The very depth of the company catalog of firearms means plenty of hard-to-find rare Colt revolvers stand out in a different way from the company’s historic and beautifully engraved guns.

Leading a parade of scarce Colts is a “pinched frame” Single Action Army from early production and a beautifully engraved 1871-72 Open Top. Take a look below at some intriguing and rare Colt revolvers available in the May 2-4 Premier Auction in Bedford, Texas.

The extremely rare Colt "pinched frame" Colt Single Action Army.

Pinched Frame Colt Single Action Army

The “pinched frame” Single Action Army is so rare, no one knows for certain how many or how few there are. The gun gets its name from the “pinched” rear sight before the Ordnance Department asked for a change to a simple grooved top strap. In their book “A Study of the Colt Single Action Army,” Ron Graham, John A. Kopec and C. Kenneth Moore wrote that a better description of the “pinched frame” would be a “pinched sighting groove.”

“The change in the sight is slight but is quite an improvement,” wrote J.R. Edie, captain of Ordnance at Springfield Arsenal to the Chief of Ordnance in Washington, D.C. on July 22, 1873.

Graham, Kopec and Moore note that “pinched frames were only known to be produced between serial numbers 1 and 152. They posit that guns with the pinched sight were made as part of the first production run of frames -- be it in lots of 50, 75 or 100 guns – but not finished in any numerical order as commercial guns.

In their book, a photo on page 11 shows a pinched frame SAA, serial number 4, next to a revolver with the groove wanted by the Ordnance Department. The caption states about the “pinched frame” that this is the only .44 caliber first year manufacture Single Action known to have survived factory caliber conversion and the ravages of time.” The “pinched frame” SAA on offer in May is serial number 14, first year manufacture in .44 Smith & Wesson American, showing it was a production caliber, not just a prototype.

Author Ron Graham examined this rare Colt revolver and called it “the Single Action Army discovery of the decade” in a 1991 letter. Chambered in .44 Smith & Wesson American, it has a flawless roll-die stamped barrel address and a German silver front sight. Graham called this revolver a “final design” production revolver assembled before development of the .45 Colt cartridge in June 1873. This revolver and its early production characteristics, are shown in Kopec and H. Sterling Fenn’s “Colt Cavalry & Artillery Revolvers: A Continuing Study” and was displayed at the Cody Arms Museum in 2003.

Colt Model 1871-1872 Open Top

A rare Colt revolver that directly led to the development of the Single Action Army is this Open Top revolver, one of 7,000 manufactured. Writer Dennis Adler called the Open Top, one of the first Colt revolvers to fire metallic cartridges, “new, innovative, and virtually obsolete the day it was introduced.”

The revolver was chambered for .44 Rimfire because of copious surplus ammunition remaining from the Civil War. It was made without a top strap, a carryover from Colt’s percussion revolvers. U.S. Ordnance officials didn’t think the gun was strong enough without a top strap and wanted a cartridge that offered more stopping power. Colt developed the .45 Colt alongside the gun that would become the Single Action Army, the New Model Army Metallic Cartridge revolving pistol.

This Model 1871-72 Open Top is a rare Colt revolver with a three digit serial number (164). These were often frontier working guns so finding one with deluxe embellishments like the engraving and nickel and gold finish is a real collecting opportunity. The engraving, likely done outside the Colt factory, is in the L.D. Nimschke style of the time.

Colt 1851 Navy Revolver prototype with Round Barrel

The Colt 1851 Navy served in the Civil War and was carried by pioneers, outlaws and lawmen in the American West. Lighter than the Dragoons that preceded it and chambered for .36 caliber, the gun flourished in the 1850s. Colt displayed it in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in London where it was well received, prompting Samuel Colt to invest in a London factory in hopes of selling to European nations. The company made 272,000 during its production from 1851 to 1873.

The 1851 Navy is grouped in with a number of guns produced by the company at that time with octagonal barrels, so one with a round barrel is an extremely rare Colt revolver. This gun shouts prototype, with its atypical 6 1/2-inch round barrel. Manufactured in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, this gun likely started with an octagonal barrel blank rounded at the factory in an attempt to make a revolver that slid smoothly in and out of a holster.

This prototype round barrel 1851 Navy was part of the Colt Factory Museum Collection displayed at the Connecticut State Library and was recently displayed at the NRA Gun Museum inside the Bass Pro Shop of Springfield, Mo. It is pictured twice in Robert Q. Sutherland’s and R.L. Wilson’s “The Book of Colt Firearms. It was pictured in the 2024 “Fine & Historic Arms Annual.”

Colt Single Action Army with Long Fluted Cylinder

This early 20th century mashup is a rare Colt revolver. Colt started using surplus Model 1878 cylinders on Colt Single Action Army frames in 1913 and did so for about two and a half years. Colt made 51,210 Model 1878 double action revolvers before production ended in 1905, but the SAA remained a big seller. More than 357,000 of the company’s legendary wheelguns were made between 1873 and the end of the first generation in 1940.

Never a company to let things go to waste, Colt started using the surplus 1878 cylinders to make about 50 SAAs each month starting with serial number 330001 and going to 331479. The cylinder stops and approaches had to be milled down and the ratchet at the rear of the cylinder had to be altered. Colt assembled 1,478 long flute Single Action Army in the aforementioned serial number range, while a handful are known to have been produced outside that range.

This long fluted cylinder Colt Single Action Army is serial number 330784, falling squarely in the serial number range for most SAAs made with the Model 1878 double action cylinder. Shipped Jan. 22, 1914, only 579 long fluted cylinder Single Action Army revolvers were produced that year. An original Colt box numbered to the gun with several accessories accompanies this revolver.

Colt Model 1878 Flattop Target Revolver

Target shooting was all the rage in 1880s London, and Colt wanted to get in on it. The company produced a flattop SAA and a Bisley model with target shooting features. Colt also wanted its recently produced double action revolvers considered by shooters. Walter Winan used a Model 1878 to win his first match at Wimbledon in early 1885. Winan was an early adopter, since a significant number of the 1878 didn’t arrive at the London agency until 1889.

This prototype Colt Model 1878 Flattop is a rare Colt revolver and bears serial number 1. Flat top variations of the 1878 are extremely rare. This gun was pictured twice in “The Book of Colt Firearms,” by R.L. Wilson. Its provenance lists the Robert Q. Sutherland Collection and Charles Marx Collection.

Colt Model 1878 with a Hammer Shroud

This Model 1878’s unusual hammer shroud makes it a rare Colt revolver. The large frame 1878 came on the heels of the 1877 that some had considered to be more fragile than the Single Action Army. The 1878 fired the .45 Colt cartridge and the double action had its devotees, like Capt. Jack Crawford, who took over as “Chief of Scouts” from Buffalo Bill after the Little Bighorn massacre.

Colt offered a hammer shroud in the 1950s for its Detective Special, but this revolver, shipped to London, is ahead of its time. It has a hammer shroud attached with one screw at the top of the frame over a spurless hammer, a configuration that didn’t make it to mass production.

(pic, lot 84) This Model 1878 has interesting attributes aside from the distinct hammer shroud. Serial number 4, it comes chambered in .455 caliber with a 5 7/16-inch barrel. Pictured in Frank Sellers’ “The William Locke Collection” on page 208, the revolver’s provenance includes the Locke Collection and the Renaud de Kerchove d’Ousselghem Collection. Offered from the Charles Marx Collection, this gun was also shown in Don Wilkerson’s “Colt’s Double-Action Revolver Model 1878” on page 337.

Colt Single Action Army for .45 ACP

Author David Brown tracked 36 different Single Action Army calibers from .22 Rimfire to .476 Eley, with some offered only a handful of times, making them rare Colt revolvers. The .45 ACP cartridge was created for the Model 1911, but starting in 1924 it was offered in the SAA by special order. Brown reported 44 revolvers were chambered in .45 ACP with most going to service members with ready access to military ammunition. The Single Action Army and the Model 1917 were the only Colt revolvers chambered in that caliber.

The Colt Single Action Army below chambered in .45 ACP was shipped to retired U.S. Air Force Major Gen. John Bevier Ackerman. The gun was shipped to Ackerman at West Point in June 1932. Ackerman graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1932. He received a pilot rating in 1935 and a master’s degree in science and aeronautics in the field of meteorology. He served in a number of positions during World War 2, and during the Cold War served as air attaché in London and deputy director of intelligence from 1950-1953 before he became director of the National Security Agency. He retired in 1960 after also commanding the 13th Air Force and serving as deputy commander of the Air Force Security Service.

This Single Action Army chambered in .45 ACP is accompanied with a factory shipped .45 Long Colt cylinder. The .45 ACP cylinder is currently installed in the revolver.

Factory Engraved Colt Officer’s Model Target Revolver

A medium frame double action, Colt introduced the Officer’s Model in 1904 and it served as the company’s premium revolver until the arrival of the Python in 1955. The Officer’s Model Target reached the market in 1927, offered in .22 LR, .32 Colt and .38 Special. Its sights are adjustable for elevation and wind and the top of the frame is stippled to prevent glare.

This Colt Officer’s Model Target revolver, manufactured in 1932 in .22 LR, is a one-of-a-kind, according to R.L Wilson’s “The Book of Colt Firearms” where he wrote “Full silver plating was used rarely; one pistol was silver plated with blued barrel." He also noted that about 20 Officer Models received factory engraving. Shipped to San Francisco in 1932 with silver plating, blued barrel and the Level C engraving by Master Engraver Wilbur A. Glahn. Scrollwork sprawls across a stippled background. Rather than stippling on top of the frame, it is covered with scrollwork while leaves decorate the underside of the frame. The gun was cover-worthy of the Summer 1993 issue of Rampant Colt.

BATFE-Exempted Smoothbore .44-40 Colt New Service Revolver

Manufactured from 1898 to 1944 the Colt New Service revolver was the heaviest in the Colt line. The Army adopted it in .45 Colt in 1909, but it was short-lived as the Army’s primary sidearm with the adoption of the self-loading Colt Model 1911. It still served with distinction in World War 1 as the M1917 revolver chambered for .45 ACP utilizing half-moon clips. The company manufactured 356,000 New Service revolvers during its production run, with only five smoothbores in .44-40, making these BATFE-exempted guns rare Colt revolvers.

The factory letter for this Colt New Service revolver shows that it shipped to a St. Louis hardware store in 1921. It is one of five smoothbore .44-40 New Service revolvers exempted and listed by serial number by the BATFE in the Curio or Relics list and the letter granting the exemption is included.

Rare Colt Revolvers for Sale

In a world of beautiful and historic guns, sometimes it is the small things -- a hammer shroud here, a “pinched frame” or an unusual caliber -- that catapults an amazing gun into something far greater. These rare Colts in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 2-4 Premier Auction offer a great opportunity for collectors who have hunted their whole careers for the truly hard-to-find pieces.