Dance Navy (Pietta)

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Very nice looking piece.

I'm sorely tempted to grab one of those. Dixie has the Pietta with rounded trigger guard in .44 cal. I've always liked the way the revolver looks with the flattened recoil shield.
 
Remy1858,

Grab some popcorn and sit down. :)

The Pietta Dance .36 you show from October Country has a square trigger guard (the original Dance pistols had a flat-bottomed round TG on both the .36 and .44 versions, but no SB TG). It (S/N 127) may be in stock, but S/N 52 and 53 are not, which seems to say they only have the one revolver. I think, if they really have one in .36, that is a rarity as it does not show up in the Pietta catalog, and I would snatch it ASAP.If you don't want a SB TG, you can easily order a brass round TG from VTI which will fit.

The original Dance guns were made using a frame size that was between the 1851 Navy and the 1848 Dragoon.



I have 8 different Pietta 1851 Navy .36 "type" revolvers, mostly Confederate facsimiles that I put together from parts: S&G, L&R, R&A, G&G, Augusta Machine Works, Columbus Firearms Manufacturing Company, et al) because Pietta CNC parts are very interchangeable from gun to gun. One that I am lacking is the Dance .36.

About 3 years ago, I had a real want for a Pietta Dance .36, but the problem was that Pietta did not market one at the time (but they did in the 90's before they went to CNC machining). Their only offering was in .44, based upon their 1851 Navy that had a lowered (not stepped) water table (as was used with the Colt 1860 for the rebated Army .44 cylinder) to accommodate a Pietta non-rebated .44 cylinder. I am a parts-changer and it won't work as a Dance .36 for me as there would be a gap between the cylinder and frame, and the bolt would probably not lock into the cylinder adequately.

This photo (from a guy who had purchased a Pietta Dance .44 and I forget his name: sorry, my age is showing) shows the difference between the Pietta Dance .44 and the Pietta Navy .36 cylinders:

Pietta-Dance-44-Cyl.jpg

So, in search of a donor pistol, in 2016 I snagged a Pietta 1851 Navy .36 on sale at Cabela's for $170 (it will never happen again now that BPS is pulling the Cabela's reins), got a new part round/part octagon barrel and a smooth, non-engraved cylinder from VTI, sold the Navy engraved cylinder and octagon barrel to someone on a different forum, and I am into it for about $210. Now all I have to do is work up the courage to have my retired next-door neighbor machinist (he has a great shop with 3-phase power for his myriad equipment) to mill off the recoil shields, and then I have to redo the frame in either case colors or blue.

Here is my donor Leech & Rigdon:

Pietta-Leech-Rigdon.jpg

Just for grins, here is my parts-changer fantasy 1851 Navy .36 Second Model Belt Dragoon:

Pietta-1851-Navy-Dragoon.jpg

Good luck in your endeavors!

Regards,

Jim
 
Out of curiousity I checked the October Country website just now and S/N 127 is no longer available. The .44 models seem to be available.

http://www.octobercountry.com/

What bothers me about the serial numbers on those 3 guns (and the Dance .44 revolvers they have for sale) is that Pietta does not number their gun frames according to series (1851 Navy .36, 1851 Navy .44, Griswold & Gunnison, et al) but rather numbers them as they come off the assembly line, no matter what configuration.

I will give you four of my Pietta serial numbers ranging from 2014 - 2018, along with date codes. All have 6 digit serial numbers:

636005 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 2nd Model [CM] 2014

662140 Pietta Griswold & Gunnison .36 [CN] 2015

673674 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 [CP] 2016

687715 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 [CT] 2018

Something is fishy with October Country I think. I am of the opinion that these are Piettas put together from parts and re-numbered. Not that it is a bad thing (I am very much a Pietta parts-changer to create what I need) but they need to come clean if it is such, and not a factory original.

To reiterate, I have never seen Pietta to market a Dance .36 since their introduction of the Pietta Dance .44.

Regards,

Jim
 
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expat_alaska said:
I also found this on their website:

http://www.octobercountry.com/doc-james-daviss-revolver-collection/

Dr. Jim L. Davis was a huge collector of all manner of replica revolvers. His website: http://rprca.tripod.com/

The descriptions of various revolvers are not accurate by any means. Dr. Davis would be appalled.

Personally, I would not deal with them in a NY minute. They either have no clue or are trying to deceive the buyer.

Regards,

Jim
Click to expand...
I guess I have been out of the loop too long! Did Dr. Davis pass?
You are absolutely correct in their not knowing what is what from his collection. I’m guessing they have been employed to liquidate it.
 
I don't know but I am guessing he may have. The last contact I had with him was in 2015 (and he told me then he was in poor health in his 80's) concerning a Replica Arms El Paso Texas 1848 Pocket pistol where he confirmed that it was the first year of manufacture for ASM 1963 (XIX). I have since sold the gun for various reasons, among them I paid WAY to much for it on GB. I was into SB TG guns and just had to have it. I did not realize how small the Colt Pocket pistols were and I will never own another one. Chalk it up to a learning experience for me.

Jim
 
I just revisited October Country and they have more of BPRevolver's (Dr. Jim Davis') RPRCA collection listed for sale.
Some things are listed well below their collector's value commensurate with their rarity while others (like the Witloes) seem a bit steep.
I think they must be gradually getting the whole collection on line.
I just bought something to remember Dr. Jim by!
Here is the link so you do not have to go back and find it above:
http://www.octobercountry.com/doc-james-daviss-revolver-collection/
I tried to post the link to RPRCA Replica Percussion Revolver Collectors Association to see what might be coming up for sale in the near future but instead of pictures of the collection, I get advertising Pop-Ups. Its been a while since I visited his site but it was really helpful while it worked. This link seems OK but no pictures of the collection:
http://rprca.tripod.com/Articles-Links.html
Here is Dr. Davis and the Centaure link:
http://1960nmaorg.startlogic.com/ItalianBrothers/Italian Half Brothers-12. 06.11.htm
 
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expat_alaska said:
Out of curiousity I checked the October Country website just now and S/N 127 is no longer available. The .44 models seem to be available.

http://www.octobercountry.com/

What bothers me about the serial numbers on those 3 guns (and the Dance .44 revolvers they have for sale) is that Pietta does not number their gun frames according to series (1851 Navy .36, 1851 Navy .44, Griswold & Gunnison, et al) but rather numbers them as they come off the assembly line, no matter what configuration.

I will give you four of my Pietta serial numbers ranging from 2014 - 2018, along with date codes. All have 6 digit serial numbers:

636005 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 2nd Model [CM] 2014

662140 Pietta Griswold & Gunnison .36 [CN] 2015

673674 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 [CP] 2016

687715 Pietta 1851 Navy .36 [CT] 2018

Something is fishy with October Country I think. I am of the opinion that these are Piettas put together from parts and re-numbered. Not that it is a bad thing (I am very much a Pietta parts-changer to create what I need) but they need to come clean if it is such, and not a factory original.

To reiterate, I have never seen Pietta to market a Dance .36 since their introduction of the Pietta Dance .44.

Regards,

Jim
Click to expand...
Jim
I copied this from published notes of Jim Davis, I believe it clarifies the confusion on the Dance Serial numbers:

"Pietta continued shipments of the .36cal. Dance revolver that are only marked F.LLIPIETTA –MADE IN ITALY on right side of the barrel. This was at about the same time that they discontinued the marking of any revolvers with anything other than their own name. These terminated with serial # C00127. All production of the Dance revolver in .36cal. discontinued with serial # C00127. This is a total production of only 75 revolvers. The only revolvers left are only available from Tony Gajewsky. These now sell for over $900. I acquired one of these Pietta Dance revolvers off the internet recently. It is like new condition with serial # C00096. This is the only resale I have ever seen. These were produced also in 1996."


" Pietta resumed production of the .44cal. with 7 1/2" barrels and REBATED CYLINDERS with serial # C00128. This production was modified to the current STRAIGHT CYLINDERS and 8" barrel at around serial # C00233. There were only 105 Dance revolvers in .44cal. made with rebated cylinders."
 
Hoof Hearted said:
Jim
I copied this from published notes of Jim Davis, I believe it clarifies the confusion on the Dance Serial numbers:

"Pietta continued shipments of the .36cal. Dance revolver that are only marked F.LLIPIETTA –MADE IN ITALY on right side of the barrel. This was at about the same time that they discontinued the marking of any revolvers with anything other than their own name. These terminated with serial # C00127. All production of the Dance revolver in .36cal. discontinued with serial # C00127. This is a total production of only 75 revolvers. The only revolvers left are only available from Tony Gajewsky. These now sell for over $900. I acquired one of these Pietta Dance revolvers off the internet recently. It is like new condition with serial # C00096. This is the only resale I have ever seen. These were produced also in 1996."


" Pietta resumed production of the .44cal. with 7 1/2" barrels and REBATED CYLINDERS with serial # C00128. This production was modified to the current STRAIGHT CYLINDERS and 8" barrel at around serial # C00233. There were only 105 Dance revolvers in .44cal. made with rebated cylinders."
Click to expand...
Actually here is the complete statement that he made over on the CAScity forum
https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=32403.5;wap2
 
I just bought SN C00096 that Dr. Davis mentions in that post on Cascity.
I think I will print out his post and put it with the Dance as proof of provenance along with my bill of sale from October Country if I get one.
Mine is in a cased set now which he does not mention so I wonder if Dr. Davis selected the English case and accessories himself or it was sold to him in that configuration.
 
I was not smart enough to record the SN of the one I bought. 30 minutes after I got the OC sale confirmation they took it off the site.

Sigh...

Jim
 
Jim,
Check the confirmation email they sent you after the purchase.
Mine has the serial number under "SKU."
 
I can hardly wait to see what other treasures show up.
I had passed over the cased pair of Spiller and Burrs the first time through and they have sold but are still pictured so I looked at the photos.
They were JENSENS!
Amazing.
Here is what Dr. Davis said in '08 on Muzzeloader:

"I am trying to get more information on the replica Spiller and Burr revolvers made by L. A. Jensen of Lake City, Florida. They were produced in the 1950's making them the very first produced replica revolvers. Anybody ever run across one of these are ever even heard of them?"

I hope Dr. Davis is OK and just sold off his collection.
I have not found any thing about him passing in the Claremore, Oklahoma papers, on the JM Davis Museum site or at Ancestry.com.
Here is his last post on THR and it looks like he was considering selling this time last year:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-prohibitive-states-ie-nj-cal-ill-etc.844605/
 
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I finally got a FedEx tracking number from OC this morning and mine should be here Friday after calling OC yesterday. The guy seemed like he was inundated by all of the purchases of Davis' revolvers, along with sales of other items they normally sell, and being the holiday season, that is understandable.

I am hoping that Dr. Davis is correct with the Dance markings for that serial number. Yours should be likewise.

If you would, let me know about yours once you get it.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Jim
 
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