What make of pistol?

[Harry Dursema]

Can any one tell me what make of gun this .36 cal is? Please note the flats on the cylinder.
There is no marking on it at all.
Not sure why I can't make the photo work
Thanks
H

 

[CaptainKirk]

It's a Griswold & Gunnison in cal .44, appears to be Pietta by the grip form.

 

Can any one tell me what make of gun this .36 cal is? Please note the flats on the cylinder.
There is no marking on it at all.
Not sure why I can't make the photo work
Thanks
H

Use IMG instead of image

CP

 

[Harry Dursema]

Thanks, however
A. it is a 36cal
B The Pietta Griswold-Gunnison does not have the flats on the cylinder. http://www.cabelas.com/pistols-pietta-griswold-gunnison-36-caliber-revolver.shtml
As far as the grips go here is a better photo.
I was thinking it is a 1860 Army but I am not a expert on such guns.

[/img]

 

[Harry Dursema]

Thank you sir!
Got it to work in the above post

 

[Zonie]

The barrel on your pistol is similar to the Confederate revolvers made in the South during the CW.

Confederate pistols were supposed to be copies of the Colt 1851 Navy, a .36 caliber pistol that was very popular at the time.

To simplify manufacturing, several Confederate companies machined the barrel round like the Colt Dragoon pistols rather than an octagon that Colt used for his 1851 Navy.
Companies making the round barrel style include Griswold & Gunnison and Leech & Rigdon.

The loading lever is also the Colt 1851 type.

The frame appears to be steel or iron which was uncommon. but not unknown for a Confederate made pistol. Many were brass framed.

Almost all of the revolvers manufactured in the North used iron or steel frames on their .36 caliber pistols.

In all of my references, I have never seen a cap & ball pistol with flats on the cylinder such as your pistol has.
The cylinders on the guns or photos of guns I've seen have either round cylinders or fluted cylinders.
The fluted cylinders vary from having partial flutes like a modern revolver to those which have the flutes running completely from the front of the cylinder to the rear.
This is not to say the pistol maker didn't try using a hexagon cylinder to reduce the guns weight. I am only saying I have never seen this feature before.

Your pistol's barrel and frame are not a Colt 1860.
The 1860 was a .44 caliber gun with a rebated (stepped) cylinder and the frame had a matching cut in it to clear the enlarged area of the cylinder.
The 1860 Model also used a creeping loading lever rather than a toggle/link style and it had a very streamlined barrel lug.

An explanation of your gun can range from a modern Italian reproduction pistol which has been altered by a previous owner to eliminate the manufactures markings and create the hexagon cylinder, to an authentic, very rare and collectable pistol made by an unknown company in the 19th century.

Without a close inspection by a true cap & ball pistol collector who really knows his firearms it is impossible to say exactly what it is.

IMO, under no circumstance should you rely on the word of a person who buys and sells guns for a living unless they fully understand that the pistol is not for sale at any price.

 

Is the frame steel or brass?

Is the cylinder six sided?

I wish I could inspect this physically.

CP

 

[Harry Dursema]

Thank you Jim that is very sound advice! I am going to have to look for someone in Tucson who knows these pistols.
H

 

[Harry Dursema]

Yes the frame is steel, the trigger housing and grip strap is brass and the cylinder is sort of 6 sided but the flats don't connect to each other.
Perhaps this photo will help.

[/img]

 

[Harry Dursema]

The flats are in between the nipples.

Another view

[/img]

 

[Harry Dursema]

Another better view

It does BTW shoot , tho with a very lite load.

 

[Robert Egler]

I can't help with the ID, but when you find out I'd really appreciate you posting what you know, that's an interesting pistol. I like the flats on the cylinder.

 

[desi23]

The second revolver in this thread is interesting. There were some repro Leech and Rigdon Confederate revolvers made in the late 70's or early 80's (Dixie or Navy Arms, can't remember). They had steel (iron?) frames but a round cylinder. Wonder if someone defarbed one and modified the cylinder for some reason. Are there any markings? Some Colt's were made with full-fluted cylinders and I seem to remember a report that a couple of Dance Bro's existed with a semi-fluted cylinder...Maybe someone was trying to recreate one of those? Would like to see some close up pictures....this one should have been started in a new thread, looks interesting

 

[Many Klatch]

Looks like the original owner wanted to get some weight off the gun so he filed the cylinder flat between the chambers. Those flat sides would make the gun a bit thinner and bit lighter. In the photo the flats don't look machined they look hand filed.

Many Klatch

 

[Harry Dursema]

There are no markings at all that I can find.
Not wanting to violate and rules or anything like that so I added it to this topic as that seems to be what the rules say to do.
Perhaps to late to start a new topic about this gun.
But will see what I can do about better photos.
thank you

 

[Harry Dursema]

I know the photos are not the greatest but to me the flats look very much like factory machining, not rough at all and have the very same patina as the rest of the gun.
As soon as I get the time I will try to take some close up photos in sunlight.
Thanks

 

[Harry Dursema]

At long last..
Closeup photos of the .36 cal revolver.
Hope these can help ID it.
Notice the stamping in the 36cal11092012e cylinder photo.
Looks to me like it may be part of a date.
The hammer in the last photo 36cal11092012n
Looks like a modern hammer with no rear sight grove like 1851 colts had.
There is no rear sight anyplace on the gun.
On the close up of the left side barrel it looks like there may be what is left of some writing.
I would really like to know who made this gun and when.
Thanks any and all help and opinions.
Aricacain

 

[cynthialee]

I have no idea. Looks like a colt clone other than the cylender.
Looking at them pictures I am more convinced now that someone altered the cylender. You can see the file marks on the flats. If it was made that way in a proper smithy they would have cleaned that detail up.

 

[Harry Dursema]

Here is what a well published gun appraiser had to say about the latest photos which I took at his request.

"These photos tend to confirm what several knowledgeable Colt collectors suggested to me: this is probably a “one-of” gun that someone made in a 19th Century machine shop. Many of the surfaces appear to be hand-filed, and there was no great effort made to remove tool marks. I’d suspect that it might be Confederate, since there would be no sense in making your own revolver if one could be purchased, but without markings, who can tell? The lack of a rear sight may say something about the maker’s appraisal of the gun’s accuracy potential.

I’ll keep digging."
name withheld

 

[Harry Dursema]

BTW I wish to thank whomever made this a topic by it's self.
It was a small set back when my bookmark did not go to the former thread line.
Thank you