Colt SAA Rebuild, King Sights, Ivory, S&W Sights

So here's the deal. Once upon a time I bought some grips off of ebay, Ivory grips that I thought were Bisley, but may be some form of Keith No. 5.

They are really nicely made, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them since I bought them. Then I saw this this picture and my course was set:



The parts for the project so far:





My early 1900s SAA needs a re-build anyway, and it's already been converted to .44 Special. Why not just go the whole nine yards and turn it into a "King" Keith No. 5?

Aside from the re-finish and rebuild of the gun itself (which is mostly good, but the hammer needs some work I believe, and the base pin is strangely difficult to remove) I'll be needing the hammer to be modified in the style of a King hammer, and of course the sights installed, along with whatever work is necessary to fit the gun to the grips (which I can't imagine is exactly the easiest thing in the world.

Anyone know who I might talk to to do this work? It looks like Hamilton Bowen does some fun projects from time to time, but aside from him I'm not certain who might be capable and interested in taking on a custom project like this.

Cool project! I don't have any personal knowledge of an adequate gunsmith though....

I had Andy Horvath do my #5 on a Colt New Frontier for a flat top look, I would also have him make the improved cylinder pin latch. The stocks were meant to be temporary as I will replace them with ivory and I am considering having the gun engraved

You will also need proper leather.

Colt DID make a option of a extra long grip frame many years ago that I believe was the same or similar to the longer grip frame on the 1860 army.
I think there is some chance they offered it again as a option some years ago. There were two well known different king Gun shops through the years. One up in san francisco area and one that may still be around glendale california. My old friend and mentor, "Duke" Duvall was a BIL to the owner, Arnold "AL" Capone. Here is a similar colt saa with long grips they made up that duke owned. It is in .22LR and it has a 22 barrel inset in the 45 cal barrel that go`s through the front third of the cylinder and the back two thirds is in .22. Duke said they just did it for kicks.

feralmerril said:

Colt DID make a option of a extra long grip frame many years ago that I believe was the same or similar to the longer grip frame on the 1860 army.
I think there is some chance they offered it again as a option some years ago. There were two well known different king Gun shops through the years. One up in san francisco area and one that may still be around glendale california. My old friend and mentor, "Duke" Duvall was a BIL to the owner, Arnold "AL" Capone. Here is a similar colt saa with long grips they made up that duke owned. It is in .22LR and it has a 22 barrel inset in the 45 cal barrel that go`s through the front third of the cylinder and the back two thirds is in .22. Duke said they just did it for kicks.

Click to expand...

I can't tell from that picture, did the long grip frame have the little round cutout at the top like the Bisley?

No it didnt.

SixgunStrumpet said:

So here's the deal. Once upon a time I bought some grips off of ebay, Ivory grips that I thought were Bisley, but may be some form of Keith No. 5.

They are really nicely made, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them since I bought them. Then I saw this this picture and my course was set:

The parts for the project so far:

My early 1900s SAA needs a re-build anyway, and it's already been converted to .44 Special. Why not just go the whole nine yards and turn it into a "King" Keith No. 5?

Aside from the re-finish and rebuild of the gun itself (which is mostly good, but the hammer needs some work I believe, and the base pin is strangely difficult to remove) I'll be needing the hammer to be modified in the style of a King hammer, and of course the sights installed, along with whatever work is necessary to fit the gun to the grips (which I can't imagine is exactly the easiest thing in the world.

Anyone know who I might talk to to do this work? It looks like Hamilton Bowen does some fun projects from time to time, but aside from him I'm not certain who might be capable and interested in taking on a custom project like this.

Click to expand...

Maybe it's just me, but I like the look of your pistol the way it is. It's showing it's experience. If it were mine I'd put stocks on it and shoot it the way it is. (assuming it's sound of course)

Bkreutz said:

Maybe it's just me, but I like the look of your pistol the way it is. It's showing it's experience. If it were mine I'd put stocks on it and shoot it the way it is. (assuming it's sound of course)

Click to expand...

It's sound-ish, and does have stocks on it. The ivory sort of glares them out since they are the original black rubber.

The hammer doesn't work quite right, but it times and locks up. The action is just about worn out, and the hammer does need to be re-built to be honest. The trigger has a weird hitch in it, then a very light break. I think someone may have tinkered with the hammer at some point.

It does need fixing, I like the look of it currently, but functionally it needs love.

Dave Lanara in Ohio might be willing to take on a project like that.
He specializes in Colt SAA,, but generally from the restoration angle.
He'd most definetely be able to refit & restore the action to original specs including welding and recutting the hammer notches to new if needed.
All expensive work but that has to be done before any refinish/ restoration or upgradeing fancy stuff is considered.

The grips look like standard Bisley. The #5 IIRC used a Bisley backstrap and a SAA front strap. Some fitting is done to join them smoothly. Standard Bisley grips won't fit the #5 because of the marriage of different model parts and they are a custom grip venture.

Dave usually has quite a stock of various parts for restoration and repair. But again,I do not know if he would take on a custom upgrade as proposed beyond the repair/rebuilding of the revolver as it is.
Give him a call and see what he says.
If he doesn't want to take on the job,perhaps he can refer you to someone else he trusts.

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That (King) SAA Conversion pictured is interesting as it has a shouldered bbl w/step-down radius to it. Looks like Colt/Hartford markings on the side.
Might be a (late) New Service bbl as they are the same thread as the SAA,,just the shank is a bit different length but easily fitted.
The grip looks a bit thinner through the middle than the regular Colt SAA. Some of the repro 1960's imports from W.Germany had that look (Dakota,Liberty) and the longer 1860 grip.

I think the very few handful of original 22rf cal Colt SAA revolvers built were made with the 1860 size grip frame. Probably some others. But I don't recall them as being so thin through the waist as the gun pictured.

It also looks perhaps to have a Ruger style trigger spring behind the trigger inside the guard,,Small coil spring and plunger.
** Looks more like a simple trigger stop pin from the pictures in the link posted below
Could be all pieces of 'King's' work I'd guess.

The Bisley frame is deeper than the SAA where the back strap joins it. If you screw a Bisley back strap onto your gun it won't fit right. the frame would need major welding above those two screw holes. I too like the gun just the way it is, especially the caliber. Just my, and every other Colt SAA collector's opinion, but putting adjustable sights on that gun is paying someone to destroy a fine early SAA. I know it's your gun and all that, but it would be criminal to mill out that topstrap for those sights. Guys like me pray to find a gun just like yours is now. Colt New Frontiers are around and cost less than a standard SAA and already have the sights. Keith's #5 started as a Bisley. Look at my .32-20 here and check out that frame situation. And yes. Bisley's make good bottle openers.

First off, on that picture I first posted, I found some more information: http://www.icollector.com/Custom-Co...h-Style-Quick-Draw-Modifications-an_i10495543


The ivory stocks I have are certainly not bisley, as I originally thought they were, as you can see when I tried putting them on a 1907 Bisley:




They are really neat though, and I would love to have them on a gun.