Colt SAA

Well stubbed my toe today.

Have a Suscequential Colt. Had it out shooting a couple days ago and upon cleaning, noticed a lot of leading just ahead of the forcing cone. As I cleaned on the lead mine, I determined to re-re-discover what size boolit this revolver wants. I had been shooting .452 inch boolits both tumble lubed and lubed with SPG.

After cleaning almost all the lead out, I determined that the cylinder throates are .454. Grabbing a large boolit of .460 diameter, I greased it up and began pounding it thru the bore whereupon after it was 3/8ths into the 7.5 inch barrel, it froze hard and I could not move it.

Drilled it with 1/8 inch first. Followed by 3/16 inch. Then 5/16ths. Felt it go thru and hoped I did not feel what I was certain happened ... sure enough, after pounding it thru the barrel, I looked and there is the drill bit gouges in the barrel.

Fortunately I think I can shorten it to 4 3/4 inch and get below the drill fiasco. BUT it will be a shortened barrel and then be lessened in value. By how much I do not know ... any ideas as to the diminished value?

Seems like those commemoratives are only valuable unfired unturned, shoot one just once and the value tanks below what an equal condition 2nd or 3rd generation would be worth. Add to that if you don't plan on selling it, what does it matter? Although this is only my opinion, not being a Colt collector. Which commemorative is this?

I would shoot it as is and see it the accuracy is affected.
If it shoots straight I would leave it alone.
You already gouged the bore, why chance screwing up a shortening job?

We had a discussion bout this last week and I liked the idea put forth of running a piece of copper tube into the barrel and then using that to keep the drill centered. No help for you, but just thought I’d repost it for other readers.

I would much rather use some short pieces of aluminum rod, cut just short enough to fit in the frame window, place them in the barrel from the forcing cone, stack them until you run into the back of the slug, then use a flat screwdriver for a fulcrum and pry against the rod until it starts to push the slug out the muzzle. Trim the aluminum rods as needed to achieve proper leverage.

Naaa she was gouged very deeply through 2 lands with no way to repair.

Value wise, I got a great deal on this Colt and will lose no value myself. I bought it in a trade and got it to continue shooting ... it was already fired with a slight ring on the cylinder ... pretty shooter for sure.

Cut the barrel this afternoon back to 4 and 3/4 inch. Have a nice job of it and when I get the front sight back on, I will post pictures of my damage control.

Thanks for the consideration and suggestions.

Yes that makes sense to me. Wish I would have figured that one out ... but its tucked away for future "oh snaps" situations. Thanks for the hint.

Original post was an inquiry as to loss of value based on shortening the barrel. No real answer as of yet.

This revolver will not ever leave my possession but it is handy to know an approximate value in case of loss of some kind. I have never seen or heard of dollar value after taking length off a barrel.

Attachment 261107Attachment 261108Attachment 261109Attachment 261110

There she is. First photo is this Colt along with an old Uberti Remington I picked up bout a year ago. She was so rusted that the end of the barrel was trash and rust about 1/32 deep on the remaining barrel. Took a file to it and removed 99 percent of the rust pockets then worked it over with sand paper till I got it smooth and round again.

Anyhow there is my now shortened and recrowned Colt along with the original sight placed in a small groove on the barrel put there by a nerve racked dremel with a cuttof wheel attachment. Turned out good I think for a job with hand tools and a Dremel.

Oh and yes those are 1860 grips and frame from Uberti. Fit them a few years ago. Helps a bunch with my huge hands.

Attachment 261111Attachment 261112Attachment 261113Attachment 261114

Sight is super glued in for now as I do not have any silver solder left. And I want to shoot it to ensure the sight is correctly placed. Then may take it to someone for the soldering or brazing. Was brazed into the original barrel slot from the Colt factory.

She’s gonna tend to shoot low, you might want to file the top of the sight and then touch up the blue on it and the barrel after soldering.

I know your right. Be weird havin a colt shoot low ... lol. Just want to get the windage correct without needing to turn the barrel. Elevation I can deal with ... altho none is really that hard to deal with.