On another thread on my wilderness rig, a couple fellows mentioned that they'd like to see some photos of my antique Colt and the knife. The Colt SAA is chambered in 45 Schofield and dates to 1882. It has been completely restored somewhere in the USA, but I don't know who did it. The auction in the USA suggested it might be either Turnbulls or Lanara, but I have no way of finding out, as they had no further info. Another restorer personally looked at it and figured it was Lanara. The auction info did state, however, that the Colt has been authenticated as a genuine U.S. Artillery piece by David Lanara and went on to talk about the various markings. The mechanics are perfect with zero endplay and a very tight cylinder to cone gap of a few thou. I have a pretty spartan budget for antique sixguns, and have had to sell all of them except this particular one, which is a keeper for me. Here's a couple photos ....
For those of you not familiar with the 45 Schofield cartridge, it was invented for the US Cavalry in the mid-1870's, used for a while along with the 45 Colt, and then retired. The cartridge is obsolete and you have to load your own today. For comparison, the photo below shows a 45 Colt case on the left, a 45 Schofield case in the middle, and a 45 ACP case on the right. As you can see, a 45 Colt cartridge will not fit in a 45 Schofield chamber, as it is considerably too long.
I load my 45 Schofield to fire a 250 grain cast bullet out the barrel at around 850 fps. The pressure is a little low, judging from the dirty cases, but I prefer to take it easy on my sixgun, because I shoot it quite a bit.
As for the knife, there isn't much to say except that I really like it and it has been my main knife for the past few years. It was made by Chisholm's Trail in the USA. The blade is what he calls Solingen steel. It doesn't seem to be the hardest steel, but I can field dress and skin two bucks with it before I start feeling that it needs a touch up. The handle is Sambar Stag. The fellow had a shipment of it and I told him to make the handle extra thick from side to side, which he did. The blade is 6". I'd like a longer blade in case a Cougar lands on my head, but on the other hand, I find that 6" is the best compromise for me and every day wearing in the bush. It is mostly used for cleaning deer and fish.
For those of you not familiar with the 45 Schofield cartridge, it was invented for the US Cavalry in the mid-1870's, used for a while along with the 45 Colt, and then retired. The cartridge is obsolete and you have to load your own today. For comparison, the photo below shows a 45 Colt case on the left, a 45 Schofield case in the middle, and a 45 ACP case on the right. As you can see, a 45 Colt cartridge will not fit in a 45 Schofield chamber, as it is considerably too long.
I load my 45 Schofield to fire a 250 grain cast bullet out the barrel at around 850 fps. The pressure is a little low, judging from the dirty cases, but I prefer to take it easy on my sixgun, because I shoot it quite a bit.
As for the knife, there isn't much to say except that I really like it and it has been my main knife for the past few years. It was made by Chisholm's Trail in the USA. The blade is what he calls Solingen steel. It doesn't seem to be the hardest steel, but I can field dress and skin two bucks with it before I start feeling that it needs a touch up. The handle is Sambar Stag. The fellow had a shipment of it and I told him to make the handle extra thick from side to side, which he did. The blade is 6". I'd like a longer blade in case a Cougar lands on my head, but on the other hand, I find that 6" is the best compromise for me and every day wearing in the bush. It is mostly used for cleaning deer and fish.
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