"Border Colt" FRT #?

[BrotherRockeye]

Does anyone have an FRT# for what is commonly referred to as a "Border Colt"
are they even listed in the FRT tables?

these are (usually) Spanish copies of 1873 Colt SAA circa late 1870's-1880's that were popular along the southern border because of price.
If anyone has an FRT# or better yet a screen capture of the page it would be much appreciated.

Obliged,
BR

 

[BrotherRockeye]

A PM would work too...

 

[BrotherRockeye]

anyone with access to the FRT..?

 

[BrotherRockeye]

btt

 

[BrotherRockeye]

oh c'mon lads...

 

[trevj]

I'm kinda surprised that the FRT, or at least, a copy of it, has not made it to the web.

Or has it? Checked around the torrent sites?

I'd kinda lean towards that the knock-offs were actually infringing upon Colt's Patents, that they like as not took pains to keep as few records as they could in order to reduce their exposure to litigation at the time, resulting in pretty sketchy abilities to prove or disprove the age to the satisfaction of the Firearms Act, no?

Good luck!

Cheers
Trev

 

[BrotherRockeye]

Thanks for the reply Trev,
I don't do torrents...
I don't think patent infringement was an issue. They are not as prolific as other copies of the time and are scarce .
The information I have found indicates they had a relatively short production life as well, likely dying out in the mid 1880s with the advent of smokeless powder.
Unlike, say the S&W copies I have seen, the Colt copies don't pretend to be Colts by faking Colt markings.
Those I have seen have no serial numbers or markings other than parts numbers.
They are a copy that can use some Colt parts but are not trying to pass themselves off as "Real Colts"
Some have solid grip frames that are a bit bigger, some are the same design as Colts.
Other than general appearance, in most cases it is obvious that they are not the genuine article.
Here's an example:

 

[LeRoy]

Hey Brother!
I thought that they were hard to tell the actual manufacture date on these?
I had a couple of chances at them, but could not get an CONFIRMED DoM.
And most have been 44WCF :'(


Later...

 

[rgbai]

this is the only thing that i found on dating the colt copies it looks like the only way of doing it is to look
for a Belgian made one with the pre 1893 proofmark.

http://www.bergersharpshooters.com/uploads/Mexican_Colt_Article.pdf

 

[BrotherRockeye]

LeRoy, I have seen 2 in 44Russian and 1 in 44Colt.

Great info rgbai, much obliged.That's more than all the info I've found on the internet put together...

 

[BrotherRockeye]

well after reading that info (thanks again rgbai) I'm happy to have missed the pictured iron.
The seller was in California and would not ship direct to Canada.
He stated it was chambered in .44 Colt but now I wonder if the barrel markings that said (iirc) "Colt 44 cal" didn't actually mean "it's a Colt in 44-40"
lol