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Original Manufacturer: Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company (Related article: The Life and Legacy of Samuel Colt)​

Model Designation: Single Action Army Revolver (also known as SAA, Model 1873, Peacemaker)

Firearm Type: Single Action Revolver

Designers: William Mason and Charles Brinckerhoff Richards

Years Produced: 1873 – 1941 (First Generation)

Most Prominent Chamberings: .45 Colt, .44 WCF (.44-40), .38 WCF (.38-40), .32 WCF (.32-20) and .41 Colt (often called .41 Long Colt). The Colt SAA would eventually be chambered for 36 different cartridges.

Key Features: First-generation examples were initially made with iron frames that were color case hardened to withstand the higher pressures, and employed a screw to retain the base pin latch up to serial number 164,100 (i.e., the switch-over from “black powder frames” to “smokeless frames’). Along with the bone charcoal case hardened frame and hammer, metal features included: charcoal blued backstrap, trigger guard, ejector housing and barrel; base pin, screws, and trigger were finished in nitre blue.

Restoration Notes: Look for desirable stampings on the one-piece walnut grips: “OWA”, for Orville Wood Ainsworth, Colt’s earliest ordnance sub-inspector; “HN”, for Henry Nettleton, the Springfield Armory’s principal sub-inspector. A defining feature of an early-production Model 1873 is the “pinched frame”, that is, the way that Colt fashioned the rear sighting groove. Less than 200 of these examples were made. All issued SAAs have “U.S.” stamped on the left side of the frame, with either two- or three-line patent dates.