Kit revolvers?

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Stormson

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Guy not too far from me wants $75 for a brass frame colt clone with powder and balls. He says it was a brass frame kit he built "years ago". Says its .44 and has a naval etching on the cylinder. Im guessing its probably a CVA kit gun as hes around my age, but doesnt remember.

So.. Who all produced these kit colts??? Is it certainly an ASM, or am I remembering correctly that Uberti also made them??

Im figuring it'll be worth $75 either as he says its in great shape, hasnt been shot much, and it will give me some colt experience anyway...
 
Sounds like a CVA kit. I picked one up half finished for $40. Pay attention to loading info specific to brass frame replica guns of this type. With powder and balls it sounds like a great deal!
 
Hi Kevin,

Yeah im thinking its a CVA as well... I dont recall anyone else putting out colt kits? Thing Im really wondering about is that I know CVA put out kits made by ASM.. But I get this nagging feeling that they also sold kits made by Uberti??

Yeah im probably gonna get it regardless... Its worth it to me just to gain some experience with the colt pattern before I sink the cash into a new steel frame one. Nah.. I love the magnums and have been known to dump 35grs of 777 into my pietta remmi's just to hear the BOOM! LOL, but I dont see any reason to wear it out on purpose... Doubt I'll ever go over 15-20 in it..
 
Ok lol... As long as its not seriously screwed up somehow i should be picking it up Sunday.. I'll try to get some pix and other info... Hoping he hasnt defarbed it so i'll be able to tell what it is. Im hoping there is a chance of it being Uberti so that I can just pick up a steel frame later... If its ASM then I'll probably buy a Pietta later if I do like the colt style as well as, or almost as well as, my remmi's...
 
TruthTellers said:
How much powder and what brand? A pound of Goex is worth $20 at least.
Click to expand...

Not sure, but he says he has "a bunch of it left"... Around here I havent even seen any Holy Black, and the 777 and pyro that you can get costs $25 or more pound. He does live a lot closer to a big town (Bristol) so he may actually have the real thing. Either way, yeah, Im figuring the powder and balls to be worth at least a third, or more, of his asking price of $75.

Hehe.. Still gonna ASK if he'll toss some caps in too just the same! LOL ;)
 
Back when Val Forgett was still running Navy Arms Company, he offered many of the Colt designs in kit form. The price difference was only about $40.00 under the factory finished revolvers.

They were probably made by Armi San Marcos. The brass frame models were obviously very popular due to the price break. They just required cosmetic work, sanding and finishing wood and metal, mechanical timing was OK.
 
"The price difference was only about $40.00 under the factory finished revolvers."

Yep, and I charged $40 to put them together, unless the owner had already messed it up in which case I charged for the parts at retail.

Jim
 
Jim,

The irony of those NAC kits was the blueing on the metal parts was respectable, but one would have to strip off all the blueing to polish the heavy machine grind marks on the frame and barrel.

Then when they did all that was required, they ended up having to cold blue, using Birchwood Casey or "44-40 Blue" and the result was disappointing.

So there was the stickler, decent factory blue on rough ground parts or disappointing blueing on decent polish work.:banghead:

We did a few "completions" in our shop, too.;)
 
I received one for Christmas when i was 18. I still have it after 30 yrs. still locks up good. Probably put 1500 rounds through it.i shot a doe with it one time(6 yd shot). I retired it three years ago.
 
The earliest EMF price list that I have is marked December, 1979.

It has these "Colt Style Revolver" kits as well as two "Sherriff" models, a Walker and a Baby Dragoon listed:

KIT PER104 Brass Frame 1851 Navy Kit .36 & .44 Cal. $60

KIT PER104CH Steel Frame 1851 Navy Kit .36 & .44 Cal. $80

KIT PER104CHSQ Steel Frame 1851 Navy "Squareback" Kit .36 Cal. $89

KIT PER106 Steel Frame 1860 Army Kit .44 Cal. $85

Except for the "KIT" prefix, these stock numbers match the ASM finished models in their catalog and price list.

It also has kit forms for single shot rifles and pistols.

My EMF 1978 catalog also shows the kits but I do not have a price list for it.

I have several much earlier EMF catalogs (late 50's - early 60's) that do not show kits for sale.

My first BP revolver was a kit Remy that I built in the early 70's.

I was selling sporting goods at a department store called Shillito's in downtown Cincinnati then so it probably came from there.

I do not remember the brand but it was probably a Kasnar import.

Yea, back then you had to know how to sell firearms right along with the bicycles and the snow skis in an American department store.

It looked pretty rough but it put holes where I pointed it just fine!
 
I built one kit. That was all it took that convinced me I was money ahead to work overtime at my job rather than spend my time building a kit. From what I have read over the years the parts in the kits were factory seconds or rejects. "Hey Antonio what are we going to do with all these parts that we can't use. Well, we put them together as a kit and sell them to the dumb Americans. They won't know the difference and we don't have to pay to have them proofed." Antonio today is the company president.
 
Well I got it.. woohoo! Lol

Actually... It was a bit of a SCORE! But a tad confusing as well...

It is an ASM... Or at least the barrel assembly is. The frame has a cartushe (lol.. HOW the hell do I spell that???) on the bottom that im not sure IS asm. The wedge is also either messed up or wrong somehow... Also, its '60 barrel, and I think grip frame, But what seems to be a '51 frame??

On the up side, I got a little over a half a can of pyrodex p, almost a full box of hornady .454, almost a full tin of CCI #11 caps and an almost full tube of T/C maxi lube no.7305

Pix in a day or two... Just chilling with the ol' lady and some of the younguns may come by for Sunday supper...

All and all a good day... :)
 
Sounds like you got an 1860 Army kit gun, not an 1851 Navy. The confusion could be the naval battle scene on the cylinder. The 1851and 1860 had the Naval Battle Scene as does the 1861 Navy. 1851 and 1860 frames only differ in the water table of the frame being cut to accept the .44 cal rebated cylinder.

If the cartouche looks like this:
ASMMark1979.jpg
It's an Armi San Marco
 
Last edited:
Yup thats it... so it is an ASM.

The frame is water table cut for the .44 but not cut for the stock... Nor is there a notch for one in the handle, or the 4rth screw for one...
 
Oh.. One other thing.. No pins between the cylinders! The hammer IS cut for them however... Shrugs.. Weird right??
 
Yup Fingers, they are..

Hehe, incidentally, provided I can work the wedge issues out I'll soon be in the market for an ASM 1860 steel frame as well as a backstrap with the notch for a stock lol
 
Lol... Ok. Took pix and TRIED resizing them for the web on this windoze tablet.. Im used to doing stuff in linux so I have NO idea if this is gonna work or not :rolleyes:
 

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Just adding.. That first pic is what I got with it... the whole lot for $75.. :cool:
 
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