SAA quandary??

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Rockrat
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SAA quandary??

Post by Rockrat »

Have this Colt SAA that I had rebuilt by a fellow name Schultz (IIRC) instead of Turnbull as I really didn't want to send the thing to NY. Came back and looked great. Put it in a Ruger box and it has sat for many a year. Never shot it and probably won't. Have a Colt letter on it, it was origionally sent to Denver in the first years of 1900.
Thinking of selling it, but its been in the family for 100 years or more.

It is a 38 Colt. That was its origional chambering. 5 1/2" bbl

Do I sell it and let someone enjoy it? No one in the family cares about it.

Anyhow, what is something like this worth??

I know its not a Levergun, but SAA's and Leverguns just seem to go together
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Griff
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Griff »

I'll let Sixgun answer this question... I know what they're worth to me... but I ain't an expert. But my opinion on "safe queens" is that they shouldn't exist. While there isn't a gun in my safe that I haven't fired... there are several that don't get much range time. But... they were built for special purposes, and those purposes don't come around very often.

However, for me, SAAs are SO MUCH FUN, that I shoot mine for FUN! Other folks look at cowboy action as competition, and blaze away and blindingly fast speeds... I look at it as plinking with a purpose!

BTW, Sixgun ain't hardly ever up this early... lazy, retired, ornery cuss that he is... :P
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marlinman93
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by marlinman93 »

Shooters vs. collectors bring up the same never ending debate. I know collectors with hundreds of guns they've never fired, and are still excited to own those guns. So whether you shoot it or not shouldn't be the deciding factor. And if you don't have a specific place the money will go, then years from now you'll wonder what you did with it, and why you ever sold the gun. It's a shame to sell any gun that's been in your family 100 years, and I'd be extremely hesitant to ever sell it myself. But I have such high respect for family heirloom firearms that I've refused to buy guns when sellers told me similar stories. I'll only relent and purchase them if the seller writes all the family history out, and is adamant about no family member ever having any interest in the gun.
Your gun, but I'd never sell a family gun after 100 years.
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JimT
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by JimT »

I am with Marlinman93. All the family guns stay in the family. I have one that I got from my Grandmother after Grandpa had passed. He bought it about 1910. I have a letter with it leaving it to my first Grandson when I pass.
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COSteve
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Done

Post by COSteve »

Done
Last edited by COSteve on Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by piller »

That is a long time to keep something in the family. Are you sure no one wants it?
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Sixgun
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Sixgun »

Pre war single action Colts are my game, along with pre WW1 Winchesters........

Eventually 99.99 % of guns wind up in other people's hands other than family......that's their purpose as good guns retain value.

I'm always interested in these guns whether they are NIB or drug behind a horse for 20 miles on a rock road.

But.....as capitalists, value depends on condition and originality........you say it's in 38 Colt...the factory also made a 38 Colt Spl. which is the same as a S&W 38 Spl but the bullet has a blunt nose.......as scarce chamberings bring a premium one in 38 Colt does not as it's the heel bullet and it just doesn't grab interest.

I need to see pictures....close pictures.......does it still have the hard rubber grips on it? You say it was rebuilt....in what way? Refinished? And color left on the frame?

You get some good pictures and I'll take a look see.------6
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OldWin
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by OldWin »

Everyone has their own ideas on this subject. The only "wrong" one IMO is one that is wrong for you.
Colt SAA's are valuable not because they exist. They are valuable because of the timeframe they were used and by who used them. It was their use that made them famous.
While owning an SAA is a joy, it pales to the joy of shooting it.
For me, I would not sell a family heirloom. You say it has been redone. Is that just refinish? How is it mechanically? Bore and chamber condition? Unless it is in a super rare chambering, and good enough to shoot accurately, I would rechamber it before letting it languish in a box.
Of course, that is just me. I have old guns, but sometimes my coolest and favorite ones aren't the most valuable.
Good luck with your decision.

But POST PICTURES! :D
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Sixgun
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Sixgun »

OldWin wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:23 pm
While owning an SAA is a joy, it pales to the joy of shooting it.
For me, I would not sell a family heirloom. You say it has been redone. Is that just refinish? How is it mechanically? Bore and chamber condition? Unless it is in a super rare chambering, and good enough to shoot accurately, I would rechamber it before letting it languish in a box.
Of course, that is just me. I have old guns, but sometimes my coolest and favorite ones aren't the most valuable

But POST PICTURES! :D
Take this guy for example.......well said Old Win.! Yea...not much beats shooting an old Colt that's in proper shootable shape. Old Win and I think pretty much alike when it comes to the old guns.

Old Win likes the old Colts so much he had a buffalo coat made with 17 inside pockets. He will wear this coat even if it's 100 degrees outside. He came over to my house one time in the dead of summer with 90% humidity wearing this coat and when he was leaving he put the coat in the back of his 1 ton truck and the truck springs about flattened out. He left smiling and waving and my safe was a couple of hundred pounds lighter...... :D
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Rockrat
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Rockrat »

This old Colt was drug behind the horse for more than 20 miless!!! From the story my Grandfather told me, it was that my Father took the thing to the base where he was stationed and someone there polished it and nickle plated it. Chambers oblong on both ends and hardly any markings left. Bore like a sewer pipe, guess GGF didn't clean it much the little he shot it. Outward appearances were deceiving. Looked good, but wall hanger otherwise.

Had to have another barrel/cylinder fitted and it de-nickled then re-CCH.

Might have the grips that were on it.

Family is pretty small. I am the only one into firearms. Hated to leave it in the shape it was in. Kind of like if you saw a 60's corvette sitting in a field on the old family farm, and found out it had been there for 40 years. You decided to get the old family car restored. Now, no one in the family wants it cause its too loud, get bad gas mileage, pollutes too much, has a manual shifter nobody can use, ect.

Will get some pics later.
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Sixgun
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Sixgun »

Copy that Rockrat! People are only interested in money today......how many times have we all seen gold Elgin pocket watches engraved to so and so for sale?...

Just for the heck of it see if it will chamber a 38 Spl. My guess that's what was done....the 38 Colt has funky measurements....like 380 something....--6
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Rockrat
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Rockrat »

IIRC, the fellow did use a 38 special cylinder.

See if the pics upload

First time I have taken it out of its plastic wrapper since I received it after its rebuild/restoration.
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M. M. Wright
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by M. M. Wright »

Would you mind giving us the serial number? Just X out the last two for privacy if you want. I notice it is not a black powder frame and +++s for keeping the original grips. Having a Colt SAA "restored" is a killer to the price though. But any old Colt is interesting and should bring a little more than a new one. Is the barrel marked 38 Special? Aren't 38 Colt barrels .375 groove dia? Oh yeah, new barrel.
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Rockrat
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Re: SAA quandary??

Post by Rockrat »

It dates to 1902. Barrel is marked 38 Colt. Don't remember if it was an original 38 Colt barrel, but suspect it is a 38 spcl barrel that has been re-marked as I imagine that origional 38 Colt barrels were not available at that time.
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