Texas Paterson 1836

Eons ago, Buddy Hackett, a well known comedian and gun guy, was on The Tonight Show. Carson asked him about his collection(men were men then and firearms didn't scare 'em). Hackett talked about a Paterson he traded for. Cost him 100 guns and $36,000 USD(that was about 3 years pay then).
Oh and Paterson's had nothing to do with Texas. Don't think I'd part with $675 for a Pietta.
 
If you have the money I would forget about the Patterson and buy yourself one of the Lemat replicas.I had one years ago and it was a blast to shoot.It has a nine 44cal shot cylinder and a 20ga smooth bore barrel to boot.I had the Navy model with the barrel selector on top of the hammer which is the best in my opinion
 
sunray said:
Eons ago, Buddy Hackett, a well known comedian and gun guy, was on The Tonight Show. Carson asked him about his collection(men were men then and firearms didn't scare 'em). Hackett talked about a Paterson he traded for. Cost him 100 guns and $36,000 USD(that was about 3 years pay then).
Oh and Paterson's had nothing to do with Texas. Don't think I'd part with $675 for a Pietta.
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"Opinions from those that really know the truth."

The title disturbs you? And absolutely nothing in your answer was asked for right here.

Amazing!!

thank you
 
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A shooting buddy has one and it was neat to shoot. Points pretty well and feels good in the hand. Accuracy was as good as my model 1851.
I say go for it, you won't be disappointed :)
 
They are pretty nifty. I love the one I have - other than a pain in the butt to load, I can see how they were so revolutionary.

Another question: Anyone know someone who might be an authority about the originals? I have some questions that I would like answered myself.
 
sunray said:
...... Don't think I'd part with $675 for a Pietta.
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Is that because you don't like Italian replicas or is it because you don't think any Pietta is worth that much?

If it were not for the Italian replicas very few of us would get to shoot the old originals and a big amount of the historical feel we get from shooting black powder would be lost. They may be copies but for all but a select few it's as close as we'll ever get to the real thing. So even if the Pietta guns have a few rough edges that need attention it's still not just the best game in town for cost to grin factors but for the vast majority of us the ONLY game in town.

Pietta quality has come up a long way from what it was back in the early 90's. They are now as good in most ways as Uberti guns. So it's not an issue of quality either. Besides, it's not like Uberti makes a replica of a Patterson, Lemat or the others that are exclusive to Pietta. So any sort of comparison between those two brands is rather moot.

Brutus, buying anything mechanical is always a gamble of some sort. And certainly both the Italian black powder makers have shown that they don't get ALL the details right. But if you're after a Paterson I'd suggest that the basic parts are there and a little checking over and possibly a bit of fine tuning of the set up will produce a good shooting gun that lives for a good long time.

The one spot that neither Uberti nor Pietta seems to get right is the barrel to arbor fit on the open tops. So there's lots of stories and instructions on how to correct this. I don't know about the Patterson but if they run true to the other open top Colt replicas you'll need to add an adjustable screw to the front of the arbor or glue or solder a packing piece onto the nose of the arbor. This is needed so that the wedge will lock the barrel in the right spot to achieve a correct and consistent cylinder gap. As I typed I have not seen the Paterson but the other 8 Italian open tops I've owned or inspected from friends all share the same issue. So it's likely that the Paterson would share this problem. The good news is that it's easy to correct.
 
I've owned two 9" Texas Patersons. Points better than a P-08! Nice guns, horrendous trigger pull that no one seems to know how to tame.

Also a PITA to load unless you have one modified with the cut in the recoil shield and loading lever mod. Mine were the "squareback" models, meaning the cylinder had to be removed to load and cap it. That's OK for plinking, not for a 10 stage CAS match, IMHO.

And IIRC, being a 5 shooter(?), you can't load all chambers and lower the hammer on a capped chamber, meaning you have to load it in the clock- if you can with the mods mentioned above.
 
Yeah, with only 5 chambers you'd have to cap the fifth one on the line and under the timing. Not the sort of thing that wins matches. Mind you sometimes it's not about the competition but how much fun such things can be.

All in all it would seem to be more the sort of thing that folks would own for range days more than for matches.
 
Originally Posted by sunray
Paterson's had nothing to do with Texas.
Sharps '63 said:
Other than the fact that they were carried by the Texas Rangers.
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Sunray strikes again.
Quick history lesson for him (not that it's likely to sink in):-

In 1839 the Republic of Texas Navy ordered 180 Paterson revolvers from Colt, and later the Texas Army ordered another 40.
All were shipped and paid for, and by about 1843 the revolvers somehow came into the possession of the Texas Rangers under the command of the famous Jack Hays.
The first time the Patersons were used in battle was in June, 1844, at Walker's Creek, about 50 miles north of San Antonio, where Hays and 15 other rangers charged and fought a band of about 75 Penateka Comanches.
The initial running fight lasted over an hour, and finished with 40 Comanches dead or wounded. One Ranger was killed, and four wounded, one of them being Samuel Walker (google Walker Colt) who was pinned to the ground by a Comanche lance.
So, this is a very condensed version of what happened, however it would lead me to believe that Patersons did, in fact, have something to do with Texas.

You're welcome,
Dave F.
 
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I believe that one of the Colt cylinder rolled engravings commemorates that battle. I could refer to one of my several Colt volumes for confirmation (or look at the cylinder of my Colt 2nd Gen Dragoon), but what the hay, most of you guys already know that stuff.

Why do people beak off when they are talking through their hats? That ain't the "Cowboy Way".
 
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