I need help id'ing a colt pistol

[five.five-six]

a friend of the family wanted to get 2 guns out of the house after the VA tech killings and offered to sell 2 pistols to me for a very small price. I attempted to dissuade them from this and expressed that they could probably get a lot more money (if they insisted on disposing them) on gun broker or by advertising them. they agreed that guns were not bad but did not want to go through the hassle of finding a buyer and meeting them and they wanted them out of the house.

So I bought them.

One of them was a stainless anaconda 6".. I had no problem figuring that one out... the other is a bit of a mystery.

it was her fathers, it is a Colt single action frontier scout in .22 it has a chrome barrel, black grip, gold cylinder, gold ejection rod, gold hammer and trigger, and a stainless frame. I have looked all over and can not find anything like it. I will post pictures in 8 days when I pick it up

[AJAX22]

that colt sounds cute, I'd love to see some pics. (with a bling gun like that I might be able to get my wife to the range more often.

[five.five-six]

well the gold wash is ~50%.. I am thinking the anaconda will get my wife to the range more often.. she is just bored with her .357

[five.five-six]

here are some photos

[xrMike]

EDIT: I was going to say "Frontier Scout" model because I recognize it as such, but looking back at your original post, you already know that.

[five.five-six]

EDIT: I was going to say "Frontier Scout" model because I recognize it as such, but looking back at your original post, you already know that.

yes and the value ranges dramatically from about $400 for a standard one in blue to ~ $100,000.00 for a mint "billy the kid" commemorative in it's display case. I am suspecting it's value is from 1500 to $3k. but I have no freaking idea

[xrMike]

I actually spent 20 minutes looking online to see if I could find anything out, but no luck. It is pretty unusual looking. They made the Frontier Scouts from the 50's through the 70s, I think. I saw a lot of pictures of blued ones, but very few stainless, like you have, and NONE that I could find had the gold-washed cylinder, trigger, etc.

I did find a website that was auctioning off a lot of commemorative colt revolvers. It seems that some of the commemorative ones that Colt put out did have gold-colored cylinders, triggers, etc. (like yours), but the only ones I could find all had blued frames (none were stainless).

Maybe you have a commemorative model that, somewhere along the way, turned into somebody's regular shooter?

Also, I did find one site that sold replacement parts for the Frontier Scout model, and they did offer various colored versions of replacement cylinders, triggers, etc (blued, gold, stainless, etc), so maybe this was originally a full-on stainless model that somebody bought replacement gold-washed parts for to pimp it out?

Anyway, it is kind of interesting. Definitely unusual, in that I must have looked at 100 different auction/sale pictures of .22 Frontier Scout pictures, and not a single one looked like yours.

I'm really curious about it now too. Hopefully somebody who knows something will pipe up.

[triggerhappy]

Good of you to turn illogic into a plus!

[eckerph]

It may have been gold plated after it was purchased

[five.five-six]

Also, I did find one site that sold replacement parts for the Frontier Scout model, and they did offer various colored versions of replacement cylinders, triggers, etc (blued, gold, stainless, etc), so maybe this was originally a full-on stainless model that somebody bought replacement gold-washed parts for to pimp it out?

well thanks for the interest.. I saw gold cylinders, hammers and triggers avalable from colt. I could not find a gold ejector rod (I think that is what you call the tube that runs along side the barrel) also, the barrel is chrome..I do not think that was done after market as the lettering is crisp...

[BigRich]

It appears to be one of the many Colt commemoratives that were produced. The frames were aluminum for the early production and Zamac for the rest. It should be inscribed on the barrel as to what it was commemorating. If it is not inscribed then it would be a Colt Frontier Scout that someone had refinished. Commemorative values are all over the chart depending on the number in the original issue. Colt (and other manufacturers) had the bad habit of over producing these commemoratives which really depressed their values through the 80's. Values are starting to move up again. This particular gun shows plenty of usage wear on the hammer and cylinder so it looks like whoever owned it enjoyed it. This condition will bring the value down quite a bit. Commemorative values are high when the gun is unturned in the display case or box. Any use drops the value dramatically (like down to the $250 to $350 range for something that would be $1200 NIB). None of the Colt commemoratives were made in stainless. What you are seeing is either nickel or chrome. After looking at the images again it almost looks like someone stripped the original finish from the frame and polished the base metal. It has a different luster than the barrel. It should make a really cool little plinker.

[five.five-six]

Wow, great insight, which is exactly what I was looking for. The frame is definitely not stripped blue steel as it would have been covered in rust. It had been kept un-oiled in a rag for about 10 years and the barrel is chrome

As I sad in the original post, I picked this and the anaconda up at a great price.. However I do not really have that money in my gun budget right now. I may regret it later but I think I am going to liquidate it

[five.five-six]

I am starting to think I just may keep it. perhaps my kid can shoot it once he is 8 or so