Antiqued Guns

[jmar]

It may be true the Italians build good quality guns, but they are by no means exact or close to exact copy's. When building my Walker I did countless days of research, I have over 300 high definition photos of over 20 original Walkers. I spent several hours just comparing the originals to a Uberti and ASM I had in hand. And my conclusion was that both were so far off the original that there is no way to make them 100% accurate without somehow adding metal in some spots. And it also may come as a surprise that the ASM was a better dimensioned gun. However the Uberti had some parts that were better.

I spent so much time studying walkers that when I see one I can instantly tell if it's a Uberti, ASM, or original. I also can see well made fakes and tell that indeed they are fake but also who made it. Now that's not to say that the Italian replicas are bad, but there are some major things on them that could be easily changed. Since Uberti is the only one who still makes them I will just list a few of the Uberti's problems off the top of my head, there are many more but I don't want to bore anyone.

Grip is totally the wrong shape and size, cylinder notches are completely the wrong shape, the loading port is the wrong shape, the trigger is too long, the trigger guard is way too thin, the frame is not tall enough, and the wedge is too small.

 

[noelf2]

Well what if you were a bandito or desperado out on the rio grande? Or a cowboy in search of fortune out on the trail?

Bandits and deserados changed their guns out pretty frequently, if they were successful bad guys. Crappy gun goes in the river, new better gun courtesy of dead guy (fortune seeking cowboy, etc...).

So, why would I want to make my gun look like something a bandito would chuck into the Rio Grande?

 

[Crawdad1]

And where exactly did you get that information?

 

[noelf2]

Common sense. If you were a bandito, and you had an ok gun but killed a man with a better gun, wouldn't you upgrade? Say I had a beat up looking walker colt and I came upon a dead guy with a shiny peacemaker....

For my preference, I don't want an old looking new gun, or a new looking old gun.

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

jmar - one of the selling points of the early ASM's in the EMF catalogs was that their internal parts interchanged with 1st generation Colts.

Most of the early repro makers intentionally changed some aspects of the look of their products so that they were immediately recognizable as copies to someone familiar with the originals. Apparently this was a major concern to collectors at the time the idea of reproductions was introduced.

Most of the guns in the westerns we watched as kids WERE old. EMF got its start in Hollywood supplying antique peacemakers and c&b's to the moviemakers and TV studios. Not until the '60's, in the EMF catalogs, do the reproductions first appear and then start to out number the antiques.

 

[daboyleroy]

Our YouTube friend in Eastern Europe showed how an Unerti cylinder functioned and was quite accurate in dimensions with an original Colt. Can't get much better than that.

Check out this example

 

[daboyleroy]

Check out


Defense rest

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I am in total agreement. It seems to me that most of these folks might be re-enactors or into CAS.

Howdy

I shoot a lot of CAS. Very few shooters antique their guns in CAS. Most just allow them to wear naturally. Since we shoot a lot in CAS, guns tend to get wear marks quickly.

I am one of the few who sometimes shoots real antiques, that have been genuinely aged over time.

This 1873 rifle left the factory in 1887. The aging is completely natural. Except for the obviously new magazine tube.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

So if one had a '58 Remy, how could one get a nice antiqued look on to it? Can I send it off to someone?

Follow Longshot Logan's instructions that I posted earlier.