Well here goes nothing and I suppose there will be a crowd in front of my house soon . Equipped with Torches, pitchforks, Tar. Feathers & of course a rail ready to go. But I have had a good life. So here we go.
I am not a fan of the Colt 1873 Single action Army Revolver. Now I know that saying this is almost Treason and a threat to Society / the Youth of America.
I am also sure that the Beloved Skeeter Skelton is rising from his grave. As is The Duke, General Patton and Randolph Scott who are on their way to my hiding spot for a good Neck Tie / Lynching party.
But before the Army of the Dead descend upon me. here are a few words for my defense of this statement of mine.
The Colt Single Action Army is a very old design. Especially if you included some of the earlier models of revolving colt. We are then talking about 140 plus years. So this is no spring chicken of a pistol.
Next it can only safely carry 5 rounds. Especially with the older models of Colt. As a wise man will rests the long firing pin on a empty cylinder. Remember the old rule. Load one round and then skip the next.
Otherwise if you drop it or have something heavy hits the hammer. There is a good chance that a large chunk of lead is going to be doing some unsupervised flying around. Which usually not a good idea.
The next issue that comes to mind is the relative over all strength of this pistol. Especially since I have seen examples of blown up ones, Which were due to either a plugged barrel of some sort or a overcharged / badly reloaded ammo round.
You know that had to hurt and I am very sure that it left a mark on some poor soul.
Another thing that comes to mind also is the issue of reloading Now I know that I am spoiled rotten. Especially since I got my Sig Saur. As of today, when I run low on ammo, Well I just hit the magazine release and insert another magazine.
On the other hand. You have to eject each and every spent cartridge, Then cycle the cylinder and reload each chamber with a fresh round. Now just imagine doing that all the while some body is trying heir best to kill you.
That is why the smart guys either had a shotgun or a lever action rifle with them. When they expected trouble of some sort, Even today Cops keep a riot shotgun in their squad car for just this reason.
But the thing that really gets me hot at night is the on going price war of buying one of these guns.Now do not get me wrong on this. I understand a few things. Like the following
* They are not making them any more (Colt S.A.A.)
* They were never cheap in the 1st place
* Every Kid from the Bloomers and beyond have seen a huge number of Westerns on the TV, Internet, Netflix etc etc.
* The price of labor and steel are sky high
* It also takes a lot of skilled Labor to make one of these
But if I am going to spend this kind of money. Sorry but I would buy a nice Colt Python instead of a SAA. Because I can get a better pattern with the Snake gun than I can with the SAA.
But the last and biggest problem withe the SAA is the sights. Now I have owned a couple of Colt Single Actions 1st generation. I have also either owned & or fired the Ruger’s and a few Italian Copies a couple of times.
However I have never been able to get a pattern smaller than a dinner plate nor could the Son & Heir. Who is a hell of a lot better shooter. Because of the huge front sight. Which if you want to adjust your point of impact. One has to take a file to it in order to move your zero.
***Useful information / hint when buying an Old SAA 1st Generation.***
Check out the front sight to see if someone has done an correcting. If not you either have an untouched gun or someone has swapped barrels on it.