Sharps40
Senior Member
Yep. Hammerli made SAA Revolvers. For the American market, the Dakota 357 and 45 were made 1969 to 1972. Nice ones too. Pretty much like a Gen 1 and Gen 2 Colt SAA. Much better quality than the majority of the imports and often compared to Colt SAAs as good or even better quality in some respects.
So. It arrived with 7.5" of barrel and a 1/4" tall front sight. Too much barrel to be useful or convenient. Likeing the look of a 5.5" barrel where the barrel is just about .875" longer than the ejection rod, I scalled it down.
Selected the short cammed ejector rod housing from the 3.5" barreled Thunderers and adding .5" gives me the same look but with a much more convenient and useful 4" overall barrel length. I'll finish up bluing the ERH now that its fitted and functional.
As for the front sight....original was 1/4" tall. Decided to go with the percussion style Remington cone sight. They screw on and it allows sight height changes. I made the cone from extra brass cleaning jags on hand....setting the max height at .385" and the useful height at .185" via an undercut. The groove in the topstrap is fine and colts are ment to be fired with 1/3 to 1/2 of the sight leaf above the topstrap depending on barrel length. The .185" height of the undercut should get me close on proper elevation given the sight has moved back and up the tapered barrel. We'll see at the range.
Cleaned up the wood grips by buffing back the finish with some rotten stone. The brass triggerguard and back strap were in fine shape, so simply antiqued those parts.
Here it is. Ready to try fit in the cross draw desantis holster.
So. It arrived with 7.5" of barrel and a 1/4" tall front sight. Too much barrel to be useful or convenient. Likeing the look of a 5.5" barrel where the barrel is just about .875" longer than the ejection rod, I scalled it down.
Selected the short cammed ejector rod housing from the 3.5" barreled Thunderers and adding .5" gives me the same look but with a much more convenient and useful 4" overall barrel length. I'll finish up bluing the ERH now that its fitted and functional.
As for the front sight....original was 1/4" tall. Decided to go with the percussion style Remington cone sight. They screw on and it allows sight height changes. I made the cone from extra brass cleaning jags on hand....setting the max height at .385" and the useful height at .185" via an undercut. The groove in the topstrap is fine and colts are ment to be fired with 1/3 to 1/2 of the sight leaf above the topstrap depending on barrel length. The .185" height of the undercut should get me close on proper elevation given the sight has moved back and up the tapered barrel. We'll see at the range.
Cleaned up the wood grips by buffing back the finish with some rotten stone. The brass triggerguard and back strap were in fine shape, so simply antiqued those parts.
Here it is. Ready to try fit in the cross draw desantis holster.