Wheelgun Wednesday: My Experience At Rock Island Auction

Welcome back to another edition of Wheelgun Wednesday. This week, I wanted to take a look at my experience at Rock Island Auction and purchasing a gun from this company. If you are a true gun guy, going to the RIA auctions and purchasing a gun should certainly be on your bucket list. While I love going to a high-end gun shop just like everyone else, this experience was taken to an entirely new level with some of the rarest guns being auctioned off to the point where it can honestly be overwhelming.

Rock Island also had everything else on display, whether it was Clint Eastwood’s guns from Pale Rider or Frank Sinatra’s personal Model 29. Besides that, Rock Island had a prototype 30-06 Thomson rifle along with a few amazing class III full-auto examples. The fun part of preview day is being able to see everything from historic pistols to one-of-a-kind rifles that may sell for six or seven figures, which is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The amount of revolvers available at this auction was one of the most diverse and comprehensive assortments of revolvers I have seen in one place before. Even if you're not a registered bidder, you can still go to the auction as a guest and see everything on display, which is certainly worth pursuing if you live nearby.

Auction Day

The first day of the auction was on Friday, which is where I ended up going with some friends, where we all picked up various guns from the auction. Every gun I was interested in for this auction was roughly in the latter half of the 500s, so I had the majority of the day to look at everything and see what's going over budget and what's going for less than the estimate. I was really interested in either a Registered Magnum or an engraved Single Action Army. When the Registered Magnums came onto the auction block, I was shocked that they almost all went for under their estimates, which almost made me jump in and try to buy one, but I ended up deciding to go after an engraved Single Action Army.

The lot number I wanted to go after was 581, with 582 being a second option depending on the price. When 581 came up on the auction block, it went up to 4500 quickly, but once it hit $5,000, it lost all steam and I ended up winning the gun for what I thought was a steal. When 582 came up, I immediately started to bid and that gun went to $5,000 as well, but I let that one go for another project that I will be talking about later on. This was my first Single Action Army and I think having an engraved gold inlay Single Action Army is truly an awesome first example.

My New Single Action Army

So far, I know my newly acquired Single Action Army was manufactured in 1993, which falls under the category of a third-generation SAA. The engraving and gold inlay may or may not be factory engraving, but a simple letter from Colt will be able to tell me. The engraving signature was marked as an SP. As of right now, I’m not sure who exactly that is, but with some digging, I'm excited to find out more information about who may have engraved my gun. When it comes to engraving, having a C grade has roughly 75% coverage with floral scrolls and gold inlay. On the side of the hammer, a depiction of an eagle flying is present.

My Single Action Army also comes with pearlite grips straight from Colt. The fitment isn't perfect, but still a great option to have the mother-of-pearl grips without it being as delicate or valuable as real pearl. One of the more interesting points of this gun is the fact that it was built in 1992 by the factory and was absolutely packed in grease, including the chambers, which probably means that the gun was never even fired. I will not be keeping it unfired and plan on using it for the foreseeable future. Guns are made to be used and while some like to keep them perfect, I plan on using them and enjoying their beauty at the range.

Overall Thoughts

Rock Island Auctions have always been the place to go if you want something next to impossible to find. The engraved Single Action Army I purchased isn't something you see in a gun shop and most other items from there are the same way. It should be on every serious gun collector's dream list to go in person and bid on a bucket list gun of theirs. I ended up selling a number of guns to be able to go and purchase one thing from Rock Island, but given the chance to do it all over, I wouldn't change anything about it.

Have you ever been to Rock Island Auctions or bought anything? Let me know if you have any down in the comments below. If you have questions about Rock Island or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram  @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Wheelgun Wednesday.