Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy
I don't want to tread on Eastbank's Bisley thread, so I am starting a new thread. On Saturday I walked home from a local auction with what could be the identical twin to his Bisley. Made in 1909, 38-40, 4 3/4" barrel, original hard rubber grips scratch lettered to the gun.
I inspected the gun about two weeks ago and had been sitting on my hands waiting for the auction. When the day came, I had to wait about 3 hours before the Bisley came up. There were a lot of high value guns going for big money. I had made a mental note of how high I would go, I was hoping the gun would not go too high, there were deep pocket bidders on the phones. Luckily, when the gun came up, there was only one other bidder interested in it and I won the gun without it going sky high. I guess the deep pocket bidders were not interested in a less than pristine looking old Bisley.
The gun looks its age, there is no blue left on the barrel and the colors are just about all gone from the frame. It still has blue on the trigger guard and backstrap. The cylinder pin is a bit chewed up, and the ejector rod handle has been bent, but other than that, mechanically it seems to be fine. The important thing is, it locks up almost as tight as the day it left Hartford.
Despite its appearance, somebody took good care of this gun. The chambers are pristine. The bore has some light pitting, but the rifling is still there. There is a little bit of endshake, I hope to fix that with some of Brownells' cylinder shims. Unfortunately they are out of stock right now. I will probably replace the chewed up cylinder pin with one from Belt Mountain. And I may look into seeing if a main spring from VTI will fit, it takes a lot of strength to cock the hammer. I'm not going to mess with the bent ejector rod handle, it gives the gun more character.
I just finished taking the gun completely apart and cleaning off many years of hardened old oil. No rust, just lots of hardened, old oil. The cylinder bushing was rusted in place, but I was able to free it and now it pops out like it is supposed to. I lubed it up with Ballistol and put it back together again. I need to load up some 38-40, hopefully I will take it to the range over the weekend to try out. I am really hoping it is going to be a good shooter. I will only be shooting it with Black Powder.
The Bisley Model marking is almost completely worn off, but the caliber can still be plainly seen.
I don't want to tread on Eastbank's Bisley thread, so I am starting a new thread. On Saturday I walked home from a local auction with what could be the identical twin to his Bisley. Made in 1909, 38-40, 4 3/4" barrel, original hard rubber grips scratch lettered to the gun.
I inspected the gun about two weeks ago and had been sitting on my hands waiting for the auction. When the day came, I had to wait about 3 hours before the Bisley came up. There were a lot of high value guns going for big money. I had made a mental note of how high I would go, I was hoping the gun would not go too high, there were deep pocket bidders on the phones. Luckily, when the gun came up, there was only one other bidder interested in it and I won the gun without it going sky high. I guess the deep pocket bidders were not interested in a less than pristine looking old Bisley.
The gun looks its age, there is no blue left on the barrel and the colors are just about all gone from the frame. It still has blue on the trigger guard and backstrap. The cylinder pin is a bit chewed up, and the ejector rod handle has been bent, but other than that, mechanically it seems to be fine. The important thing is, it locks up almost as tight as the day it left Hartford.
Despite its appearance, somebody took good care of this gun. The chambers are pristine. The bore has some light pitting, but the rifling is still there. There is a little bit of endshake, I hope to fix that with some of Brownells' cylinder shims. Unfortunately they are out of stock right now. I will probably replace the chewed up cylinder pin with one from Belt Mountain. And I may look into seeing if a main spring from VTI will fit, it takes a lot of strength to cock the hammer. I'm not going to mess with the bent ejector rod handle, it gives the gun more character.
I just finished taking the gun completely apart and cleaning off many years of hardened old oil. No rust, just lots of hardened, old oil. The cylinder bushing was rusted in place, but I was able to free it and now it pops out like it is supposed to. I lubed it up with Ballistol and put it back together again. I need to load up some 38-40, hopefully I will take it to the range over the weekend to try out. I am really hoping it is going to be a good shooter. I will only be shooting it with Black Powder.
The Bisley Model marking is almost completely worn off, but the caliber can still be plainly seen.
