I was weak on Black Friday

[olyinaz]

I found this at Sportsman's Whorehouse, er, uh I mean Sportsman's Warehouse for $339. It was sitting forlorn and lonely as the sheeple, er, uh I mean people swarmed the gun desk, climbing over each other for the AR-15 and plastic pistol deals. (And truth be told, they did have some smokin' deals!!)

I asked to see it and the lovely Uberti fit and finish, 1860 Army grips, and general coolness of the pistol seized me and I just couldn't stand the thought of some teenager with sweaty palms waiting to buy a Glock/XD/FN/whatever fondling it and scratching it the way most of the cowboy guns at Sportsman's seem to wind up. So really I was doing a public service by buying it. Honestly.





It's supposed to be a Richards-Mason but frankly I'm not sure it's anything. It's got 1871 stamped on the barrel over the wedge on the left side, no black powder leftover holes etc, no sights on the barrel, 1860 grips with a steel grip frame, two lines of patents on the lower left frame, and it's chambered in .45 Colt. Maybe those details are all accurate, I dunno - you guys tell me. It shoots typically high with even cowboy loads but frankly I can barely see the daggum V notch in the hammer!! Still, it's fun and even my wife said she thinks it's a dang nice lookin' pistol. Can't beat that!

Cheers,
Oly

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Any well made revolver in 45 Colt is a good deal... especially when they look like a Colt.
I would think the woods would have been a safe place to be sitting in the bushes waiting to thump a corn cruncher.
Mike in Peru

[2ndovc]

Sweet!

Bet that's lots of fun to shoot.

jb

[AJMD429]

Good thing you did your duty, however difficult it may have been.

I like the concept of a 'modern' cartridge in that gun, although I'm think you won't want to use your 'Ruger-only' loads in that top-strap-less beauty...

[Pitchy]

Awe you Turkey great find.

[Old Savage]

Strength can be perfected in weakness.

[RIHMFIRE]

[3leggedturtle]

That is one nice looking piece.

[Lassiter]

If you decide that it doesn't suit you I'll certainly give you your money back.....jes sayin'

[Blaine]

That's a good looking shooter....The colors are great

[turnkey]

I want one.....mebbe two?

[olyinaz]

Awe you Turkey great find.

Gobble gobble!

Cheers,
Oly

[Hobie]

[Rube Burrows]

The 71-72 Open Top as it was called was never a conversion. It was actually something Colt put out just to hold people over and keep them on their toes till the 73 came out.

[bdhold]

that's beautiful.

[kimwcook]

I think the ole cartridge conversions and the imbetweens were cool looking. Looks great to me.

[olyinaz]

The 71-72 Open Top as it was called was never a conversion. It was actually something Colt put out just to hold people over and keep them on their toes till the 73 came out.

Yes, but I don't think the collection of details on these Uberti's is exactly right (they do this with the Remington's also - mix and mash up the 1875/1890 features). Let's look at a few. Here's a Richards "conversion" (yes, I know - they were factory made guns, but everyone calls them "conversion models"):



Note the black powder cutout in the frame, the short ejector frame housing, brass grip frame, and the sight on top of the breach block which contains a separate firing pin on this model.

Below is a "Type II". Note that the rear sight has been moved back to the hammer (which strikes the rounds directly now) but the cap and ball barrel-frame still exists:



Here's the later Richards-Mason, very much like mine and I think what they were shooting for (note the long ejector rod housing and new style barrel frame), but the grip frame is silver plated and of course I don't think they made them in .45 Colt:



So after looking into it a bit more mine is not as far off as I suspected! Perhaps I'll send the forward half of the grip frame off to be nickel plated just to make it a bit more authentic looking.

Best,
Oly

[Griff]

One of the better shooters at our club uses a pair of those in .38Spl. Another uses a pair, also in .38Spl. I believe, he weren't there today... They do well for both of them. Or maybe they do well in spite of them!

Congrats! And thanks for saving them from the clutches of the unappreciating!

[Ysabel Kid]

awesome deal!

IIRC, the 71-72 "open top" had a rear sight built into the barrel. Wasn't much, but it was better than the notch in the hammer.

[olyinaz]

awesome deal!

IIRC, the 71-72 "open top" had a rear sight built into the barrel. Wasn't much, but it was better than the notch in the hammer.

Yes, I think that's a later version. Since this is a repro and I can do what I want with it I'm going to open up the V notch on the hammer. Anything will be an improvement over not being able to see the notch! The front sight is fine so all I need to do is get something to put it in at the back of the pistol.

Here's the Quinn brothers article on the revolver: http://www.gunblast.com/Cimarron_Conversion.htm

Great writeup!

Cheers,
Oly