MedWheeler
Member
Been a longtime firearms enthusiast, but have never fired a BP gun before. Back in 1986, I bought a CVA Remington .44 Army repro, made by ASM in Italy (as most CVA guns were.) I bought it fully intending to shoot it, but got turned off by the seemingly-complex teardown/cleaning requirements after shooting, and never shot it. In 2008, I resolved again to shoot this thing, and went out and got all the "fixin's" to do so (caps, balls, powder, flask, wads, etc.) But, there is no place near me to shoot BP, so it got put off yet again, and I still haven't gotten to it.
Last week, I saw a beat-up BP revolver in the LGS case, another Italian knock-off, this one of a 1851 Colt Navy in .36 caliber. It appears to be in stainless or nickel-plated, with a brass frame (like the CVA, which is otherwise blued.) It has some light rust and a lot of tarnish, and could use a good cleaning, but the price was fair. I figured maybe if I have two of these, I'll shoot at least one of them. So, it came home with me.
This one is marked (beneath the loading rod) "COM" rather than "ASM", and has the cylinder with the Mexico/Texas naval skirmish engraved on it. The serial number is five digits beginning with "38". Other markings include "Patent N" on the cylinder, and "Made in Italy" and "Black powder only" on the barrel, along with the caliber. Any ideas how old this is? I know it has no real value, but I'm just curious about its age.
I'll be around now and then to read and learn more about these, and one day I'll fire them off. I had to stop by a friend's house earlier today and her husband, also a firearms hobbyist, proceeded to show me two BP revolvers he has and shoots (I didn't know he shot BP.) I think, with him also around, I'll get out somewhere with mine.
That's it. Just "broadening" my gun horizons here, albeit very slowly. But, I'll get there, folks.
Last week, I saw a beat-up BP revolver in the LGS case, another Italian knock-off, this one of a 1851 Colt Navy in .36 caliber. It appears to be in stainless or nickel-plated, with a brass frame (like the CVA, which is otherwise blued.) It has some light rust and a lot of tarnish, and could use a good cleaning, but the price was fair. I figured maybe if I have two of these, I'll shoot at least one of them. So, it came home with me.
This one is marked (beneath the loading rod) "COM" rather than "ASM", and has the cylinder with the Mexico/Texas naval skirmish engraved on it. The serial number is five digits beginning with "38". Other markings include "Patent N" on the cylinder, and "Made in Italy" and "Black powder only" on the barrel, along with the caliber. Any ideas how old this is? I know it has no real value, but I'm just curious about its age.
I'll be around now and then to read and learn more about these, and one day I'll fire them off. I had to stop by a friend's house earlier today and her husband, also a firearms hobbyist, proceeded to show me two BP revolvers he has and shoots (I didn't know he shot BP.) I think, with him also around, I'll get out somewhere with mine.
That's it. Just "broadening" my gun horizons here, albeit very slowly. But, I'll get there, folks.
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