Pietta Colt Patersons
When I tell you I have a thing for the Paterson, you might have figured out I'm not kidding. They're addictive little works of art that more often resemble a watch than a firearm in their construction. The assembly and reassembly of the replicas is an act of penance for most amateur gunsmiths.
Fortunately later designs excluded several of those extra parts and added a trigger guard which made it a lot easier.
I'll save you the phone call to Taylors. They have a deal in "works" with Pietta to start carrying a replica of the Colt Paterson produced by Pietta of course. Nothing firm though still in the works. It would not hurt things to give them a call and express some interest. Since they are not selling them as of today, they'll not try to sell you one.
According to some sources the Pietta in the past was better made than the Uberti (design flaws). I read some where that one owner had a lot of problems with one he bought. Uberti said they were going to stop producing them and gave him a Dragoon Replica to replace his with.
Sam Colt had a few problems with the Patent Arms Co when he started making the originals. One of the first designs had an enclosed cylinder that was supposed to prevent chain fires. Unfortunately when you pulled the trigger on the enclosed one it was like a hand grenade going off.
Earlier models of the Texas Colt Paterson's he produced and were used by the Texas Rangers were successful. Later problems with sales to the military were not so great. The Army was outraged at the quality of the arms they received. Legend says that one of Sam's chief investors, who also was involved in running the company produced sub-standard models, was critical of Sam's spending habits and eventually took over the company and continued to manufacture Paterson's after it went bankrupt. Sam was out of it.
In 1847 Capt Walker of the Texas Rangers approached Sam Colt on an upgrade of the Paterson to a .44 Cal Revolver. They cooked up the original Horse Pistol, the Colt Walker. The Walker then led to the Dragoons, the Army and Navy Revolvers and the rest is history. Sam died a very rich man.
If Pietta does get into it again, I hope they include an attached loading lever. The separate "tool" they produced before was rumored to be made out of pot metal and broke rather easily. I have a cylinder loader from Black Powder Inc. that I use it saves a lot of time.
