Grant, such a successful military commander, lead his presidential administration so poorly? Why was Sam Colt’s son, Caldwell, such a wastrel and dandy?
All of these questions are what make history and collecting fascinating. We know, as Agent Mulder in The X Files television show did, that somewhere “the truth is out there.”
DOING OUR HOMEWORK
Normally, by the time we are old enough to invest in a Walker Colt we have heard “do your homework” applied to everything from schoolwork to the purchase of a new car to proposing to a potential spouse. Right from the start, we never liked homework, even though, paradoxically, we have always known that those who did their homework fared better: got a better price or a better grade or were accepted to a better school.
So we know, secretly but absolutely, in our heart of hearts, that we should avoid the impulse to buy that John Wayne Commemorative at a neighborhood gun show. Of course we enjoyed the movie True Grit, but it does not make you closer to the quiet man to purchase this gun before checking it out and learning its history and speculating honestly about its potential. (And once we have realized that commemorative guns are somewhat like the endless multitude of fishing lures, designed to attract fishermen as well as fish, we can make intelligent decisions about those quirky limited editions.)
So the truth is out there. Somewhere. As collectors and historians it is our duty to find it.
RICK SAPP
MARCH 2007
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA
PS: A NOTE ABOUT AUCTION RESULTS:
Throughout this book I have attempted to demonstrate the volatility of the Colt market by including internet auction results where appropriate. Sometimes the auction results gibe with the given value of guns in similar condition; sometimes they do not. Does this mean that the values I have cited are incorrect? No. It does, however, demonstrate the wide variations that sometimes occur in individual real-life auctions. I believe that the values cited in this book represent the average values that the reader will encounter, not only in internet auctions, but in retail gun shops and at local gun shows.
Happy hunting!
CONTENTS
SECTION I: COLT: TODAY AND TOMORROW
Rampant Colt: A Brief Biography of Samuel Colt
Collecting Colts: Pinnacles and Pitfalls
Firearms Engraving and Gun Values
SECTION II: COLT’S PERCUSSION REVOLVERS
SECTION III: COLT’S REVOLVERS & THE METALLIC CARTRIDGE
Metallic Cartridge Conversions
Deringers to New Models
Colt’s Deringers
In Transition to the Metallic Cartridge
The New Lines
Antique Single Action Army
Modern Era Single Action Army
SAA Prior to and During World War I
Post-World War II SAA Models
3rd Generation SAAs
Scout Model SAAs
Current SAA Production: 1982 to Present
SECTION IV: COLT’S DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVERS
The Early Models
The “New” Models
SECTION V: THE FABULOUS 1911S (AND OTHER SEMI-AUTOS)
Pre-1911 Model Semi-Automatics
About the 1911/1911A1 by Karl Karash
The Earliest 1911s
Enter the 1911A1
The Ace, Military Competition and Foreign
Series 70-80, 1991A1s, Model O, Eagles, Nines and Horses
The Colt Woodsman: Three Versions
U.S. Military Series Automatic Pistols
SECTION VI: COLT’S LONG GUNS
The Patersons
Antique Long Guns
The Side Hammers
Modern Long Guns Including Sporter and AR-15
The M16
