At the HHC, interesting guns...

Always there are guns brought for show and discussion. There were many as usual, Alcorn pulled out the stops on his collection, they were fantastic. Many others too. He even brought a 1858 Remington Cap & Ball revolver with a .45 Colt conversion cylinder to examine.

On a whim I threw in one of my odd-balls. A 1872 Colt revolver done by Uberti in modern .38 Special. I bought the 7-1/2" gun simply because it was very high quality and made me happy. The .38 caliber, while non-traditional, was a concession to uber utility for pleasure shooting. There are several 1851-1860 Richards-Mason "conversion" guns available and they too are a value. However the 1872 Colt was a factory gun just prior to the 1873 Peacemaker. The 1872 is much like the Richards-Mason Conversions except there is a rear sight made part of the rear section of the barrel compared to using the cocked hammer vee as with a C&B. There is no transfer bar so these are strictly 5-shooters with the hammer down on an empty chamber. (Do NOT tempt fate) They sport a loading gate and an ingenious and pleasing mechanical ejector rod. Remington 1858 adaptations lack this important feature.

Everyone who examines this Uberti seems impressed and that goes double for shooting as it is quite accurate with proper barrel bore specifications of 0.358". The rear sight is useful and at least the equal of the later grooved topstrap solid frame guns. The frame is not solid and it will break down into two halves, using a screwdriver and wedge tapping tool. (Roman noted a bright cylinder gap flash since it is devoid of a topstrap covering) Standard level loads would obviously be recommended. They do make them in other calibers listed as .38 Colt, .44 Colt, .44 Special, .45 Schofield, and .45 LC. I see both 7-1/2" and 5-1/2" barrel lengths. I'd love to have a 5.5" .44 Special.

From my perspective it's a useful revolver, in an easy to get caliber, wrapped in a delicious and historic platform. While not as practical as a K-frame S&W it shoots the same rounds and I think is even more fun doing it.