suggestions for my daughter

[tdelewis]

My daughter, who is not a firearms owner or has any interest of being one, wants to have a gun that I have engraved. Something she can keep. I am thinking my best option for her is an 1851 colt reproduction. It doesn't follow the strict rules of the federal gov. It is easier to own. My question is about removing the rolled image from the cylinder. How many thousands is that and will it look odd when that is done. Next question, what brand of reproduction is of the best quality. I know the best would be the ones sold by colt in the 70's They may be hard to find. I would like to hear from people who have worked on repos.

 

[Rockingkj]

I have never removed the rolled cylinder marks. I have found Italian makes better quality. Uberti has been the best I have found. In fact Uberti made the reproduction Colts. Not a fact Colt shares. I have engraved several brass framed revolvers of questionable parentage mainly because I got them reasionably price as used.

 

[Rockingkj]

Found this pic of one I did. Cylinder came plain and I did not engrave it. Did this one a few years ago.

 

[tdelewis]

There are plenty of the 1885 Colts on the net for sale. That is the ones sold by Colt. I knew that the parts for those were made in Italy, but the finish work was done in the colt factory. That is what I have heard. The coloring on the ones made in Italy is not true case coloring. I believe it is done whit a hot cyanide dip. They can be engraved without annealing. My question is, do the ones sold by Colt need to have the frames annealed? Colt SSA have their frames annealed before engraving because it is a true case hardening process. Looking at the ones for sale on the net appear to have true case-hardened frames. I am looking for an answer on this I'm sure someone knows the truth. I am just going on hear-say.