Today's collector usn't necessarily a user - they view 'the Colt' as a holy relic worthy of veneration - to be coated with 'Renaissance Wax', placed on a silken pillow and worshipped.

To even 'think' about actually shooting one - to them - is an abomination.

No lie, GI - that part of the collecting world has changed...

Today, they get factory letters that whose end destination's a hardware store, Kopec letters tracking each partial martial serial number, in hopes it was a 'Custer' gin - or at least, a 'Custer-Era' gun - they parse screwheads and ejector rod heads to get the definitive answer of the date/time/group they changed - yet they don't seem to enjoy the purity of owning and shooting them.

They're more 'property' than 'cherished possession' - where the amassed information adds value - and perhaps it does, since research can be fun, as is 'knowing' - but all that doesn't mean squat to the potential buyer who merely wants a nice revolver to enjoy.

No other sidearm has the history, features in more tales and books, was so trusted to do the job, or was embellished - not the Government Models, Winchesters, Remingtons and so on - the SAA's at the pinaccle.

I was at a convention years ago, wearing a First Generation 'grey' SAA in an RT Frazier crossdraw from the 1890's, when I was asked by a couple of guys: 'Is that a real Colt?  Could I hold it? - followed by 'Gee, a real Colt...  Thanks' - no one has ever heard that about a Ruger Vaquero.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

 You would do well to find a bullet that is at least 1.3 inches long, to utilize the 18 twist in the barrel, with a diameter to match the throat of your rifle.
 Then load it to around 1200-1300 fps

My Lyman Lubesizer works great with SPG or home made tallow beeswax 50/50. Just got to remember to back off the tension on the lube if it's going to sit a long time or the soft lube will ooze out around the die. 

I'll give everybody until tomorrow to shoot since it's the weekend.  You can e-mail me photos of your targets to save postage if you want.

RB:

It looks like a fine one.
Calamity JoAnne shoots a pair of older K-Vaqs in .44 Mag with the 7'5" barrels too.

Long barrels used to be a thing for us.  I started shooting SASS with a pair of K-Supers with 10.5" barrels.
I shot clean a lot, but I was P-R-E-T-T-Y S-L-O-W to draw.

MG