[B BRI]

. . . which is why I had to bring it home . . .

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/45LC.jpg[/IMG]

Colt 1878 Double Action Army in 45 Colt manufactured in 1888 . . . :D

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/0517091619a.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/0517092130.jpg

[Rancho Relaxo]

Nice! Mind saying how much you got it for?

[B BRI]

$450 . . . REALLY feel like I stole it.:evil:

Action is tight, good bore, just honest wear. A keeper for sure.

[Eightball]

A thunderer, or different?

ETA: Yes, yes you did steal it. Send it to me immediately so I can make the situation right.

[Oyeboten]

Wow...good going B Bri..!


Those are wonderful Revolvers...


.45 LC? Or...?


I wish I had one!

[B BRI]

Close . . . The "Thunderer" was the Colt Model 1877 Double Action chambered in 41 Colt. It's little sister the "Lightning" was the same action chambered in 38 Colt. Billy the Kid reportedly carried the 41. Here are the both . . .

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/1877ColtsLS.jpg

This one is the Colt Model 1878, really marketed as a double action version of the famous Single Action Army. In fact the Barrels were interchangable. Even the Colt & Distributor advertising of the day were paralleled -

Single action 45 Colt = Single Action Army
Double action 45 Colt = Double Action Army

Single action 44/40 = Frontier Six Shooter
Double action 44/40 = Double Action Frontier

Single Action = Peacemaker revolver
Double Action = Omnipotent revolver (my favorite)

Here is another of mine . . .

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/0924081251.jpg[/IMG]

Kind of a forgotten Colt, only about 50,000 made from 1878 until about 1907. Truly a revolver of the Old West. Footnote in history, a couple of the losers at the O.K. Corral were pictured carrying these interesting Colts shortly before the shootout in Tombstone . . .



.

[B BRI]

.45 LC? Or...?


It is .45 Long Colt.

[Dr.Rob]

SWEET! And a STEAL! I've wanted one of those forever!

[WC145]

WOW! That's a helluva deal and it looks to be in very good shape for it's age. Did you get it from a shop or an individual?

[Brian Williams]

They are real nice pieces, could you show a muzzle view and a view with the loading gate open?

[B BRI]

I will try to post some more pics tonight . . . local sale, a friend of a friend's estate.

[earlthegoat2]

absolutely, positively kewl

[jfh]

So my historical education continues--and now I have seen pictures of the first "cowboy" gun I would like to own.

Any of the variants--just not a SAA.

Jim H.

[MrBorland]

I just picked up my copy of Ed McGivern's Book of Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting for some casual reading; lo and behold, 2 of these are on the cover. I always wondered what they were, though I thought ol' Ed shot a S&W M&P.

http://www.amazon.com/McGiverns-Book-Fancy-Revolver-Shooting/dp/160239086X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242690323&sr=1-1

[Jim Watson]

And the big left hand thread main screw not even boogered up. Very nice.

[The Lone Haranguer]

No locking bolt on the cylinder? :confused: There are no notches.

[Jim Watson]

The 1878's cylinder is not only indexed by the hand, but aligned by it, too. There is no separate cylinder bolt. There is a little widget to keep the cylinder from turning backwards as the hand retracts when the trigger is released. But in firing mode, the hand does all the work.

The SAA always sold better than the DAA so Colt cut bolt notches in some '78 cylinders and installed them in SAAs. This produced the "long flute cylinder" SAAs.

[Brian Dale]

Oh, how very cool. Thanks for posting those pictures, B BRI.

[B BRI]

Okay a few more pictures, including the loading gate and the business end . . .

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/mail.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/mail2.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/mail3.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll180/fivebaldwins/Shooters/mail4.jpg

[B BRI]

I just picked up my copy of Ed McGivern's Book of Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting for some casual reading; lo and behold, 2 of these are on the cover.

now I have an excuse to order that book . . .

[Revolver Ocelot]

I envy you oh so much, I can't find one for less then 1300...

[Revolver Ocelot]

oops

[Revolver Ocelot]

hmm, how did that happen

[B BRI]

The person handling the estate told me he had a few old double action Colts and S&W's . . . nothing special. I asked if I could look through them for anything interesting. So on the appointed day I drove over to his house to look through the box of revolvers. It was mostly a group of S&W model 10's, a couple old Colt Police Positives, and this Colt 1878 :what:

. . . I calmly fondled through the collection of revolvers . . . asking "how much for this one? What do you need for that one?" The answer would vary . . . "$400" . . ."$375" . . . "500" . . . when I got the 1878, the answer was "$550, I think that one's a little older than the rest" . . .

"Would you take $450? It's all I've got on me?" ;)

He thought about it for a minute . . . "Sold".

:D

A little Karma coming back around my way for sure . . .

[Jim K]

You stole it. ;)

Jim

[EnsignJimmy]

$450 for an 1878 D.A. in shootable condition, with that much original blue left on it? Man, I hate you. By 'hate', I mean 'I'm seriously jealous of.':p The least I've paid for an 1878 was $800 for a gun which had been reblued (very nicely reblued, but still reblued.) I'd take pictures of it, if I didn't currently have it completely disassembled to replace the hand (it had been shot with smokeless. The previous owner hadn't cleaned the gun when they'd sold it to the shop I got it from, and the residue didn't smell like any leavings from any BP/BP substitute I've ever shot. Nothing wrong with the gun, apart from a worn cylinder bushing, and a chip battered off the old hand that gave the gun a mild case of throw-by. Yes, the design is quite a bit sturdier than people give it credit for. About 5000 late-manufacture Model 1878s did sport Colt's smokeless powder proofmark.) I've got a couple other 1878s, though. Both in shootable, collectible condition. And both I paid way more than $450 for.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/froobas/Colt_1878_Mfg1890th.jpg

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/froobas/Colt_1878_Mfg1892th.jpg

The 1878's cylinder is not only indexed by the hand, but aligned by it, too. There is no separate cylinder bolt. There is a little widget to keep the cylinder from turning backwards as the hand retracts when the trigger is released. But in firing mode, the hand does all the work.
Depends on the 1878. The older ones had a little widget on the back face of the frame which was actuated with a clockwork spring. The newer ones had a round stop machined into the reloading gate, which fit into the teeth of the star, and relied on pressure from the loading gate spring to keep the cylinder from turning backwards. But, yes, the hand does all the work on the 1878. Still produces a very solid lockup. My 1878s lock up tighter than any non-Colt revolver made 100 years later that I've handled.

EDIT:

They also shoot very nicely too. :D

[Kleanbore]

A piece of related trivia--some time around 1954, give or take a year, I had a Western comic book or two about a character named "Silvertip." Named after the graying points of hair above his temples.

One of the stories featured a guy with a Colt DA--whether it was called a Lightning I do not remember, but i've associated that name with it in memory.

The story line included discussion of the advantage of double action, countered by Silvertip's discussion of the fragility of the mechanism and the comparatively greater reliability if the SAA.

Seems there was truth to the story.

My memory is a tad fuzzy on it--also had comics of Wild Bill Elliot at the time--hope I'm not confusing the two.

[EnsignJimmy]

One of the stories featured a guy with a Colt DA--whether it was called a Lightning I do not remember, but i've associated that name with it in memory.

The story line included discussion of the advantage of double action, countered by Silvertip's discussion of the fragility of the mechanism and the comparatively greater reliability if the SAA.
The Model 1877, which got the marketing monikers of "Lightning" and "Thunderer," has been described by many as having among the worst double-action mechanisms ever devised. They had lots of small, thin springs that tended to break with usage and an overcomplicated action stuffed into a relatively tiny frame. In the first decade of the 20th, Colt pasted warning labels on the boxes of new 1877s which insisted that they had to be fired with black powder only. Colt still sold ~160,000 of them. Something about the ergonomics being ideal for those without the reach needed to work the 1878's trigger, or the dexterity to work the SAA with any speed.

The 1878 had a much different action operating inside a cavernous frame. Restoring an 1878 to shooting condition is within the capability of a casual gunsmith. Reviving an 1877 suffering from "Lightningitis," not so much so.

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I'll take it. :D Cant believe your selling that for 450.

SOLD






:neener::neener::neener:

[B BRI]

Does it help that I went to Church on my way home from picking it up Sunday morning? :evil:

[B BRI]

EnsignJimmy, those are a couple of nice looking shooters . . . I agree . . . I did steal it, but I slept very well, knowing what the estate would make on all the other stuff going to auction.

Do you shoot your 1878's? I have never shot the 1878 that was passed down to me, but Dad remembers shooting it with my Granddad in the 50's. I have always wanted to load some "light" BP or Pyrodex loads and give her a whirl. With this new addition to the collection, I'm pretty much resolved to shoot these old Colts. The 1878 was the ONLY shooter in my collection that I didn't shoot. I think it's high time I corrected that.

[Gordon]

I can tell you while the Thunderer and Lightning models had notoriously weak and breakage prone actions, he 1878 was considered strong and (fairly) durable. So much so that they were the favorite gun of the Alaskan and Yukon Gold rushers and had a good rep up there for a long time.

[EnsignJimmy]

Do you shoot your 1878's? I have never shot the 1878 that was passed down to me, but Dad remembers shooting it with my Granddad in the 50's. I have always wanted to load some "light" loads and give her a whirl. With this new addition to the collection, I'm pretty much resolved to shoot these old Colts. The 1878 was the ONLY shooter in my collection that I didn't shoot. I think it's high time I corrected that.
Yes, I do shoot my 1878s. There are a few caveats to shooting them, though. The main one is that they're black-powder only propositions. Yes, the design is much sturdier than an 1877, but the hand of an 1878 sees a lot of stress as-is, and presently costs $99 to replace. And the cylinder walls, just like those of a SAA, are paper-thin.

Use a 250 to 255 grain cast lead bullet lubed with a good BP lube atop a case filled (35 to 37 grains by volume) with Pyrodex P black powder substitute, FFFg black powder, (or 30 grains of Triple Seven by volume,) touched off by a good large magnum pistol primer.(*) Out of my 5.5" 1878 and my Uberti Colt SAA clone, it produces healthy recoil, an honest 940 ft/sec velocity, a huge cloud of smoke, and nice groups. For lighter loads, one could go with 28 grains(*) of powder, enough filler to completely fill the case, and the same bullet, or a .45 Schofield case (Starline sells them) filled with black powder.

The other caveat is that the 1878 was made in the days when primers were rock-hard and insensitive. In fact, many complaints about the reliability of double-action revolvers centered around the fact that their mainsprings weren't strong enough reliably detonate the primers of the day. Modern primers, however, are both thin, and sensitive. In fact, the 1878's mainspring driving that ice-pick of a firing pin will sometimes pierce modern primers. It also gives the 1878 a well-deserved reputation for having something of a white-knuckle double-action trigger pull.

(* - Standard handloading disclaimer. Use published loading data where possible. Loads discussed are safe for my guns, using my reloading practices. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!)

[B BRI]

EnsignJimmy, thanks for the info. I have some Pyrodex P and am going to set down tomorrow and load up a box of pills for the 1878's. Can't wait to set a few off . . .