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Published German Purchase Colt Model 1878 Double-Action Revolver Chambered in .44 S&W Russian
Guns International #: 103544201 Seller's Inventory #: 52686
Category: Colt Revolvers - Double Action Pre-War - Colt Revolvers - Antique
Seller's Information
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Seller: Joe Salter com
Company: Down East Antiques - Joe Salter
Member Since: 9/10/10
First Name: Garrick-March-Jim-Joe
Last Name: Salter
State: New Hampshire
Zip: 03031
Country: United States
Phone: (603) 732-4000
Fax: (603) 732-4200
Platinum Seller
Number of Active Listings: 1307
Total Number of Listings: 26204
Seller: FFL Dealer
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $500! We also have a 30 day Inspection Period and NOT a 3 day Inspection.
Payment Types Accepted: We take all major credit cards with NO CREDIT CARD FEES! Also Check or Money order.
About Us: Joe Salter has been in the Antique and Collector Weapons business for 60 years as both a collector and dealer. Our company is based in Southern New Hampshire and we have had an internet based store front for the past 20 years. We are federally licensed and deal in all types of firearms and related material. We offer free Shipping for orders over $500.
Description:
Serial #18534, .44 Russian, 5 1/2" barrel with a very good bore that has areas of mild freckling about midway down, as well as within the grooves. This is an 1887-made revolver, one of only 728 chambered in .44 Russian, that has retained 75-80% of the original bright blue finish with the balance turned to a mellow plum-brown blending with mottled gray along the exposed edges and projections. London proofs are present on the barrel, frame, and cylinder, with German proofs also present on the frame and cylinder, and matching numbers are present on the cylinder, "534." The trigger and hammer have some traces of original bright fire-bluing remaining, and the balance turned to a mottled gray-brown. The revolver is fitted with Colt hard rubber grips that have worn slightly and display some very mild flattening of the points on either side. The lock-up is still tight and the action functions in both single and double-action. This very revolver is pictured on page 281 of "Colt’s Double-Action Revolver Model of 1878" by Don Wilkerson (1998), and was part of a large order for 627 blued Model 1878s with 5 1/2" barrels from Stuttgart gunmaker Paul Reuss, who was actively attempting to get the Prussian government to adopt the Model 1878 revolver, and forwarded to Hartford in 1886 by Frederick von Oppen, manager of Colt’s London Agency. This particular revolver was shipped as part of a 100 gun shipment to the London Agency on February 22, 1887, for forwarding on to Reuss in Stuttgart. A 1982-dated Colt factory letter confirms the shipment date and configuration. It should be noted that these revolvers were not stamped with a caliber designation originally, and the shipping crates were never opened in London, so no British proofs were applied during the London Agency’s initial receipt. According to the book, those were instead applied two years later, when this revolver was shipped back to London for subsequent commercial sale to Australia or New Zealand. Nearly all of the Model 1878 revolvers made in the .44 Russian chambering were exported and very few ever made it back to the United States, making this a very rare high condition, reference book-published example. Antique;
SOLD
Antique: Yes