American Replica Manufacturers

[drjldavis]

Did You Know

There were only three American manufacturers of replica revolvers that did not use any Italian parts.

The first was L.A. Jensen in Lake City, FL, who produced a replica Spiller & Burr in the 1950's.  He produced it in .44cal. in order to not be confused with the original.  These were of excellent quality.  Many were sold as cased sets.  Only five of these revolvers have surfaced to date.

The second was Witloe Precision Inc. in Collingdale, PA, who produced the Remington New Model Army as the Grant Model and the Lee Model.  The Grant Model had a steel frame and the Lee Model had a silicone bronze frame.  These were the very first Remington New Model Army replicas manufactured by anyone.  Witloe Precision Inc. discontinued making these revolvers after only two years because of the cheaper cost of the Italian revolvers.  R. T. Lane of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. purchased the remaining inventory of partially assembled revolvers and parts.  These revolvers are marked WITLOE   COLLINGDALE, PA. in two lines on top of the barrel.  Lane was given the right to only use the WITLOE name since Witloe Precision Inc. was still in business with government contracts.  Because of the exceptional quality of the revolvers, R. T. Lane targeted the competitive shooter as his market, so most "2nd Generation" Witloes have target sights.  So far only twenty 1st & 2nd Generation Witloes have surfaced.

The third was the 1860 Army that was produced by Firearms Specialties in Michigan.  This was in around 1959 just when William B. Edwards was setting the ground work for the Centennial 1860 Army to be manufactured in Belgium.  Only one of these revolvers has surfaced.  It bears the serial number 7.

All three of these pioneer American Companies met their demise because they could not compete with the prices of the Italian manufactured revolvers.

Some have asked where Ruger fits in the replica scene.  Actually, Ruger is a modern designed percussion revolver and not a replica.

[Fingers McGee]

Great information Jim.  Are these posts of your teasers of the hopefully forthcoming book?

Ken

[drjldavis]

They are teasers to make many of those "nay sayers", who do not think the replica percussion revolvers are a collectable firearm, wake up and face reality.  They will come from over 17yrs research and collecting of these revolvers. 

Will a book ever be published???  I hope so but at my age who can tell, so I decided to follow the example of my good friend Wolf Niederastroth and share it as much as possible until such time some sort of collector's handbook can be published. 

Did you know that very few specialized books ever make the author any money, especially gun books.  These are a labor of love and usually end up costing the author and not breaking even.

[Rock Island]

Specialty books are great, I bought every one I could find on the subject of firearms back when I first started collecting ( anything that went bang)  But you have to know the book exists in order to buy it, and back then information was not so easy to come by.  It took me three years to figure out what my Swiss Vetterli rifle was, today with the internet I could find out in five minutes, best tool there ever was for the collector.  I hope you can publish your book some day, I would love to read it.  Every gun is collectable, show me the gun and I will show you someone who collects it, from Mossberg .22's to .32 pocket revolvers of the 1920's, I collect them all, next on my list is a Remington .31 steel frame revolver, I have been eyeing one for some time, and it will fit nice in the case with my Uberti 1849 Colt.

[drjldavis]

All American Made Posting

Since I posted the information I have on Replica Percussion Revolver Manufacturers, I have uncovered new information.  There were a couple of manufacturers in the 1940’s and 1950’s and possibly later who produced revolvers on special order or in very limited numbers.  I have revised my outline and am posting the Table of Contents as it will now appear in my book.

A.  American Manufacturers
   
   a.   All American Made Special Order or Limited Production
         1.   Penrod Otis Musser - Paterson Revolvers
         2.   Thomas Haas Sr./Horacio Acevedo - 1847 Walker, Etc.
          
   b.   All American Made
           1.   Firearm Specialties
          2.   L. A. Jensen
          3.   Witloe Precision Inc.
           4.   Witloe - Second Generation
   
   c.   American Assembled and Finished
         1.   Colt
         2.   Colt Black Powder
         3.   High Standard
         4.   U. S. Firearms Manufacturing Co.  (USFA)
         5.   U. S. Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Co.

   d.   American Made Modern Design (Not Replicas)
         1.   Great Western
         2.   Strum, Ruger & Co.

[Smokin_Gun]

I got this High Standard Cased Set ... here's a couple pics




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