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Picture Page September 2013 A tale of two Colts.......... Every once in a while, I get away from the cartridges and cartridge boxes, and focus on one of the guns that uses the old ammo that has fascinated me for the last 40 years of my life. I received the Colt Single Action Army revolver shown in the pictures below in a trade around 10 years ago for a Winchester Model 1873 .44-40 carbine that I was really fond of. While I have never regretted making the trade, as has been the case with most of the guns I have turned loose of over the years, I do occasionally long to have the the carbine back in my small gun collection with the Colt.
. . . . . . This is a standard production blued, caliber .38-40 Colt, with a 7 1/2" barrel, and hard rubber grips. What it has going for it is that it is in great condition with the most significant wear limited to a couple of inches at the end of the barrel and the end of the ejector rod, the result of from being carried and stored in it's holster. The grips show the most wear, likely from years of handling rather than heavy use. The serial number 343,489 indicates it was made in 1922. Only about 1500 of these revolvers were produced that year; production of these 'first generation' Colts ended 18 years and about 14,370 revolvers later with the start of World War 2, the last serial number being 357,859.
. . . . . . With the revolver came the really nice basket weave holster shown below. It was made in the Denver, Colorado shop of H. H. Heiser. While it is possible that the holster was not purchased originally with the pistol, the two were made about the same time, and I'd like to believe that they have been together since then.
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. . . . . . The holster is in excellent condition, with clear markings on the back and on the brass retaining strap button. Note the S A 7 1/2 added next to the maker's mark, probably by a retailer or perhaps one of the holster's owners; I suspect this added mark was not applied at the Heiser shop, as the pattern number (1810) should have indicated what gun it was intended for.
. . . . . The most interesting thing about this revolver is in it's authentication letter, which was obtained by the previous owner from Colt's Archive Services. I have removed his name and address to protect his privacy. These letters for a Single Action Army revolver currently are $100 for a plain Jane revolver such as this one, and it proves to be a big disappointment when the gun you are hoping to authenticate as being correct is revealed by the letter to have been modified in some way. The first letter received by the previous owner indicated just that, with #343,489 being reported as having a nickel finish and a 5 1/2" barrel. The letter also indicated that it had been shipped along with nine others on September 1, 1922 to firearms and sporting goods distributor Wolf & Klar in Fort Worth, Texas.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It was obvious from the condition of the revolver that it had not been refinished, so he made a phone call to the Colt Historian, who after looking further into the company archives, sent the revised letter shown above. Apparently, another revolver with the same serial number was shipped on the same day to the Logan-Gregg Hardware Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The revolver described in the 'Remarks' section of the letter, the second one found by the historian, is the one that is now in my collection and pictured above. What strikes me as odd is that the historian did not put the description of the correct revolver in the first section of the letter and the description for the the 'evil twin' in the remarks section. As the letter reads now, it appears that the nickeled revolver was the subject of the letter of authentication, with the correct revolver being just an afterthought. So, what are the odds of my locating the other #343,489 and reuniting it with its not so identical twin? .
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