Antiqued Walket Colt.

[madcratebuilder]

Check this Walker on Gunbroker.com. Very well done aging. Anyone have an idea as who the manufacture is? It is very close to my 2nd gen, but the forward trigger guard screw is different and the stamp numbers are different. The 'B' stamped on the side of the trigger guard is a nice touch. If you look close at the cylinder it looks like the roll engraving has been removed leaving only the serial number. You can see a difference in the color of the metal around the number.

The seller lists the revolver as a COPY, at that price I should go in the revolver antiquing business. My guess is this is a Uberti. What say you?

 

[NobleSniper]

I postd this one awhile back and wodnered about it as well. A chunk of change for a unknown maker

 

[Old Fuff]

I believe it is one of a handful made by a master machinist/gunsmith back during the late 1930’s, and pre-dates by 3 decades at least the current Italian copies. His intent was not to make counterfeits, but a copy so precise he could fool leading collectors and/or researchers. He almost succeeded, and now his work has a collector’s value in and of itself. Understand that at he time he was doing his work, a “real” Walker could be bought for less then one thousand dollars.

 

[Jim Watson]

I never heard that before, but I think I have seen one of the guns. In the early 1960s, I admired a display of a pair of Walkers, saying "That is a nice pair of Walker reproductions you have."
The owner replied:
"Well, ONE of them is."

I have also seen pictured a close copy of a Walker made for Stembridge Rentals, the movie prop gun company. Done in the 1950s at a cost of $300 when a new SAA was just back on the market for $125.


I am very wary of close reproductions and heavy restorations. Yes, this seller says it is a copy, but how many times will it change hands before somebody "forgets" to mention that?
A 1911 collector once told me when I expressed concern about good restorations that if I was qualified to spend that kind of money I would be able to tell the difference.

 

[kBob]

It is my understanding that John Moses Browning's father made some copies of the Walker, though he disliked the design.

Wonder if any of those are floating arounfd the valley of the Great Salt Lake in trunks full of old letters bills and Journals?

Would be neat if one exist in a museum some place to see how slavish a copy it was or if it had some Browning improvements.

-kBob

 

[NobleSniper]

Were the civilian vairants of the Walker devoid of the engraving on the cylinder?? Thats the one thing that really stood out at me with this one.

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

No "Colt's Patent" on the frame, oblong rather than oval cylinder stops.

 

[scrat]

AND AND AND it has a B mark which indicates that it is of a military Walker not a civilian

 

[madcratebuilder]

No "Colt's Patent" on the frame, oblong rather than oval cylinder stops.

The "Colts's Patent" was on the cylinder of the Walker, but not the frame.

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

I believe the civilian Walkers were marked with Colt's Patent on the frame.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I believe the civilian Walkers were marked with Colt's Patent on the frame.

Interesting. I know that serial #'s 1001-1100 are called civilian models, didn't know they had the extra markings, thanks.

 

[poordevil]

I have a great book by James Serven called Colt Firearms From 1836, Published in 1954. This guy was a collector and expert on Colt guns. In the chapter on Walkers he has a bit of detailed information about the markings on Walker Colts. He says:

No "Colts Patent " stamping appears on the lock frame of Walker models, but we do observe that there is a MODEL U.S.M.R., company number, and COLT'S PATENT on the cylinder.