For want of a cavalry Colt: one man's quest for a dream-gun

American Handgunner, Jan-Feb, 2006 by Mike Venturino

Patience Wanes

Not until 1993 did I see another Peacemaker Centennial .45 for sale, and that was when a fellow walked up to my gun show table and set a brand new one down and said, "You interested in that?" Brother was I ever! Without quibbling I paid him his asking price, and after 25 years my Cavalry Colt itch was finally getting scratched. That big Colt .45 became one of my favorites; so much so it was one of the Colt revolvers shown on the cover of my first book, Shooting Colt Single Actions. I made such a fuss about it in print that in the year 2000 another fellow offered me a second one, so now I have a matched pair.

There's More?

In cowboy-action matches I shoot them exclusively with black-powder loads, while doing my plinking and practicing at home with smokeless loads. Almost always I put those loads in .45 S&W "Schofield" brass, which is actually more authentic to the Indian Wars era than you might think. The Colt SAA was introduced in .45 Colt caliber, but by August 1874 the U.S. Army informed the government's Frankford Arsenal to only build the shorter .45 S&W cartridge, which they did for the next 18 years.

Most cavalry units carried the shorter .45 S&W round in their SAAs, but modern archaeology has shown that Custer's 7th Cavalrymen used the longer cartridges at the Little Bighorn. Anyway the difference in power wasn't great. The government loaded the full-length .45s with 250-grain bullets over 30 grains of black powder. The shorter .45 S&W used 230-grain bullets and 28 grains of black powder.

At this point a normal person would be satisfied. But, what sort of "normal" person would become a gunwriter anyway? At SHOT Show 2005, I was visiting in the United States Firearms Manufacturing Company's booth with their president, Doug Donnelly. My eyes fell on a Cavalry Colt in the display, and I had to ask, "Doug, what's with that old Cavalry Colt mixed in with all your new guns?" His answer amazed me. "That's one of ours" he said, "We're offering a Custer Battlefield model, with antique finish."

That did it. I ordered one on the spot, and in doing so I learned the buyer could even specify his own serial number as long as the number was in the range inspected by U.S. Army Ordnance Sub-Inspector Orville W. Ainsworth. That man inspected and stamped Colt SAAs at the factory in the era when they could have actually been issued to the 7th Cavalry prior to their fight at the Little Bighorn. Eagerly, I asked, "Has anyone taken the number 1876?" No they had not, and I got it!

At Last

A few days before this writing, my U.S. Firearms Custer Battlefield single action arrived. It's all I had ever hoped for: the antique finish is dingy just like that original Colt SAA still on display at the battlefield's museum. Sights, firing pin, ejector rod head and grips are perfect renditions of those items found on original "Cavalry Colts." The "A" inspector's stampings are precisely where they are supposed to be, as is the cartouche on the left side of the walnut grip, and the U.S. stamp on the frame's left side.