I think Coffin "Hacksaw McGurk" Maker (forwards) likes his around an inch and a half, right Mike?  Or to the ejector, sometimes. 

Mine was made by putting a Navy grip on a "1860 Type II" as Uberti calls it, in .38.   Their 1860 conversions in .38, both R-M and Type II, come with the Navy frame/cylinder.  Since the Type II '60 barrel is the same shape as a '61, it is easy to turn it into a '61 Type II with the Navy grip. Colt made the one tool-room model we have a picture of, with a 7.5" barrel and no loading gate.  But this gun would have been easy to make, even back in the day, just a parts swapper.  Let's say somebody has a '51 R-M conversion, and they blew up the barrel or otherwise ruined it.  You take a '61 barrel, the ejector assembly of a'60 type II should fit, and put them on the Navy frame.  Ta-Da.

I have a matching .44 that is a little more period correct, or at least common. I put Navy grips on it as well since that's what I prefer.  I shoot smokeless Specials and BP Russians in it. 

Oh yeah, to answer the question, 5 1/2" since that's as short as they come.  I do have my Kirst-Strite '61 with a 7 1/2" barrel as well.

Judging by what I've read so far, it's a parts gun.

Sell them both and buy a 44-40.

Yes

Deacon,
Have you ever annealed cases?  I have annealed the mouths of my my .38s and .44 Russians to help with the obturation upon firing and to allow me to put hard crimps on the bullets without getting cracks on the mouth.  I have not performed designed experiments to determine how well this works for straight wall pistol cases but i have done it for some time for my .308, .300 blackout, .30-06 brass and even my better loads in 5.56.  I definitely need it on my match .308 and '06 loads for my semi-auto rifles.

The "problem" with heavier cases like the .45 Colt is getting adequate expansion at BP or BP substitute pressures.  .38 spl. cases are a bit thinner and I do it mainly because I have an auto annealer I built, and I can just load up the hopper. The .44 Spl feeds okay but the shorter .44 Russian need to have the case added one by one to the drum and a hundred cases eats up almost an hour with a 4 second anneal, the handloading loading is the time adder.

You will find .45 Colt brass runs all over the place.  Some as thin as .012" but John Boy was measuring some time back in an earlier discussion about the appropriateness of .45 Colt brass with BP and reported from about .019" to .024" inches of wall thickness at the mouth area down about 5/16ths" into the case on 12 different brands.  The .38s are much thinner running about .010"-.012", if you use .38 brass that has a straighter wall  made expressly for wadcutters you will get .010" for a depth of about .5".  You can tell those match cases by the cannelure about midway down the case.  I have a bunch because I used to build PPC revolvers and hoard the straight wall brass for long hollow base wad cutters.

This is all wadcutter brass, the 2nd, 4th and 5th are for hollow base wadcutters.



So, .38 is thinner walled and with well crimped loads (and heavier bullets) builds enough pressure to swell that case and seal the chamber as well as a Remington or Win .44-40 case in my experience. BUT, Starline makes a very thin walled (at the mouth) of about .0065" which seals exceptionally well.  They make that brass for people who own original .73s like mine which shoot the Ø.027" bullets better than Ø.028" bullets .  That thin walled brass works very well for Black Powder loads in modern reproductions.  Now don't get the idea that all of your sealing takes place at the mouth, the neck helps too.

I have been shooting TOP BRASS .44 Russian Cases and they are even thinner than my Starline .44 Russian and .44 Special cases.  they run around .010" to .011" at the mouth.  They were a bit hard and the annealing helped with that.  Starline Brass is always annealed when I get it and doesn't work harden much with BP load unless you have a an aggressive sizing die.  However a HARD crimp does work the brass and it needs to be annealed every 6 or so reloads if you don't want any splits.  I have some .44 spl brass I have been using for over 25 years and it looks almost new when I tumble polish it.  (I actually have match .308 brass I have had for over 40 years and only lose it or scrap it when it gets dented.)

~Mako

King Medallion,

Here is a link to a 2016 posting that a lot of people added their knowledge to about the USAF and earlier revolvers.  Two of them are the people that have already posted to you.

https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=57348.0

I think it will answer your SN# question but not your pricing question.

Shortly after this 2016 timeframe. there was a local shop that had a 'special order' USAF polished steel finished 38/40 'China Camp' at a price of $1400.  I believe China Camp revolver were all USA made.  I was watching for several weeks but it sold before I could gather and justify the monies.  This is the only price reference point, I can offer to you.

I, unfortunately, was never able to put my hands on a Rodeo or any affordable USAF - USA revolver.

Good luck if you do get this one.