1873 colt .45

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bobdbldr

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This is for all the old ways / antique gun experts, a sponsor here is offering a colt 1873 cylinder to change your 1873 pre 1898 pistol to .45 acp and thereby be able to deregister it to Antique. I don't think you can do that but leave it to you folks who are more in the know, but I thought if it was designed for a (non Antique cartridge such as the colt .45) then you were a restricted gun, period!
Thanks for your help clearing this up.
Cheers Bob
 
vviking said:
.45 Colt is on the no go list, .45acp is not.
If the frame is pre 1898 and the cal. is not on the list ... it's antique status.
I believe the test is whether or not a .45 Colt cart. will chamber.
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Ha, damn if that's true I have been letting a bunch of old guns go by that I can buy and get a .45acp cylinder and bang, Antique, and I have some apologizing to do!! Gunbroker is gonna break me !
 
The trade off is that you destroy an antique which had the misfortune of being chambered for a "prohib" calibre and thus destroy its value as a piece of history.
And when TSHTF the re-chambered gun will be declared restricted.
I rest my case.
 
A friend of mine purchased his antique Colt SAA in the states this past year. It was originally a 45 Colt and said so on the barrel, but had a 455 Eley cylinder. At the border, the customs folks could see '45 Colt' clearly stamped on the barrel, so they tested to see if a 45 Colt case would chamber. My friend had a case along to prove it and it would not chamber so they gave him the green light. My preference is if you are going to re-chamber a pre 1898 Colt SAA from 45 Colt or 44-40 to a caliber not on the no-go list, try and go with an antique caliber such as 455 Eley, 45 Schofield or 44 Russian (in the case of the 44-40 replacement). By the way, if you are going to go the 455 Eley route, it is nice to have the chambers reamed so that it will also chamber the 45 Schofield.
 
Win 38-55 said:
A friend of mine purchased his antique Colt SAA in the states this past year. It was originally a 45 Colt and said so on the barrel, but had a 455 Eley cylinder. At the border, the customs folks could see '45 Colt' clearly stamped on the barrel, so they tested to see if a 45 Colt case would chamber. My friend had a case along to prove it and it would not chamber so they gave him the green light. My preference is if you are going to re-chamber a pre 1898 Colt SAA from 45 Colt or 44-40 to a caliber not on the no-go list, try and go with an antique caliber such as 455 Eley, 45 Schofield or 44 Russian (in the case of the 44-40 replacement). By the way, if you are going to go the 455 Eley route, it is nice to have the chambers reamed so that it will also chamber the 45 Schofield.
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Wow, this is news to me, so the feds must look at it as being redesigned for an acceptable cartridge? The cylinder that irunguns is thinking of bringing in will be a replacement for the first gen .45 colt, so it won't destroy the original, I never thought you could just change cylinders and make the gun a legal Antique! I am going to have to look at gunbroker in totally different way. There are a few restricted calibers that I have been staying away from because the gun was designed for it but this is a twist that may make them worth while bringing in!
Cheers Bob
 
Win 38-55 said:
A friend of mine purchased his antique Colt SAA in the states this past year. It was originally a 45 Colt and said so on the barrel, but had a 455 Eley cylinder. At the border, the customs folks could see '45 Colt' clearly stamped on the barrel, so they tested to see if a 45 Colt case would chamber. My friend had a case along to prove it and it would not chamber so they gave him the green light. My preference is if you are going to re-chamber a pre 1898 Colt SAA from 45 Colt or 44-40 to a caliber not on the no-go list, try and go with an antique caliber such as 455 Eley, 45 Schofield or 44 Russian (in the case of the 44-40 replacement). By the way, if you are going to go the 455 Eley route, it is nice to have the chambers reamed so that it will also chamber the 45 Schofield.
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you might wanna slug your barrel to avoid possible trouble before trusting this one, as 44wcf(44-40) is .427 and 44R is .429 cast usually .430
not a huge difference but something to keep in mind.
 
Good luck on Gunbroker. The price on pre 98 Colts is really climbing over the Past 12 months or so.
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Sure 'nuff is that a fact Win 38-55.
And, just as I <belatedly> came to realize, that my life is empty without a .45 Schofield SAA. (no thanks to you sir!:p)
Funny how that happens.
Soon as we've gotten ourselves all set up fer .44 Special .... .. (not suggesting that .44 is without considerable merit, mind you.)

Would you consider re-posting a pic of your alpha shooter?. Some of us are in need of our midwinter fix.

it is nice to have the chambers reamed so that it will also chamber the 45 Schofield.
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Would .45 Schofield be a feasable rechamber with one of IRUNGUNS .45 acp cyl's. ?.
 
I was thinking of all the guns on gunbroker that are chambered in .45 and .44-40 that could be reamed/ bored to a legal antique cartridge!! If a person did that,, even to an 1873 .45 colt,, would the feds give you an antique letter!? even with .45 colt written on it?
 
When responding to these threads, the responsible antique shooter should keep in mind that ONE single sufficiently irresponsible act with an antique status pistol may set in motion a chain events that leads to a change in the current gun laws. Some questions are best left unanswered.
 
the biggest problem with these .45 acp conversion is people thinking they can shoot factory .45 acp in a antique that's a good way to destroy a antique it may not be you but maybe the next person who gets it
 
Darkwater said:
When responding to these threads, the responsible antique shooter should keep in mind that ONE single sufficiently irresponsible act with an antique status pistol may set in motion a chain events that leads to a change in the current gun laws. Some questions are best left unanswered.
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don't matter antiques are not track able unless you have a antique letter in your name for it I don't have one for a single antique I own
 
bobdbldr said:
I was thinking of all the guns on gunbroker that are chambered in .45 and .44-40 that could be reamed/ bored to a legal antique cartridge!
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I just checked GunBroker for Colt SAA 'Antique' category. There are 50 at the moment and not all of them qualify as legal antiques and the final selling prices appear to be pretty high for the 44 and 45 caliber ones. Remember that the Colt SAA must be made before 1898. A friend of mine attended a major gun show in Florida last week. He was looking for a 'cheap' Colt SAA that was made before 1898. The price of the well used ones were $6,500 to $8,000 and many dealers had signs stating 'Antiques Wanted'. My brother-in-law is an American living in the States, and he said that because of fear that Obama may be planning to restrict firearms or eventually ban them, a lot of Americans he knows are trying to get antique Colts since they are not regulated down there. If the Florida gun show was any indication the main obstacle to owning a shootable antique status Colt is $$$. If you can get one already in an antique caliber for under $4,000 that might be a good deal. Here is a photo of one dated to 1882 that is chambered in 45 Schofield and restored to original factory spec, including cylinder gap, end play, etc. and it was closer to $5,000 and that was a few years ago ...

Colt-Left.jpg
 
kinda makes the $4500 ones that show up on the EE that are already "antique status" look pretty good doesn't it...

oh, nice iron 38-55...almost didn't recognize you with the new(ish) avatar pic :p
 
Would you consider re-posting a pic of your alpha shooter?. Some of us are in need of our midwinter fix.
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Ahhh, there she is. w:h:
Thank You Win.:D
There is an obscure commandment: "Covet not thy fellow members SAA."
That Schofield, ... COVET ... :evil:.


Win 38-55 said:
Here is a photo of one dated to 1882 that is chambered in 45 Schofield and restored to original factory spec, including cylinder gap, end play, etc. and it was closer to $5,000 and that was a few years ago ...

Colt-Left.jpg
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antiqueguy said:
don't matter antiques are not track able unless you have a antique letter in your name for it I don't have one for a single antique I own
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The thing is the letter just says that the particular gun is Antique, and I have gotten a good few letters sent to me and decided not to bid on or have gotten out bid!So the feds don't know if you bought it or bought and resold it or I do in fact have it! It is good peace of mind for myself to know before I buy and after to show LE folks that the gun is in fact an antique and I have a document to prove it, also good to show prospective buyers. Which by the way I have sold all of mine, to an old guy in a rusty ford f150, had a beard and a limp! ;0)
Win 38-55, that is one sweeet firearm!
 
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