Colt Salvage? Help!

Out of my depth on this one. Don't really know much about Colts at all.

Not even sure which Colt this is.

An older lady a few doors down whose husband passed a few years ago gave me this revolver. They didn't have any kids and the nieces and nephews all live a ways off. She was trying to clean up her husband's old farm truck so she could sell it or get it hauled off.

She knows I am a "gun guy". She called an said she was scared to even move the revolver because she thought it was loaded and might be dangerous. We get these kind of calls all the time at the shop and usually it's just folks that don't know anything about guns and the "gun person" in the family has passed. Happens a lot in the Southern Pines area where I work. Most folks around here know a little better, so I was surprised when she told me that.

Well, she was right to be concerned. This thing was under a seat for no telling how many years in a cab that was no longer "weatherproof". Holes in the floorboard and all that stuff.

There was a bag of granulated fertilizer that was spilled open in the floorboard and some of it was piled around the gun.

The gun IS loaded. In the state it was in I could not get the cylinder release latch to move at all.

Barrel looked to be completely clogged with rust and fertilizer.

I'd like to see if I can save this gun, maybe get it cerakoted. I'm pretty sure there will be the need to replace parts if I can get the darned thing apart.



@BatteryOaksBilly , @Geezer , @CarolinaColtCollector , @Cocked & Locked , heck not even sure who all to tag on this one.

Y'all think it's worth trying?

Also, I am not familiar with this "shroud" that is attached. It has a Colt emblem on the right side. Surely this is an add-on? It didn't come from the factory with that on it right? Kinda like adding a T-grip to a Smith?

It appears to have 3 flathead screws holding it on. One on either side near the cylinder and one in the "back-strap" of the grip.

What happens if I manage to get those out?

Am I gonna need some pin or screws to go back in the frame?






















I managed to get the grips off (which are in SURPRISINGLY good condition) and I submerged the entire gun in PB Blaster for six days. Started to scrub some of the rust off. Barrel is no longer obstructed. Managed to tap gently on the cylinder release latch with a brass punch and resin hammer and got it to move a little but no joy on getting the cylinder open.

Scrubbed where I could. Blew out what I could with air hose. Kinda tapped on it all over hoping to create some more new "fissures" inside that the oil could penetrate into and just now dropped it back into the tub of PB Blaster.

Was some of the frame an alloy and that's why a large portion is not rusty?

What model is this?

ANY advice would be appreciated.

I understand it may not be worth it, but it feels like I should at least try to get her back into somewhat serviceable shape.

I have a bag of parts that may fit it if you can determine what model/gen it is.

That’s an awesome find Bill. Shame it’s in that shape.

Man that’s awesome. Cleaning up the rusty ones is half the fun. I’ve used “evaporust” from northern tool with good success. It will take the bluing off though (if there was any left!).

Looking forward to watching this one!


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Hey bud, can you get to the serial number by chance? I don’t have my book with me but I’ll check when I get home.

Edited to add: Looks like an old Bankers or Detective special. Some of them had alloy frames so that might explain the lack of rust in some places. If it could be gotten working again, the action would be amazing since it’s a V spring (leaf spring)


Editing again, I’m a dummy. It’s a first issue cobra. You can see the lettering on the left side of the barrel and they have aluminum frames.

Wow that is some find. Kudo's for trying to bring it back to life. Soaking in PB Blaster was a good idea but don't assume the ammo is now defunct. I would advise proceeding as if you thought is was still good just in case.

An old detective special? or Cobra?

Add on around hammer to keep it from snagging in a pocket maybe?

That is the kind of thing I'd love to be able to play with lol.

You did pretty much exactly as I would.

Except I keep a coffee can full of fresh engine oil (do an oil change, then leave "empty" oil jug upturned over said can, or the random 1/10th quart not needed)

I toss all manner of tools, parts etc. in that can. Then forget about it for weeks to months at a time. Its has unstuck any manner of seized up old junk lol.

Even works a charm to keep non-food cutting knives of carbon steel from getting rusty with neglect.

Then pull it out. Tappy-tap-tap. Fiddle and scrub. Repeat.

My first interest would be getting the cylinder open to remove that ammo. The age, corrosion, oil bath all most likely rendered it inert. But since the standard safety rules still apply. Point it in a safe direction and dont smack the primer lol.



All I got as I know nothing. Just had to comment as this is exciting to me

I've seen amazing results on YouTube by people using electrolysis..... I've never tried it but this looks like a good one to try it on.

Depending on how far you want to go in terms of cleaning it, I use hoppes oil and 0000 grit steel wool. It shouldn’t hurt the bluing and *should* be aggressive enough to smooth down what’s on the crane and barrel. The cylinder release only needs to come back about 1/16th of an inch, but I wouldn’t recommend tapping on it hard with anything.

That is really awesome though, even if it ends up just as a conversation piece. Frank Glenn in AZ would be a good person to send it to for a once over depending on how far you wanted to go with it. After it’s unloaded of course.

CarolinaColtCollector said:

Hey bud, can you get to the serial number by chance? I don’t have my book with me but I’ll check when I get home.

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I went back out to look for a serial number.

Can't find one. I am afraid that it's gonna be inside only.

I did scrub the barrel some more with a copper brush because I could see some writing but couldn't make it out.

After scrubbing some more and holding it in the sun just right, you can see one word in kind of big letters on the left side of the barrel:

AGENT


That is all I can make out right now.

BBD280 said:

I've seen amazing results on YouTube by people using electrolysis..... I've never tried it but this looks like a good one to try it on.

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We thought about electrolysis, but we really wanna get it unloaded first.

thrillhill said:

We thought about electrolysis, but we really wanna get it unloaded first.

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Come on, man...... you need a little excitement every once in awhile.

thrillhill said:

I went back out to look for a serial number.

Can't find one. I am afraid that it's gonna be inside only.

I did scrub the barrel some more with a copper brush because I could see some writing but couldn't make it out.

After scrubbing some more and holding it in the sun just right, you can see one word in kind of big letters on the left side of the barrel:

AGENT


That is all I can make out right now.

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Dang, I’m not hitting on much today. So you probably ended up with something even rarer and cooler!

thrillhill said:

We thought about electrolysis, but we really wanna get it unloaded first.

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I just thought about another way to get the rust off and open the cylinder. If you are familiar with Ed's Red give it a try. I bought some tools once at auction and there were a pair of needle nose pliers in the box rusted shut. I put Ed's Red on the joint for a few day and it loosened them up enuff to work with one hand.

My 0.02.

* Ed's red is good. I'd try that too as I don't think there's any downside. Give it time.

* Electrolysis should be fine even with the ammo in it, BUT if there's metal other than ferrous metal , it's not the solution (so to speak) to use as it can and will etch Aluminum, for example. 0000 wool, oil/kerosene and patience to smooth it out should work well.

Patience is the most important ingredient. If you can save it, parkerizing might help it be serviceable again.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT THAT GUN IN TO SOAK, IT COULD RUIN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That gun is an aluminum frame gun WATCH OUT!!! it can be ruined easily.
The hammer shrouds are valuable in themselves. I have owned a foot tub full of these. My Uncle Walker carried 2 At All Times. In his lifetime he killed 4 men. I was present at the last one. These were his guns of choice.
You have a Long Road ahead but this gun can be made useable again. BB

I'd say Agent with alloy frame. That is a factory hammer shroud. Nice find and it most likely it can be made serviceable again.

Bring it by the house and we will see what we can do.

The pitting is going to be severe, you may want to consider a blued bead blast finish on the steel parts and ceracote the alloy. Or two tone ceracote. I would try bead blast and rust bluing.

BatteryOaksBilly said:

BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT THAT GUN IN TO SOAK, IT COULD RUIN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That gun is an aluminum frame gun WATCH OUT!!! it can be ruined easily.
The hammer shrouds are valuable in themselves. I have owned a foot tub full of these. My Uncle Walker carried 2 At All Times. In his lifetime he killed 4 men. I was present at the last one. These were his guns of choice.
You have a Long Road ahead but this gun can be made useable again. BB

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I love story time with Uncle Billy.

11B CIB said:

I love story time with Uncle Billy.

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Amen! I need to make a trip south and meet the man in person!


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I think Bill can make this into a useable revolver. It may not win a beauty contest, but it will work. That is, if all the internals are rusted up too bad. Then it may be cost prohibited. Good luck with it.

Go easy... don't soak it too long in anything. Try ATF, kerosene, and oil. Use denatured alcohol to clean off whatever it soaks in. Don't use acids or anything that could cause electrolysis between the aluminum, brass and steel.

Can't wait to see how this goes... I love this kind of project!

I hope you are able to get it back in operating condition. If not, I’d like to purchase the grips. I have a mid sixties cobra with a cracked grip.

Carolinatlc said:

I hope you are able to get it back in operating condition. If not, I’d like to purchase the grips. I have a mid sixties cobra with a cracked grip.

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Just to throw it out there, there’s a set on the bay right now for $84 shipped. I’ll certainly try to keep an eye out for you though if you’d like. Do you know off hand if you have a short or long frame?

UPDATE:

I volunteered to see what I could do with this for Thrillhill. We've known each other for 30 years and he knows that I am a tinkerer and love bringing old things back to life. plus there is no collectors value to this pistol, so I cant screw it up too much. I picked it up on monday and started work on it.

The first order of business was to make the pistol safe. I managed to get one screw out of the side plate so taking the side plate off was a no go. I cleaned out the corrosion between the cylinder and frame. The corrosion was solid between the cylinder and the top strap, bottom of the frame, the back of the cylinder and the recoil shield and the cylinder gap was rusted solid.

Once that was cleaned out I had to force the cylinder to swing out since the crane seems to have corrosion between it and the frame.

Once the cylinder was open it was time to get the cartridges out. They were corroded in place. I'm not going into detail on how I rendered them safe but rest assured there was blast shields involved.

With the cartridges rendered safe, the major danger was over and I was able to start working on disassembly. so far, I have been able to get the front plate screw off, inert cartridges out, one screw out of the hammer shroud. I have one side plate screw, the crane retention screw, and two of the hammer shroud screws still stuck and possibly going to have to drill them out. Drilling us not my first choice since its steel screws and an alloy frame.

The cylinder now rotates freely, the extractor works freely, and the action works both DA and SA and it still feels Colt smooooooth. Even though it feels wonderful, I'm expecting to find pitting and corrosion on everything inside the action.

The crane is still very stiff and the cylinder latch needs a little persuading to work.

Without being able to fully disassemble the pistol yet, I'm reserving judgement on the salvagability of this pistol.

cold1 said:

UPDATE:

I volunteered to see what I could do with this for Thrillhill. We've known each other for 30 years and he knows that I am a tinkerer and love bringing old things back to life. plus there is no collectors value to this pistol, so I cant screw it up too much. I picked it up on monday and started work on it.

The first order of business was to make the pistol safe. I managed to get one screw out of the side plate so taking the side plate off was a no go. I cleaned out the corrosion between the cylinder and frame. The corrosion was solid between the cylinder and the top strap, bottom of the frame, the back of the cylinder and the recoil shield and the cylinder gap was rusted solid.

Once that was cleaned out I had to force the cylinder to swing out since the crane seems to have corrosion between it and the frame.

Once the cylinder was open it was time to get the cartridges out. They were corroded in place. I'm not going into detail on how I rendered them safe but rest assured there was blast shields involved.

With the cartridges rendered safe, the major danger was over and I was able to start working on disassembly. so far, I have been able to get the front plate screw off, inert cartridges out, one screw out of the hammer shroud. I have one side plate screw, the crane retention screw, and two of the hammer shroud screws still stuck and possibly going to have to drill them out. Drilling us not my first choice since its steel screws and an alloy frame.

The cylinder now rotates freely, the extractor works freely, and the action works both DA and SA and it still feels Colt smooooooth. Even though it feels wonderful, I'm expecting to find pitting and corrosion on everything inside the action.

The crane is still very stiff and the cylinder latch needs a little persuading to work.

Without being able to fully disassemble the pistol yet, I'm reserving judgement on the salvagability of this pistol.

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Nice to have good friends like you. Before you drill give the Ed's Red a try. I refinish old hand planes and have found a number of times when a screw is stuck a few days soaking in it will release them.

Keep us posted. I really want to see this ole girl come back to life.

I've used ATF on rusted firearms with surprisingly satisfactory results. Soaked them for a couple of weeks. Nothing will replace lost metal but it penatrates very well.

Again, not to sound like a parrot, please, be careful what you soak that aluminum frame in.

BatteryOaksBilly said:

Again, not to sound like a parrot, please, be careful what you soak that aluminum frame in.

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Well not to sound ignernt even though I am what would hurt the aluminum frame? Mine ain't a colt but I have a pistol with an aluminum frame and I would like to know for future use.

cold1 said:

UPDATE:

I volunteered to see what I could do with this for Thrillhill. We've known each other for 30 years and he knows that I am a tinkerer and love bringing old things back to life. plus there is no collectors value to this pistol, so I cant screw it up too much. I picked it up on monday and started work on it.

The first order of business was to make the pistol safe. I managed to get one screw out of the side plate so taking the side plate off was a no go. I cleaned out the corrosion between the cylinder and frame. The corrosion was solid between the cylinder and the top strap, bottom of the frame, the back of the cylinder and the recoil shield and the cylinder gap was rusted solid.

Once that was cleaned out I had to force the cylinder to swing out since the crane seems to have corrosion between it and the frame.

Once the cylinder was open it was time to get the cartridges out. They were corroded in place. I'm not going into detail on how I rendered them safe but rest assured there was blast shields involved.

With the cartridges rendered safe, the major danger was over and I was able to start working on disassembly. so far, I have been able to get the front plate screw off, inert cartridges out, one screw out of the hammer shroud. I have one side plate screw, the crane retention screw, and two of the hammer shroud screws still stuck and possibly going to have to drill them out. Drilling us not my first choice since its steel screws and an alloy frame.

The cylinder now rotates freely, the extractor works freely, and the action works both DA and SA and it still feels Colt smooooooth. Even though it feels wonderful, I'm expecting to find pitting and corrosion on everything inside the action.

The crane is still very stiff and the cylinder latch needs a little persuading to work.

Without being able to fully disassemble the pistol yet, I'm reserving judgement on the salvagability of this pistol.

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Mighty nice of you.
I've had great luck releasing rusted screws with a good soaking of Kroil.
Read some reviews- https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/solvents-degreasers/degreasers/kroil-prod7610.aspx
https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/kroil.113226/
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=215171

That revolver can be made serviceable with Kroil and patience. Keep the power tools away.

Any updates on this revolver? This is very interesting love a good story

I was just thinking we needed an update on this. Love to see the progress.

Just to be the contrarian, I’m betting that the internals look pretty good. The fertilizer is hydoscopic and acidic, so it kept the outside wet and it rusted. But inside there shouldn’t be any, so hopefully dry and little rust. Fingers crossed.

Any updates?

JimB said:

Just to be the contrarian, I’m betting that the internals look pretty good. The fertilizer is hydoscopic and acidic, so it kept the outside wet and it rusted. But inside there shouldn’t be any, so hopefully dry and little rust. Fingers crossed.

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Hope Springs Eternal...…...I hope you're right!!!!!!

How's this project going @thrillhill ?

I bought it. It will be at The Murder Beach Gun Show this week end.