You may have noticed from a few of my previous posts that I am rather into 1851s. I must admit that is true, as I find them more esthetically satisfying than any other design, except maybe the 1861 Navy, an excellent mix between the 1851 and 1860.
Another one of my singularities is that I favor more obscure makers over Pietta and Uberti. I own one Pietta (a 1851 that I turned into a Dance revolver) and a few Ubertis (one 1851, two 1861s, one 1862 Pocket Police, and one Griswold & Gunnisson), but I rather tend to pick other brands when I can.
One brand I was glad I could secure a specimen of is Palmetto. This particular Italian brand has not got too good a reputation these days. In its heyday it used to make replicas of models which were not very common but excellent quality.
Anyway, my 1851 Navy Colt Palmetto was made in 1981. It is the 4 screw model, which should allow it to be used with a detachable shoulder stock. Now the backstrap is brass and does not have a milled groove for the attachment of a shoulder stock. Stange will you say ? Yes, but historically correct, as will attest the description on page 73 in Nathan Swayze's book "51 Colt Navies". We all know Colonel Colt was tight-fisted. So surplus 4 screw frames have been matched with normal backstraps and issued to the civilian market.
Thus is my Palmetto historically correct ? Well, in fact , no it is not. How come will you ask ? Well again, take a look at the cylinder. It is completely devoid of engraving. No naval battle or anything else. Not even a mention of Colt's Patent. Now, that is something our good short-tempered Colonel would never have allowed. No revolver of his making would ever leave his factory without his trademark cylinder engravings. So this Palmetto 1851 is a kind of hodgepodge, and that's what makes it special and worthy to me.
Without further ado (I guess that intro is long enough as it is), here are a few pictures :
The fourth screw, milled shield, and blank cylinder :
The butt, with scars but without a milled groove :
Finally, this is what Dr Jim Dais wrote me about it : "You have got yourself a very very rare replica. The 1851 Navy CSS 4-Screw by Pietta is extremely rare but one by Palmetto is even more rare. Palmetto came into being in around 1980. They supplied Dixie Gun Works with Remington NMA. When Armi San Marco ceased production with the death of Bufalo, his son teamed up with Palmetto to restart percussion production. Did not last. These late production Palmetto's are rare and will have great collector value."
