Gun show pick-up.
Reckon it is the least desirable caliber
in Colt SAA's but this was too slick to pass up.
1978 vintage.
Grip maker unknown.

don't keep us in suspense. what caliber is it? lee

The grips look very similar to the old Herrett Trooper stocks.

That is a nicelooking SAA. What caliber is it?

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Judge control not gun control!

Three fifty seven mag...

I have a 3rd gen 5 1/2 .357 that I'm quite fond of. It shoots straight and looks great.

The .357 SAA is an underappreciated package.

Nothing wrong with that one.
I absolutely Love the SAA and i have a few
in various calibers.
You did good Pard.


Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

I have two in .357. A 7 1/2 nickel plated, and a 5 1/2 blue/cch . Love them both. They are accurate handle recoil well and no worries about throat sizes and all that stuff like with my SAA .45s. Plus with most my S&Ws being 38/357 they fit right in.

I like it a lot.

Me too. I guess we shall just have to appreciate them enough to make up for all those that don't.


OP: I like the grips on yours.

A have 2nd and 3rd Generation Colt SAAs in 38/357 magnum and don't get why anyone wouldn't want one in this caliber. They're easier to shoot and cheaper to reload for then 45s.
Jim

I never understood why they sold a .38 Special, when the gun is so heavy that it should have .357 capability.
The weight and balance is best in .45 Colt caliber, which is very effective.


I wouldn't buy this gun in less than .44 caliber. But you need to check chamber throats and forcing cone sizes, as Colt has been sloppy with these, for which there is no excuse in such an expensive firearm.

Those stocks look like a set of Eagle stocks I had for one of my Ruger S/A .

.357 would be my first choice for a shooter....... good score!

The 38spl preceded the 357 magnum by many years. All of the later ones are chambered in 357 magnum but will of course handle 38spl as well. Keep in mind that the COLT SAA was also offered in 32 multiple calibers(32-20 for example) and in 22 before the smaller version was ever made for this caliber.
Jim

Many SAAs in .32-20 were made, and I believe the majority of the Bisley versions were chambered in .32-20. As a shooter, I'd take one in .357 before any other caliber.

I would have bought it

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

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.357 SAA........my favorite caliber SAA. First SAA I ever bought, 3rd Gen 1978. Since then I have also got my sweaty mitts on a .38WCF and a .45, all 3rd Gen. The .357 gets carried and used the most. I am on the look out for a .32WCF but being retired on a fixed income it may never happen. Of course, all three of mine are 4 3/4 barrels which if I ever get lucky, the .32WCF will need to be. OP.....beautiful revolver.

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Keep Shootin' and check 6

I'd love to have one in 38 special-I'd consider that to be perfect(but not with the 7.5 barrel)....then again,my 19 and 27s never saw anything but 38 specials. ;-)

I have an early 2nd Generation 4 3/4inch which is rare in that caliber with 357 in the ser#.

I was referring to postwar production, which began in .38 Special and .45 Colt. I thought the former should have been in .357.


I don't see the appeal of small calibers in this gun. I suppose the .32-20 shoots flat and one can own a rifle in the same caliber. But he could do that with a .38-40 or .44-40 and hit harder. I suppose ammo was cheaper and recoil less than with heavy calibers. People in the old days usually didn't shoot as much as many do now, and practicing with a .45 was probably expensive for the average man. Some people don't handle recoil well, either, not that I've found the SAA to kick a lot.


The Colt SAA got around. It was used enough by British officers in India that some depots stocked .44-40 and .45 Colt ammo. The leading shooting authority Lt. Col. Vincent Fosbery, VC, said that the .44-40 was the best "stopper" that he saw used in battle on the NW Frontier, in what is now Pakistan and over the border into Afghanistan. I respect his report, but he didn't mention whether he'd seen the .45 Colt used much. (See, "The Peacemaker and Its Rivals", by Parsons.)


Those who've read Sir Henry Rider Haggard's book, "King Solomon's Mines" will recall that the expedition, in South Africa, carried Colt SAAs, in "the heavier pattern of cartridge." That would be .45, as the only other chambering likely was then .44-40. The book was published in 1883, by a man who'd fought in the Zulu War of 1879. He had a lot more gun savvy than did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was woefully inept in choosing guns for Sherlock Holmes and the Challenger expedition of, "The Lost World."


Haggard also had his heroes carry Winchester rifles as well as heavy British double rifles.


If you can find, "Watusi" on DVD (I can't; I saw it in a theater about 1963) you'll see that hero Harry Quartermain, played by George Montgomery, also had a Colt SAA. I believe he shot a crocodile with it. I think a similar scene was in the 1950 version of, " King Solomons Mines". That Colt was wielded by Stewart Granger, as Alan Quartermain.


BTW, the movie misspelled "Watutsi". Members of that tribe were included. They portrayed the fictional Kukuana tribe of the book by Haggard. However, anyone who has studied the Zulu knows that he drew on that tribe for much of his inspiration. I wrote a college paper on the Zulu and picked up on that.


I have (somewhere) a book on guns in early South Africa, and it shows ads from the 1880's depicting Colt SAA revolvers.


I do not, however, think they were appropriate for the Sherlock Holmes series. Dr. Watson carried his old service revolver, but the make and model were never specified. I doubt that Doyle had any idea of what it might be. My guess is a .450 Adams, but I'd have wanted a SAA in .45 Colt if I was after the Hound of the Baskervilles. BAD doggie!