owner apparently took reasonably good care of it.

BTW, the bluing on that Walker is almost the color of a niter blued screw. I'm not certain what that type of bluing is called, but when this gun was new, it was certainly a looker.

[BHP FAN]

If you can talk 'em down to $120,I'll take it!Hell,I'll go the whole $150,if he won't come down,let me know,and thanks either way.Nice of you to keep an eye out.

[Ginormous]

Alrighty, I'll swing by tomorrow, grab some pics and do some haggling. :D

I really think I can get it down from the list price. But I also think you need to see pics of it too, so you can be sure it's what you want. As I said, I didn't look very closely at it, and when I look a gun over for purchase, I REALLY look it over. In fact, I keep a bore light in my car just for the odd gun exam that I might find myself performing.

[BCRider]

And just where's the cost of the new shooting glove(s) in that total price? :D

Good to see that your little mishap didn't put you off shooting these oldie style guns. And you're also giving me Walker envy.

[BHP FAN]

cool.i'll check back tommorow.

[bigbadgun]

Gin that 58 looks like the twin to mine. I havent fired it yet but I really want to. I am gonna take it out next weekend and finally get a chance to fire that bad boy a few times. Here is my 58 remmie SS by ASM.

[Ginormous]

Whoa, twin sons of different mothers!!

Cool bigbadgun. :) I've bought every gun I own, whether centerfire, BP, potato, etc., with the intention that they will be used. A lot!

[Ginormous]

Trying to capture the match between the original bluing on the Walker and the blue in the case hardened frame. Not as clear as I had hoped, but when new, the match would have been uncanny!

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww19/Ginormous_pics/DSCF1181.jpg

[ClemBert]

Love the 1858 in stainless! Oddly, all my revolvers were stainless up until the purchase of that 1858 Remmie I posted pics of on the other forum. The grips on that Walker are a beauty.

Make sure those cap fit well on your new toys! ;)

[DammitBoy]

You are going to enjoy shooting the Pietta Remington 1858 - I know I love mine.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/3363314487_935d88fff5_o.jpg

It is a great, high quality reproduction shooter. I've been playing with the idea of getting the .45 long colt cylinder for it - does any body have any experience with those?

[desidog]

Good to see your hand is healing up! ...and i'd like to hear how wearing gloves effects your shooting, if you're going that route these days. Best, dd

[Ginormous]

BHP Fan,

By the time I got the gunshop this afternoon, they were closed. Seems they close at 1pm on Saturdays, and are closed Sunday and Monday as well. I'll definitely get by there when they open on Tues to get those pics and see what kind of money that Spiller & Burr can be had for.

Sorry about that. :o

[BHP FAN]

Thanks..I'll continue to check back.I appreciate your efforts on my behalf!

[banek]

GINORMOUS you have got to be rich, single, retired or all three to walk out of a gun shop with those great toys and still be allowed to talk to your friends.
But my question is a friend of mine (we're poor, married and working) just bought a Colt 1860 44 Cal. after he saw my 1858 Remington but his shoots really high. He has to aim about 10" low at 25 yrd's to be near the bull. He said Colts are sighted in for 75 to 100 yrd's. Unfortunately we can't even see 100 yrd's. Do you or anyone else see this with Colts?

[Ginormous]

Baneck, I am none of the above. I've been blessed with a god job, 2 wonderful kids, an ill tempered ex-wife, and have 17 years to go before I can even consider retiring.

As far Colt replica pistols shooting high, my Dragoon certainly does, that's a fact. And if the weather ever breaks here, I'll find out about the Walker ASAP. I fully expect it to shoot high as well. With that said, I am not bothered by having to hold high or low on a pistol with fixed sights. It's part of the charm/challenge of shooting these replicas. I have several centerfire pistols with adjustable sights to play with if I really get the urge for a pistol that hits POA.

Right now for me, shooting pistols where point of impact meets point of aim is just so blasé :)

[Hellgate]

Banek,
I have had the high shooting Colt's several times. You've got a couple of options besides a 6 o'clock hold:
1) "Lower" the rear sight by grinding some of the top of the hammer down and/or deepen the notch with a Dremel cutting disc or a fine file. You will likely ruin the file on the case hardening. This can only be done if there is enough clearance over the top of the barrel to give a view of the front sight.
2) Remove and install a higher front sight. I wish I were camera trained so I could show you what I have done to several Colts. For one of my 1860 Armies I cut and shaped a piece of brass house key and epoxied it into the front sight slot to get a nice, taller sight. It was the only brass I had that was wide enough to fit snugly in the groove.

I have over 15 C&Bs and use them in SASS CAS matches and I don't care for the "charm" of each having a different POI. I used to mark the open chambers with red for the guns that shot high and white for those that shot POA but have either sold or "sighted in" everything I still have so I don't need to do more than aim the things and pray they go off.

[banek]

Thanks for the info. I'll pass it on.
Banek

[Oldfalguy]

Hearing about the "shooting high" is the reason I bought a Uberti Remmy so that if (when) I have to file the front sight I can replace it pretty easy (hope).
I can't even remember if my 1860 shoots high or not, been too long since I fired it (25 yrs)

Mark

[Ginormous]

There are lots of fix ideas from various members for the too short front sight on many Colts. I believe it was madcratebuilder who suggested a period correct fix of a silver dime soldered into place as a replacement.

Bronze, brass, pewter, or German silver stock of appropriate thickness and height can be soldered, epoxied, JB Welded, or staked into place if you're so inclined as well.