Most of the people who are interested in the Confederate Pistols are familiar with Griswold & Gunnison (Griswoldville, Ga.) who made over 3600 brass framed Colt style pistols. Many also know of Leech & Rigdon (Memphis, Tenn) who is considered the second largest Confederate Pistol Manufacturer.
These pistols were made to a contract which specified the pistol was to be the same as the 1851 Colt Navy.
Although Colts guns were always steel framed, the shortage of iron caused most of the Confederate pistols to have Brass frames. There are even stories about the people melting down the brass church bells to obtain this material for the war effort.
Schnider & Glassic in Memphis, Tenn was one of the few Confederate manufacturers who made brass framed .36 cal. revolvers with the same style of octagon barrel as the Colt. Most Confederate revolvers have a round barrel which reduced the production time.
Schnider & Glassic are believed to have produced 14 guns. (Ref CONFEDERATE ARMS by William A Albaugh III and Edward N. Simmons 1957 pp 21,22)
There are only 2 of their guns known to exist, one an iron frame, and the other a brass framed pistol (ser # 6).
The gun shown below was made from a Dixie "1851 Navy-Brass Frame" kit in the proper .36 caliber. Rather than bluing or browning the gun I chose to bleach it, and do what I could to add some age to its exterior.
After plugging and masking the bore and cylinder bores I applied generous amounts of bleach to the bare steel parts.
The bleach creates deep rust pits in a matter of minutes. Although I steel wooled off the rust and oiled it, it seems to get more aged looking with each passing year.
(This method has been used to Counterfeit guns so beware of going by appearance if you want to buy "an original".)
To reduce the chanch of this being mistaken for an original, although I removed all of the Italian Proof markings, I left the "Black Powder Only" on the side of the barrel.
Just for my own amusment, I stamped my gun with Serial number 7.
These pistols were made to a contract which specified the pistol was to be the same as the 1851 Colt Navy.
Although Colts guns were always steel framed, the shortage of iron caused most of the Confederate pistols to have Brass frames. There are even stories about the people melting down the brass church bells to obtain this material for the war effort.
Schnider & Glassic in Memphis, Tenn was one of the few Confederate manufacturers who made brass framed .36 cal. revolvers with the same style of octagon barrel as the Colt. Most Confederate revolvers have a round barrel which reduced the production time.
Schnider & Glassic are believed to have produced 14 guns. (Ref CONFEDERATE ARMS by William A Albaugh III and Edward N. Simmons 1957 pp 21,22)
There are only 2 of their guns known to exist, one an iron frame, and the other a brass framed pistol (ser # 6).
The gun shown below was made from a Dixie "1851 Navy-Brass Frame" kit in the proper .36 caliber. Rather than bluing or browning the gun I chose to bleach it, and do what I could to add some age to its exterior.
After plugging and masking the bore and cylinder bores I applied generous amounts of bleach to the bare steel parts.
The bleach creates deep rust pits in a matter of minutes. Although I steel wooled off the rust and oiled it, it seems to get more aged looking with each passing year.
(This method has been used to Counterfeit guns so beware of going by appearance if you want to buy "an original".)
To reduce the chanch of this being mistaken for an original, although I removed all of the Italian Proof markings, I left the "Black Powder Only" on the side of the barrel.
Just for my own amusment, I stamped my gun with Serial number 7.
