Colt Single action army revolver

[Hurler]

Another pistol from the basement. This one is a colt army revolver in .45. Probably from the early 1900s, I'll need to get the serial to know for sure. Any recommendations on how to restore? Is it worth restoring? There is allot of rust. Probably hasn't been out of the basement in 60 years.

 

[Fordtough25]

Nice! I wish I had something like that in basement!! I would take the stocks off and put it in a bucket oil!

 

[Compatriot G]

That is a Bisley Model Colt SA. I'd be careful before you did anything to it. Those tend to have some value.

 

[nicajack]

As Compatriot said, that has a Bisley hammer. need to see the complete grip to know if it is a true Bisley model. It could just be a non-original hammer....The grip would tell for sure....

 

[Hurler]

What am I looking for in the grip?

 

[figley]

pull the grip off, and set up an electrolysis bucket. it will remove the rust completely in a day or two.

 

[hammer24]

It's a Bisley grip. Longer/ higher grip frame originally designed for target shooting. A hammer with a lower sweep was paired with it for one-handed working of the hammer. It's a gem! I'd be careful with any "restoration" work. There are a few similar ones here, may give you some direction. Collectors Firearms

 

[steif]

bisley

it is for sure a bisley, the trigger and the hammer tells the tale.
Do not clean it with anything. The early grips are very fragile and prone to chipping, so be careful pulling them off. They have a locating pin on the bottom of the backstrap, which is the bottom end of the grips. All I would do is oil it with a plain gun oil, like rem-oil. It is still very valuable the way it is, but if you clean with steel wool, even very fine steel wool, or electrolysis, it will reduce the value a lot. If it were mine, I would send it to a restorer, someone that specializes in single action colts and just have them clean it and tell them to save as much of the original finish as possible.
That looks like a gun that is worth many thousands of dollars the way it is. but if it is cleaned properly, double the value, cleaned improperly, it will cut the value in half.

 

[Hurler]

Any recommendations for such a restorer?

 

[purple72]

Turnbull Restorations out of New York.

 

[Josh Ward]

Turnbull Restorations out of New York.

^^^THIS^^^

 

[indiucky]

Turnbull Restorations out of New York.

Triple this. All I ever find in my basement are spiders. That is sweet and worth some bucks. I would get a letter from Colt as well. probably $100 bucks but money well spent. You had to have some money to buy one of those and you had to know guns. It's worth seeing who or where it was shipped to.