Navies

Well I know it’s a little late, but I’ve been very busy lately. A couple of weeks ago at the PVR swap meet I ran into a little deal that was just too good to pass up. I’ve been toying with the idea of picking up some cap and ball revolvers and shooting frontiersman. I love the look of the open top revolvers and found myself leaning towards the 1860 Army model Colts. Checking out prices here and their, I found that they always ran about $189. If I went with a brass frame I could get them cheaper, but I wanted a steel frame in the event I decided to get a cartridge

conversion or some such thing. So I had done my research, but never actually made anything happen.

When I went to the Indiana State Match last month I hoped to find a good deal on some cap and ball revolvers, but there were almost no vendors at the match so I left dejected. The PVR swap meet was my last hope.

We stopped for breakfast at the Little Schoolhouse as usual and met up with Abu. While talking about what to expect at the swap meet he said he was trying to sell his Pietta’s. After further questioning it came out that he had 4 Pietta 1851 Navies in .44 and wanted only 100 dollars each. Well that was a deal that was just too good to be true.

The 1851 Navy is the gun that really brought Sam Colt his fame. They earned the term “Navy” not due to any specific use by military navies around the world, but to the engraved navel battle scene on the cylinder. The Term “Navy” has universally been used to describe the .36 caliber version of the weapon, and the .44 caliber version was called the “Army” so I guess I really have an 1851 “Army”, but that doesn’t sound as cool.

Anyway 200 dollars later I am the proud owner of a brace of 1851 Navies and someday I plan on shooting Frontiersman if I can ever figure out how the things work.

It looks like I got these just in time since we are going to have a Josey Wales side match at the next TVR main match. More on that later.