One you don't see every day.

[Gary Cain]

I have had this for awhile and thought you guys might like to see one a little older than the norm for this forum. It is a US Martial marked "Condemned" Colt Single Action Army. It was manufactured in 1876 for the US Cavalry but it failed its inspection and was sold by Colt to a jobber and thus made its way west. The Kittredge marking is what a person would expect to see on one of these revolvers but this particular marking is suspect. The records of this revolver and who it went to were lost in the fire at Colts Factory. It has seen a LOT of use.


Gary

[Gary Cain]

#2

I have had this for awhile and thought you guys might like to see one a little older than the norm for this forum. It is a US Martial marked "Condemned" Colt Single Action Army. It was manufactured in 1876 for the US Cavalry but it failed its inspection and was sold by Colt to a jobber and thus made its way west. The Kittredge marking is what a person would expect to see on one of these revolvers but this particular marking is suspect. The records of this revolver and who it went to were lost in the fire at Colts Factory. It has seen a LOT of use.


Gary

[Gary Cain]

#3

#2

[Gary Cain]

#4

#3

[Gary Cain]

#5

#4

[Gary Cain]

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#5

[Gene]

Gary,

Great looking revolver but enlighten me- what makes this a factory reject? Are there any markings (or lack of markings) that indicate this?

Gene

[Gary Cain]

Hi Gene,

If you look at the picture of the serial number you will notice that on the frame above the serial number is the letter "C"...thats the condemned mark. Whenever the US Army rejected a weapon it would be marked with the "C" to signify its failure. They would fail them for any of a number of reasons. There is also a "C" on the cylinder which is the same serial number as the rest of the revolver.


Gary

Gary,

Great looking revolver but enlighten me- what makes this a factory reject? Are there any markings (or lack of markings) that indicate this?

Gene

[Gene]

So Colt sold condemned revolvers, not rendering them unusable? They just simply stamped a C and let people use them at their own peril?

[Tim Schreiner]

Beautiful revolver!

[Gary Cain]

The Army would reject them for the most minor reasons. If the finish wasn't well enough done they would reject them. If there was a mechanical fault the Army would reject, then Colt woul fix whatever the problem was and then sell them too a jobber.

Gary

So Colt sold condemned revolvers, not rendering them unusable? They just simply stamped a C and let people use them at their own peril?

[james m]

As a long time Colt collector I agree that the owner is right on here. The government would condemn these because they didn't meet some government specifications not because they were seriously flawed or unsafe to use. Since Colt had a reputation as a Company that "never threw anything away" whatever problems existed with these pistols was corrected and they were sold to the civilian market.
Jim

[justina]

3

Very nice!

[wurfmine]

pistol

Neat Firestick!



Mark

[ottomaton]

For my elucidation:

Why is the Kittredge mark suspect?