A Colt restoration UPDATED

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Cut and pasted some of this so it could have it's own thread. Here Alan Harton is going to demonstrate how he goes about restoring a Colt SAA with a blown topstrap and horribly rounded edges from polishing with the incorrect tools.

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Note how badly the screw holes have been dished and the general rounding of the edges. What amazes me the most is that you are looking at just under 500 bucks worth of Peacemaker even in this condition.

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Here, after re-establishing the front end of the frame so that it is square again Harton has welded on the replacement topstrap.

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The topstrap contours and flats are re established inside and out. This is not only welding at a high level but some very careful blacksmithing.

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I haven't spoken to Alan, but money says he has researched and found this sixgun to have left the factory with a 5 1/2" barrel and here Harton has built a new one from scratch. The front sight is mounted and the ERH stud is in place.

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Viola. Some replacement parts, loading gate, cylinder etc, and the wreck is back in shooting condition. This restoration is a 44-40 made in 1894. Its restored value will be at least 3000.00 US.

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At this point, the Colt has been test fired with satisfactory results to include regulating the sights by bending the barrel only slightly. Harton tells me that when so much welding has been done, it is difficult to predict what impact it has had on the frame and most especially the frame threads for the barrel. In this case there was no negative impact. Harton says the Colt nearly shot to the sights and needed only a minor tweak (bending) of the barrel to be right on. Back to the shop the Colt is again disassembled and the cosmetic issues are to be addressed. This photograph shows the steady hands and precision welding required to reclaim all the rounded edges and dished out screw holes.

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Here we are looking at the left side of the main frame and grip frame and detail work on the trigger guard itself. All those surfaces that are either rounded or dished have been raised by welding.

[cmillard]

Wow

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Here is a picture of the remedial welding on the bottom of the grip frame to include the screw hole. I will address how Harton goes about reclaiming the screw holes shortly.

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Ok, what with the corners of the mainframe and grip frame all welded up, obviously the Colt cannot be assembled unless the surfaces that bolt up are recut square again. Since there is no fixture or other stable way to hold the parts, Harton does it using a belt sander. As you can well imagine this takes really steady hands and a sharp eye. Bolted together:

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Now the excess weld is cut away. A progression of files is used here on the flats and it looks like Harton roughed out the curves with a power tool.

Bottom view:

[sheriff]

Amazing work!!

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That last photo shows that this particular Colt has matching serial numbers which probably accounts for the fact that even a wreck still carries a hefty price tag.

[COR]

That's just plain artistic.

Many thanks to Fermin for an inside look of a true master of metal.