Need help identifying 1851 Navy clone...

[stvbird]

Hey guys,
I just picked up a used 1851 Navy Colt (clone) that I can't identify. It is the brass frame confederate style with the long octagonal barrel. The problem is, other than a serial number on the bottom of the frame (where they are supposed to be) there is not one mark anywhere on the gun. On the very bottom of the barrel if you oil it up really well you can barely make out what may say Y C L. The Y is really the only thing you can make out. It is very faint and lightly etched. The C L is a guess. No proof marks, no "made in", nothing, nada, ziltch. To my knowledge and that of a local classic gun shop, all of the euro clones have their legally required proof marks all over them, such as Uberti and Pietta. This thing is fairly old, with bluing is pretty much rusty brown in color now, and the wood on the grip has been around the block a time or two, but without markings, how can you date the thing or tell where it may have been from. Holding it next to a Pietta it is of way better quality even with it's age. It has a really smooth action and a nice trigger. Any ideas? Do all imports have to have proof marks by law? If it is older than I think then maybe I found a diamond in the rough, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'll be happy with it either way. Just curious as hell.  

If anyone can shed some light on the subject I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Fingers McGee]

Some pictures would help.

It could be:

1.  A kit gun that had the proof marks removed.
2.  A repo that was defarbed for/by a reenactor.
3.  An old repo that someone worked over.
4.  Some combination of the above.

FM

[stvbird]

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[stvbird]

Does that help?  Just exactly what does it take to make the bluing on a gun turn rust brown? Oh and by the way it is a .36

[St. George]

If it was originally a kit gun, or if it was intentionally 'de-farbed' - applying one of the Birchwood Casey browning solutions would've been the fastest way to give the iron parts a 'brown' color.

Far, far harder to get the brass to get to a believable 'mustard' color.

If you wanted to strip the bluing - 'Vanish' toilet bowl cleaner works wonders for a chemical stripper.


Vaya,

Scouts Out!