The Frontier Sixshooter Community Message Board - Almost picked one up some years ago

Almost picked one up some years ago (reply)

Catoosa — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:33:51 +0000

My wife found an "Armero Especialista" in her late uncle's house when they were cleaning it out. Crappy piece of junk. Firing pin had been broken and replaced with what appeared to be a piece of sheet metal filed to a point. What was really interesting was that the barrel was bent upward as though it had been used to "buffalo" somebody. Must have been a heck of a story behind that.

Just to see if I could do it, I unscrewed the barrel, ran a piece of steel rod down it, clamped the rod in a heavy bench vise, and bent it back more or less straight, at least enough that the ejector rod would line up with the lug. I shimmed the cylinder to cure the grossly excessive headspace, and set the barrel back a thread to cure the grossly excessive cylinder gap, opened up the forcing cone a tad, and put it back together.

Surprise, surprise. The barrel was still not quite straight. In fact it was quite a lot not straight, but pointed rather drastically to the right. Shot it anyway, with .38 Long Colt cowboy loads, and darned if the thing didn't hit pretty close to POA. I guess the sights are as crooked as the barrel.

Keep it in my boat loaded with homebrewed snake shot loads. Pretty much worthless for anything else, but at least it shoots.

Almost picked one up some years ago (reply)

Scribe — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:31:47 +0000

Was not as pretty. In fact, it looked banged up, but shot like a dream.

At least according to the guy who DID buy it for a mere $89 dollars.

Picked up a real S&W with a five-inch barrel for almost three times as much. I was influenced by Paco Kelly's article about his first real handgun.

Also had a Marlin .32-20, circa 1900, that was a beaut, accuracy-wise. And a 1907 Colt Bisley and a Peacemaker, also .32-20s.

All long gone, sold during hard times.

Scribe

Interesting .32-20 (reply)

brionic — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:55:01 +0000

Nifty gun!

I was just admiring "my wife's" little I-frame .32 Long in the same configuration. They surely don't make 'em like that any more.

Interesting comment about the stocks. Ours appear to be factory pearl, with a few slight issues, but establishing value is difficult because I wouldn't sell them separately, and the seller's market for little .32s is fairly shallow, prewar or otherwise.

Interesting .32-20

FOG — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:56:59 +0000

Well, I think so anyway. Cheap, too - starts at $200.00 - plus it's C&R.

"98 Percent Original Finish 'Alpha' Copy of S&W Hand Ejector/Military & Police" @ GunBroker

The additional pics at GunBroker appear to show that to be grain coloration in the right stock panel, not a chip. (I would think the pearly whites alone would be worth at least $200, but I guess not.)

I was also thinking of bidding on it myself, but if I won it, the gun would just sit there mouldering in the safe.

It probably has more potential than that, even if it is a 'knock-off.'