Colt's First Double Actions: The 1877 Lightning & Thunderer
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- Опубликовано: 24 ноя 2020
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Samuel Colt disliked the idea of a double action revolver, considering the idea to be wasteful of ammunition and likely to be fragile. However, he passed away in 1862, and by 1873 double action Webley (and other British make) pocket revolvers were starting to become popular in the United States. In order to compete with them, the Colt company decided to introduce its own first double action model. Designed by talented Colt engineer William Mason, the Model 1877 was released in three calibers, .32 (the Rainmaker), .38 (the Lightning), and .41 (the Thunderer). Only a few hundred of the .32 models were made, but the Lightning and Thunderer were quite successful, with 166,849 made between 1877 and 1909. Both calibers were offered as 6-shot guns on identical frames. Barrels could be had form 1.5 inches up to 10 inches, with or without ejectors, and with a variety of finish levels including a few very fancy engraved examples like the one we have here today.
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740
Its him, the Arizona ranger
Big Ian.... *Big Iaaaaaaan*
Florida man
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
@@rempuia69 did i just got rick rolled
@@Guillo78 yep. me too.
From my brief time in the south west, I'm wondering if lip balm/chopstick belongs in a second holster next to the gun.
I'm still pulling for Ian to drop a second channel: forgotten hats.
The History Guy kinda does this already as he collects hats and sometimes shows them and the history behind them in an episode. After seeing Ian show off part of his collection i think the two of them could probably have a good collaboration
At least he has a backup for when RUclips censors guns away completely lol
Hat gang ouh!
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Back in the 70's, pimps used to wear hats like that - only fuzzy.
there is precedent for hats to follow firearms collecting, there's a quite famous game revolving around collecting both
Even in the 1870s Colt were giving out cool-as-hell names to their pistols.
Marketing!
Thank Benjamin Kitteridge, the major distributor. I believe he also coined 'Peacemaker' and all of the 1873 New Line pocket pistol names
Colt did not name ANY of these guns. As has already been said, a Colt distributor from Cincinnati Ohio named Benjamin Kittredge gave all of these Colt revolvers their famous names. He named the Lightning, the Thunderer, the Rainmaker (which is so rare because it did not go into production until 1887, a full DECADE after the Lightning and Thunderer were first produced)...and he also gave the Single Action Army the name "Peacemaker" because Colt's official designation for it was the "Model P".
Colt has been a joke of a company for nearly 200 years. The vast majority of their existence has been spent living off of the genius of OTHER people. William Mason and Charles Richards designed the Single Action Army (although to be fair they were both Colt engineers at the time), John Moses Browning designed the 1911 and Eugene Stoner designed the AR-15. Colt's entire existence as a company is thanks to just those three firearms...the SAA, the 1911 and the AR-15.
Colt, as a company, would not have even survived into the 1900s if not for John Browning and his 1911, and they would not have made it past the 1970s if not for Eugene Stoner and his AR-15. Just look at how many times over the last 50-60 years Colt has tried to develop their own semi-auto handgun design and failed. They've tried MULTIPLE times to develop something to compete with guns like the Glock, yet they are so incompetent that they failed every single time. And when I say "failed", I mean the designs they came up with were literally some of the worst firearms EVER made. I think Ian even has a few videos covering some of them on this channel. Hell, even Smith & Wesson managed to develop a polymer-framed 9mm pistol of their own and it became HUGELY successful (even if I personally despise it). Their "M&P" series of handguns are insanely popular.
It's like band names. Boston, New York Dolls, Kansas. In the UK we don't have a major band called Cleethorpes, Bournemouth or Stockton On Tees!
@@DanglingDingleBerry what about colt’s late 20th century revolver designs like the python and trooper?
As soon as I saw the hat I thought “I’m your huckleberry”
@I_like_space agreed once i saw that i knew there had to be a doc holiday reference. Especially knowing where Ian is from.
Same
Same
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
@Tommy Salami The new trend!
Same
My wife has her grandmothers 1877(cal 41).The letter from Colt shows it shipping in 1890 with rubber stocks. They were replaced with pearl stocks. Grandma carried it in her apron. Grandpa had (which we have) a shoulder holster made for.
"cartridge rifles are wasteful, soldiers will just fire too fast!"
"lever rifles are bad because soldiers will burn up ammunition too fast!"
"Double action revolvers are bad because they will fire off their shots wildly!"
"Magazine bolt actions are wasteful because they will fire too fast!"
"Self loading battle rifles are too wasteful!"
"Automatic assault rifles are bad because they will spray and pray!"
Times change, but the frugality of commanders never changes
...and the enlisted men pay with their lives!
I remember reading somewhere that making the us army fire off 1 more magazine for the sidearm during training would add another 16 million to the budget or something daft like that
unga bunga bullet too expensive use rock instead
I bet the first general to see a minigun shit bricks
Salesman:yes general it's a revolving machine gun in a way similar to the Gatling gun
General: well the Gatling gun had a reasonable rate of *BRRRRRTTTTTT* no absolutely not that thing is a waste of ammo
and then imagine a burst with the minigun and vulcan and cost of a cruise missile or all the bombs they ve thrown on iraq , afghanistan and now syria... compared to the price of small arms ammo, even considering many tens of thousands of enlisted need some, not all will shoot of everything, most ammo is anyhow used for troop maneuvers, and in the Bunddeswehr they would fire off all their ammo at the end of the budget month/period to not get a cut
When I saw the Lightning on the left at the beginning I had a flashback to being a kid in the (19)70s, where every single cap gun looked exactly like that, engraving and all. I honestly thought he was about to show us the side of the cylinder flipping up and a roll of red paper...
Saw what you did at 5:55 - Showed the hard rubber grip on the “Thunderer” and said “this is what you’d normally get if you didn’t **pony** up for something fancy...” - while showing the famous Colt rampant pony logo. Well played, my man.
"It's funny because it's bigger than, you know, a normal hat." -Turd Ferguson
In Arizona, that *is* a normal hat.
@@markfergerson2145 ruclips.net/video/bEghu90QJH4/видео.html
@@RockIslandAuctionCompany Yeah, I quit watching SNL about 1979 when it was still funny.
@Waltzin' Matilda Okay kid.
Who is André the Giant?
I feel like these are exactly the model that our cap guns were modeled after growing up.
Yeah, and they broke just as often too.
"Pony up the money"... I see what you did there..
You beat me by two hours. Darn it. Stay safe, and have a good one
Haha,horse puns :)
The battle of the hats: forgotten weapons vs. The history guy. " oh yeah? Well how about this...?
"I've got two guns, one for each of you!"
I feel like Ian brings all of his hats to rock island every time in the hopes he can wear one in a video.
Upside to working graveyard is getting to catch the latest FG episode hot off the presses.
I second this upside
"Thunderer and lightning very, very frightening me."
"Thunderer, feel the Thunderer... Lightning and the Thunderer."
Galileo
Galileo
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
@@rempuia69 So call me maybe.
I believe I recall a documentary stating that John Wesley Hardin was carrying one when he was killed.
I missed most of the video because of "the very fine hat" as well as the "howdy folks!" line. I half expected to see The Mighty Jingles pop up next...
Informative and interesting as always, unusually hilarious as well. Thank you :)
The overlap between Ian fans and Jingles fans is always funny. Spookston too.
Forgotten Ballads
And Interesting Trail Tinkerings
Ian McCollum
This comment is so underrated.
Props dude, great Marty Robins pun.
Imma be honest. Didn't expect Yee Haw Ian when I clicked on this video.
A man of many hats.. thank you so much for your channel.. it is one of my favorites
Western hats were often weather-related. The big ones were for rain and shade. As a Tucson resident, you probably appreciate the opaque wide brim. I don't know how fashionable it is today, but comfort has a value all its own. I have never held one of those pistols. It is interesting to see two examples. Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!
Well. Johnny Ringo. Looks like someone just walked on youre grave
fight's not with you Holliday
@@funkyneil2000 i beg to differ sir, we started a game we never got to finish. Play for blood... Remember
@@antoniopossan7359 I was just foolin about
@@funkyneil2000 well i hasn't. And now its legal
@@antoniopossan7359 Alright lunger, lets do it!
I was hooked at just a review of the gun but then you pulled out the close up! ENGRAVED 🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍
I say howdy. I also say g'day.
I live dangerously.
Outback/country both much the same in many ways.
Dude you make quality and informitave content. Keep up the good work.
Welcome to Forgotten Hats... love it Ian!! Good info on the Colts, too!!
Wait Colt developed a pistol that attempted to meet the practical needs of the American gun market?
Believe it or not, the Colt company actually was competent at one point.
@@rogainegaming6924 yup
"Never again", they swore afterwards.
Yes. At one time. Colts was a preeminent firearm makeing company. Responsible for many of the firearms advancementa we take for granted today. Its products MADE history and helped ensure the survival and progression of our nation.
But then technology, business practices, AND especially politics began to change.
And Colts began to lose major ground in ALL circles.
Now it is but a ghostly shadow of what it once was and couldve been.
And a firearms industry poster child for what NOT to do in running a successful firearm company.
They made a lever action or pump rifle called the Lightning.
A great informative vid. Being from Az myself( went to high school in Tombstone) I appreciate the hat and connections to Doc. Looking forward to your next vid. Could you do a bit on the Croatian 9mm PHP? A very interesting story on the creation. Stay safe.
"Me very first pistol was a cap and ball Colt
Shoots as fast as lightnin' but it loads a might slow
It loads a might slow, and soon I found out
It'll get you into trouble but it can't get you out"
👍
I see we are dealing with a man of culture.
Thank you for making this video
When my grandfather (a "line" police officer, I.E. patrolman...) taught me to use a revolver (with an S&W Model 10 at age 10! 😲,LOL!) he taught me double action FIRST. His opinion (shared by just about ALL policemen in the 20th century..) was that thumbing the hammer for single action was fine for "nice" bullseye target work, but in the REAL world a revolver was a defense tool. Single action is a nice option on a revolver, and I have never wanted to be WITHOUT the option, But I prefer DA. YMMV.
@Thot Police I'm only "British" if you count the FACT that I called my mother "Mum" and that I am from Manchester. EDIT: Both of these facts also mean that I am from Pittsburgh,PA (USA) 😲😜
Great video, informative as always.
The Lightning one is gorgeous! All that detail in the engravings.
Great video as always.
If you ever come across an PP19 Bizon sub-machinegun, I would love to see you take it apart and doing a video on it.
One of my favorite SMGs and still waiting for you to cover one.
Thanks for all your great content.
That's a good lookin' hat ya gotta there, Ian. I wear one very similar in S.A.S.S. cowboy action matches.
Side note, I've been waiting for a video on the Colt 1877's. My day has been made.
I admire old collectible Colt revolvers and 1911’s. Great video and nice hat! 🤠
fun fact: ian was val kilmer's understudy during the filming of tombstone
used a 3" barrel no ejector 1877 Lightning in .38LC as a back up gun in cowboy action matches for several years ... a Great little gun proved reliable and good for making cans dance
That Lightning is utterly gorgeous and I'm pretty sure it has a hefty pricetag to boot. Btw quite a fancy hat Ian!
Times must have changed. 30 years ago my friends in Phoenix always thought my "Howdy!" was quaint. They also said I had an accent, which I never understood, lol. I also didnt think old Colts had rubber grips. I thought they were all wooden. Thanx Ian, for another informative vid.
Inherited a Thunderer built in 1879 as described on my Colt heritage certificate. It was my great grandfathers and was initially shipped from Colt to a Chicago store. It looks identical to the Thunderer in this video. Recommendations for next time: 1) show where the serial numbers are located and the URL (www.colt.com/serial-lookup) where folks can confirm the build date, 2) explain the fact that the nicknames for this model (Thunderer, Lightening, etc) were marketing terms from a major distributor and not Colt designations. The rise in Cowboy Action Shooting has given rebirth to the 41 Colt ammo as it is again commercially available with new brass made by Starline. I’ve used both smokeless and black power ammo in this gun. With black powder you are limited to 6-8 shots before the pistol fouls. Gives new perspective on old west movie shootouts. Enjoyed the video!
did you notice any ill effects from using smokeless loads? I know Colt only rated their post 1900 Single Action Armies safe for smokeless (but that could be just for liability)
Six shots? More than enough to kill anything that moves.
@@jonasdeejee890 i didn’t notice any harmful impact to the pistol shooting smokeless. My pistol was made in 1879 and much of the available ammo was black powder vs smokeless. It just gets extremely dirty.
@@tubbybutterman5711 Good to know it can shoot smokeless, having to use BP was putting me off of getting one since it always takes a while to clean. There seem to be 2 school of thoughts on shooting smokeless in BP firearms: there's people who say smokeless has a much faster burning curve than BP and will damage BP firearms, while others say it's just the peak pressure that matters. I guess that the second view is correct.
YES I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THESE
Been waiting for this. Love the look of those bird's heads.
Enjoyed the video. The plus of the double action, let’s say a 38 short at close range, is that you can get a follow up center of mass shot or two into the target to further disable, all within a second, perhaps two, and still be in a tenable position for further discourse.
Love the quote drop at the end...."Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you, with your... very fine hat. But I do business. We're here for business."
Love the hat. Like Arizona, they aren't out of place in the Hill Country of Texas where I live either. I have one each of these revolvers and love them. Mine are five inchers that actually work well. The ammo is expensive and hard to find so they don't fired very often. The .41 is a potent little cartridge. I wish someone would start making a modern replica of the '77 Colt. I would definitely be a buyer.P.S. I haven't found a gunsmith to work on these little guns or a source of new parts.
"Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you, with your... very fine hat. But I do business."
Man walks down the street in a hat like that, you know he's not afraid of anything.
@@Ni999 Cunning, don't ya think?
@@michaelmartin8446 Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land.".
@Tommy Salami Dusting off a classic?
@Tommy Salami Fair point. I'm country as hell, and often my idioms confuse others, simply because they're not from the country.
Nice hat. "Do you have the right time old man?"
No.
DO DO DO DO dO
Turns out he doesn't... lmao ruclips.net/video/0lN4Yd2J-A4/видео.html
I have one of these in .41 cal. SN 36770. Three patent dates 1871-74-75. My dad bought it from a man back in the 60's who carried it much but fired it little. It's worn looking but the action still works fine.
ian is gonna drop hat collection part 2 any day i can tell
Tad surprised there wasn't more mention of just how exquisite the engraving is for a production model.
I like the hats, it spices the videos up.
Aw, I like the themed hats. It makes the videos more fun!
anyone else noticed that the screw twisted a bit when Ian hovered his hand over the gun?
does Ian have magic or something?
Dope hat Kad Bain!
I have read a little bit about these particular revolvers, I always found them to be pretty interesting and rather complex with their internal mechanisms.
Nice. As some have pointed out, JWH was known to favor them, often in a shoulder holster. You mention comoetition from the Bulldog. Custer was known to favor them, often carrying a pair. It is widely believed he was carrying them at Little Bighorn in 1876. I think they are lost to history, but i don't remember. Has anyone made repros of the Lightning and Thunderer? A modern Uberti made of modern steels with a simplified DA mechanism and properly heat treated parts would be aot of fun. I would cheerfully buy one each in 38 Spl and 44 Spl, with a 3.5" or 4" bbl. The engraving is very nice. That would be good on the repros too. I think somebody had CNC engraving, meaning it could be done cheaply. Love the hat. Quite a sunshade. Great video as always. Thank you
Colt also made Lightning slide action rifles. I have a .22 with a very rare factory 26" octo barrel and Colt paperwork. Never seen any other that had anything but the common 24" barrel. For 118 years old, it is still in nice condition. Fun shootin' piece.
Ian becomes the spitting image of a wild west gunslinger and all it takes its a cool hat
Considering how prominent Colt was in the "Old West", it's amazing how late they adapted some of the technological improvements e.g. metal cartridges, double action and fully opening cylinders.
1877 Lightning - Best looking Colt revolver ever made. (I can live with the allegedly fragile lockwork)
It looks like the cap gun I had when I was a kid. (or the other way 'round!)
Always loved the look of these fine pieces, same style as the Single Action Army but just different enough to be beautiful in it's own way! Always wanted to lay my hands on one
At least unlike the Colt Single Action Army, this one didn’t fire if you hit it too hard. That’s a big improvement.
yeah but if you have lumbago and accidentally drop it or hit it very hard, it could possibly go off
And yet again they stole it from someone else lol
...Load five, keep both feet.
@@Coupi l u m b a g o
ALL revolvers before the advent of the transfer bar could fire if the hammer was hit and that includes the Lightning and Thunderer.
I found a Thunderer and purchased it 3 years ago. It's a surprisingly small revolver for one possessing a 51/2" barrel. The grips are also rather snall. My revolver has has a nickle finish and from its wear pattern, it is clear that a prior owner pulled the pistol from a holster with their left hand. The pistol is perfectly sized for use in a shoulder holster as Doc Holiday is known to have used. Generally, it's quite a nice revolver.
I didnt know about this! I believe I nay have seen this in an old movie but I cant place where. I assumed it was a doctored Hollywood prop. Another super cool video. Love the history.
William H. Bonney, alias William Antrim, alias Billy the Kid’s favorite irons.
I have fired the Cimarron Thunderer in 45 LC. I was pleased with the handling of the Birdshead grip and overall feel and balance, it was easy to shoot good groups form the start.
I notice their website is showing a larger line than I remember, including a .357 magnum in 5.5" barrel, but I would have to handle it before purchase. Wheel guns are not my thing although I own a few because sometimes I want to shoot just for fun.
I used to live right outside of tombstone, by an army base called fort huachuca where the original buffalo soldiers were stationed. I would move back there tomorrow.
Ps.
Ian, keep the hat. It's a good look for you
My favorite version of the Colt 1877 Double action Revolver is the Lightning one.
Clearly ahead of their time.
Cool. Have you done a video on the first revolvers with swing out barrels?
I'm from a time when the shape of a man's hat told you alot about him. Flat wide brim for sun protection. As for the Colt 1877. I've been wanting one since the seventies. This year I get one.
The reputation for the fragility of the 1877 is real. A gunsmith I used to hang around in my younger years had nothing good to say about them. Well, not exactly. He called them his "bread and butter" guns. Of course, by the time I showed up, no one was using them anymore but he still called them that many years later.
And a couple of movies that used the 1877 can probably confirm that. I heard that there were 4 1877's on one particular movie set, and it took all four to complete the movie because 3 of them were in for repair all the time they were making the film.
I own one. Once you understand what's going on inside it's not too bad but at first I was scratching my head to figure out what was going on inside. The hardest part is the parts that usually wear are not easy to replace nor are reproduction parts plentiful.
That is a very fine hat, and when I was in Arizona and now that I am here in western Texas, I do now have one of those hats.
The ivory style handled revolved is truly magnificent to look upon. If I was to ever own a firearm of my own I would love to own one of these or perhaps a colt SAA, all time dream guns for me would have to be a nickel plated 1911, a luger P08 or a C93. I love pistols
I have 2 Thunderers. One shorter barrel "shop keeper" model from 1882. Its in great shape and still fireable, but not matching serial numbers.
I have a second one from 1877 with a more standard 4-5 inch barrel. It is also in fireable shape and matching serial numbers. However, someone had it nickled in its past. It was done a long time ago though, not something recent.
Anyway.. Cool to see a video about them. I wished you touched on the fragile mechanics and actual design little more. They use a "split flat spring" design which is what makes them finicky. Its common to find them out of timing.
Gorgeous engraving on the "Lightning".
Thank you , Ian .
Lurve Th Hat .
Gorgeous Colt Revolvers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also , everybody have a Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very nice looking Colts
Howdy Partner! we count them one by each enjoyed watching Ian take care
The way to tell the two models apart without seeing the barrel engraving is by the cylinder flutes. The thunderer has cylinder flutes of a size very familiar looking where as the Lightning’s flutes look very undersized.
Keep the hat. Your not bothering me at all. Enjoy your vids man and thanks.
God the engraving though! Might be the most beautiful revolver I've ever seen
I would love to see the lockwork on one of those.
Those are nice. I wonder what the Rainmaker was chambered in and what it looks like.
Oh no, someone better relay this to Texas Red
Twenty men have tried to tell him and that many men are dead.
Even though the Ranger is from Arizona, these are some pretty small irons, so he shouldn't be worried.
Billy the kid did use it and it was his favorite however he used single action as well. Doc Holiday had two in a cros shoulder rig in .38 caliber. Plus he had some derringers as well and a knife.
Forgotten headwear returns !
Something looks different. Did you trim your goatee?
I see these come up for auction on the various interweb sites from time to time and sometimes for a lot less than I'd expect, though seldom, as you note, in full working condition. I have some fair skills with basic gun repair and have fixed up some revolvers before, but I suspect I should probably not even look at the internals on one of these. I do have a friend who's a professional gunsmith whom I suspect groans every time I bring him something I can't fix because he knows it'll be a nightmare ... hmm ... maybe I should bite the bullet and finally seriously pursue getting one of these, then.
FWIW, I am quite fond of the old "bulldog" revolvers and have several from the late 1800s onward. Mine are the "British Bulldogs," the Belgian made copies of the Webley RIC models, but I have them in .32 Short Colt, .32 S&W Long (which is also, IIRC, .320 Webley maybe?), .442 Webley bulldog, and .38 S&W. I haven't shot the pair of .442s yet as I just haven't gotten around to making the cartridges. A few of mine are not shooters anymore but enough are that I've tested them out and they are a lot of fun.
Several years ago I inherited a Thunderer from my late father in law. It works perfectly but I'm reluctant to fire it. I imagine that modern ammo would blow it apart.
In "Tombstone", you can see a DA Lightning in Val Kilmer's (Doc Holliday) shoulder holster.
My dad has 4 I think in his collection. He has worked on a number of them in his life. He said each part has to be hand fitted and the gun has to be completely reassembled to check it the new part works.
Funny, my dad is a boomer who grew up mostly in CA as a surfer. He doesn’t wear cowboy hats or boots. But he’s always said “howdy” because of that I usually address older people this way. Never really gave it any thought till now.
Can we have episodes on things like the M1 garand, and the SAA? I know they aren’t “forgotten” weapons, but we’ve had many popular weapons over the years anyways.
It was interesting that John Henry liked the 1877 DA Colts.
Doc Holliday was a fascinating character.
Thanks Ian
The hat is known as a "Boone" style. I have an accurate reproduction for use in SASS competitions.