The Complete History of the Colt Single Action Army in One Man's Collection

@Brett baker ockquote>Colt was the Glock of the 19th century.

That's some pretty low standards to apply. I would more think Colt was the 1911/Browning Hi-Power of the 19th century.

@Major Tom At the very least, Colt attempted some small innovations with the 1877 weather guns and the 1878 Frontier double action, though they were generally not great successes in the market like the SAA continued to be. The Colt 1889 swing-out cylinder was an icebreaker though, and combining that with the internal mechanism that Colt had adapted from Charles-François Galand's military revolver, they were competitive with just about anything S&W was making.

@Major Tom Smith, Remington, and Merwin and Hulbert all had tighter fitting than the Colt SAA, so they were less reliable. Glock came, and suddenly 1911 makers started doing all the little things right to feed modern ammo. That's why I called Colt the Glock of the 19th century; it was the most reliable gun available.

@Brett baker The Standard out Colts the Colt. It is a stunning piece. Query, though. My understanding from the video was that Colt stopped making SAAs in 1987, and that would explain why they are always unavailable. In any event, even assuming one could be had, they start at $1700+ for just a standard model. Special grips and engraving (assuming they still do engraving) is all extra. (That's why I have Piettas. My favorite handgun--right now at least--is a Pietta in .45 Colt that was slick out of the box, and got made slicker. It shoots wonderfully.) If you haven't shot a Colt or clone in .45 colt, you really should. The recoil is quite moderate. For even more fun, use black powder loads for a true western experience.

@Marcus D. They brought them back several years ago as "Custom Shop Production" (I think that was the term) items. The Colt Custom Shop would make runs of standard SAAs. For a while they brought back the New Frontier. Wish I'd had the money for one of those.