BRush
Member
I would like to share a couple of my favorite study examples. Both are Indian war veterans The Cavalry is of early 1874 vintage and the 1st Model Schofield was in first order delivered to the U.S. Army in 1875. So these two old war horses served togehther.
At the risk of rambling , let me explain why these old warriors facinate me. Both were returned to the factory for repair, which included refinishing. The Schofield was done in 1926. As Colt did not keep return work records, The date the Cavalry was returned to Colt is in question. John Kopec feels it was done in the 1920's-30's based on the rerolled barral address and certain small parts updates. Other experts I spoken with feel it was refinished in the early 1900's based mainly on the similarity of the reblue to the reblues on Colt factory refurbished Artillries of that period.
Other than 1920's -30's style blue on the Schofield. both guns approximate high condition examples of the guns as they were originialy issued.
Both guns must have had very crisp metal and little wear when returned give the quality of the refinished results. The respective factorys made great efforts to preserve the originality, original parts and martial stampings on both guns, especially with the Schofield.
The Schofield was Ordinance inspected by Lewis (although the "L" and "P' on the barrel bottom don't appear to be stamped with Ordinance Inspector dies based on observed examples).
T
The Colt was Ordinance inspected by Ainsworth. This Cavalry somehow survived the Ordinance Dept's 1893 recall for alteration.
I believe the Schofield's grips are original, with both original and restamped SN's and the original cartouche.
The Colt retains its original parts but show some the "update" changes Colt typically made on factory reworks. These include added cylinder stop approaches(Early SAA's had none).The cylinder is original as the "A" stamp and evidence of the SN remain.
The original italic barral address is gone, having a later "block" rerolled address and "45 Colt " stamped on the left side.
However, the barral retains its SN and inspector stamps.
Its interesting that the Type I ejector housing is unaltered (Colt typically updated these to a Type III upon factory return.
Also the ejector housing is SN'ed to the gun, which Colt did only for a short period and with in a small SN range which includes the SN of the Cavalry.
Thanks for looking.
At the risk of rambling , let me explain why these old warriors facinate me. Both were returned to the factory for repair, which included refinishing. The Schofield was done in 1926. As Colt did not keep return work records, The date the Cavalry was returned to Colt is in question. John Kopec feels it was done in the 1920's-30's based on the rerolled barral address and certain small parts updates. Other experts I spoken with feel it was refinished in the early 1900's based mainly on the similarity of the reblue to the reblues on Colt factory refurbished Artillries of that period.
Other than 1920's -30's style blue on the Schofield. both guns approximate high condition examples of the guns as they were originialy issued.
Both guns must have had very crisp metal and little wear when returned give the quality of the refinished results. The respective factorys made great efforts to preserve the originality, original parts and martial stampings on both guns, especially with the Schofield.
The Schofield was Ordinance inspected by Lewis (although the "L" and "P' on the barrel bottom don't appear to be stamped with Ordinance Inspector dies based on observed examples).
T
The Colt was Ordinance inspected by Ainsworth. This Cavalry somehow survived the Ordinance Dept's 1893 recall for alteration.
I believe the Schofield's grips are original, with both original and restamped SN's and the original cartouche.
The Colt retains its original parts but show some the "update" changes Colt typically made on factory reworks. These include added cylinder stop approaches(Early SAA's had none).The cylinder is original as the "A" stamp and evidence of the SN remain.
The original italic barral address is gone, having a later "block" rerolled address and "45 Colt " stamped on the left side.
However, the barral retains its SN and inspector stamps.
Its interesting that the Type I ejector housing is unaltered (Colt typically updated these to a Type III upon factory return.
Also the ejector housing is SN'ed to the gun, which Colt did only for a short period and with in a small SN range which includes the SN of the Cavalry.
Thanks for looking.
