Antique 1849 Colt- New to me.

Musketfire

Musketfire

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Hello Gentlemen,

Today,Thanks to one of our members I became the steward of a fantastic historical arm, A original Colt 1849.

Her serial number falls within 38***, anyone with production dates/information I would love to know.

This one comes with a bit of a interesting history tagged to it, being rediscovered after a cabin fire, she was found somewhere in the structure.

So far I have only given her a cursory inspection and a generous oiling with breakfree.

Some screws need replacing, she needs a new mainspring as the present one looks like a altered saw blade.

The wedge comes out but the barrel is still frozen on the arbor pin, the cylinder moves and indexes.

The bore is dark with lots of rifling.

So far I believe I will need to replace the main spring, some internal parts and the nipples, not to mention the grips.

So here you are a antique Percussion Colt 1849 5 shot that's been in Canada for a long while!

I am tickled to be able to work on it, shes a real beauty!

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Nice find.
Kroil is you friend, Williams in Port Perry usually has it on the shelf.
I have a Werndl that I had to soak for near a month to get the breach block out.
 
That is a great find and a worthy project. Here is a link to information on the date of manufacture and if you scroll all the way down to the bottom and click on Home you will see that they sell parts for these guns as well. I bought some screws and after-market grips and other parts from them.

http://coltparts.com/Dates_of_Mfg.html
 
It looks like the metal is very straight and smooth. Maybe even a bit of silver still? If it cleans up and works well, I know of an original one piece grip in 90% condition, likely up for a trade. Very nice project.
 
Very cool, I will need a cap and ball revolver in the near future if i can find a way to get it past the accounts dept.

I had an antique Colt 1860 Army that I bought at an auction back in the early 1980s. I once shot a gopher with it at 145 paces, which proves that if you try long enough the gods will eventually tire of your stupidity and let you hit the target just to stop the annoyance.

Wish I still had it. I was forced to sell that beauty when Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the rest of that band of cuck sockers brought in the National Energy Program and poleaxed Alberta's economy. Two youg kids at the time needed to eat worse than I needed to collect old guns.
 
oldiron said:
It looks like the metal is very straight and smooth. Maybe even a bit of silver still? If it cleans up and works well, I know of an original one piece grip in 90% condition, likely up for a trade. Very nice project.
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I am looking for a set of new or reproduction grips for an 1860, any tips would be appreciated. It is for a 1880 vintage SAA that has 1860 grip frame - must have been a guy with big hands owned it at one time. The 1860 grip frame fits the 1873 SAA but is longer and better suited to larger hands. Grips are hard to find though.
 
jethunter said:
I am looking for a set of new or reproduction grips for an 1860, any tips would be appreciated. It is for a 1880 vintage SAA that has 1860 grip frame - must have been a guy with big hands owned it at one time. The 1860 grip frame fits the 1873 SAA but is longer and better suited to larger hands. Grips are hard to find though.
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Dixie has OK repro grips, OC Young has a nice set, orig, but 500 bucks.:rolleyes:
 
jethunter said:
Very cool, I will need a cap and ball revolver in the near future if i can find a way to get it past the accounts dept.

I had an antique Colt 1860 Army that I bought at an auction back in the early 1980s. I once shot a gopher with it at 145 paces, which proves that if you try long enough the gods will eventually tire of your stupidity and let you hit the target just to stop the annoyance.

Wish I still had it. I was forced to sell that beauty when Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the rest of that band of cuck sockers brought in the National Energy Program and poleaxed Alberta's economy. Two youg kids at the time needed to eat worse than I needed to collect old guns.
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Very nice Musketfire, a wonderful project, enjoy that project. :rockOn: Jethunter you are just too funny, except that it,s not funny, about that time I had a whole bunch of old guns of my Uncles including a 1860 army and 1861 navy that I had to sell :( because that sob broke the west, I just hope all cgnutters think about this when they go to vote for the new trudeau regime. Plus on account of that a hole and his metric I don,t how long my barrels are anymore. Cheers
 
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oldiron said:
It looks like the metal is very straight and smooth. Maybe even a bit of silver still? If it cleans up and works well, I know of an original one piece grip in 90% condition, likely up for a trade. Very nice project.
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Thanks!

Yes she is in absolutely great shape, when I get the barrel off of her I will take plenty of pictures, Im going to be taking my time as I cannot imagine being so lucky to get a second crack at one.

Its been a dream of mine since I was a kid to have one of these...So yes Im tickled.

Old iorn,what kind of trade are we thinking for the grips??

Rob
 
So here's my take on grips. The top gun with the ivorys has about 95 % silver. The centre one has about 75 %. The bottom one about 25 %. The spare grips came with the gun with ivory grips, original to it, as are the ivory grips. I could put the spare grips on the centre (75%) gun, and the centre guns grips on the bottom gun, and deal off the bottom ones.
I think the grips should match the condition of the gun. So if your gun cleans up really nice, you should have grips to match. And a well worn gun should have nice but worn grips.
See what you need when you see what you got. (not ivorys tho)..

click to see.
 
I would have put original grips on my 1849 Pocket if I could find them..it wasn't to be. I agree the old grips look better on an old gun but I am pleased with the after-market grips on this one..the fit isn't perfect but it isn't too bad either.

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Oldiron, WOW nice group of old 49's, The ivory grips are real nice!
This coming weekend Im going to try to pull the barrel off again "after its been soaking in break-free for a week" Then well see what we have!

Skinny, that's a real nice 1849 there!, Lots of cylinder scene left, she looks tight!

Cheers Gentlemen!
 
jethunter said:
I am looking for a set of new or reproduction grips for an 1860, any tips would be appreciated. It is for a 1880 vintage SAA that has 1860 grip frame - must have been a guy with big hands owned it at one time. The 1860 grip frame fits the 1873 SAA but is longer and better suited to larger hands. Grips are hard to find though.
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Gungrip.com and tombstonegrip.com

OK
 
SIGP2101 said:
I have six shooter original 1849 all matching. All I see here is 5 shooters. Is mine something special?
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The 6 shooters are more rare, and worth a bit more than a 5er. And yes, all old Colts are something special. (especially with a pic)..

A note about the grip thing, the factory grips were fitted and finished to each gun as the frames are never quite the same. That's why the penciled SN in the grips. So swapping from gun to gun doesn't always have the best wood to metal fit.
 
An interesting project Musketfire, just bear in mind that this gun will never be a collectable 49 Colt.
Whatever you spend on this project just bear this in mind.

This pistol has its own history and if it was in a fire that is pretty brutal.
The fact that you want to try to restore it is a challenge on your part.

Colt collectors can be very picky.

The best of luck with this endeavour.

David

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Manufactured in 1855.
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Hi David. That's a fine condition '49'. The cylinder scene looks like new. What was the second screw in the bottom of the strap in aid of? Maybe a lanyard ring?
 
oldiron,

I have no idea about the purpose of the second screw.

The cylinder scene is pretty decent on this 49…. that is the principal reason that I bought it......as well as the amount of remaining silver.

There is no shortage of 49s available from U.S. dealers as so many were produced.

David
 
Hi David,


I know shes not a pristine example, but shes a real beauty to me- and her Canadian pedigree and how she came back into the light makes her real pretty to my eye!

As a added bonus, because shes so "well used" I will have no qualms with replacing parts, Yes shes a challenging project and that is what I like....In all honesty I could not afford a amazing pristine example such as yours!

Your Old 49 looks like she was just yesterday bought from the general store on the way to the frontier, shes a real beauty!!

Cheers

Rob
 
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