[a9mmfan]

My dad carried an old nickel plated Colt DA/New Service Revolver for as long as I knew him. I wrote several stories about it in the “Guns of our Fathers” section. He had loaned it to my older brother at the time he became terminally ill. His last request of me was to get it back and keep it until my brother had outgrown the “pawn anything you own for a few minutes of satisfaction” phase of his life. I did and carried the old gun for about 15 years wherever I went. I passed it on to its rightful heir on his 50[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday. I hadn't realized how much I had grown accustomed to the feel of the old gun, or how much I would miss it. So I found this old .455 Eley New Service revolver on gunbroker that had the cylinder professionally cut to accommodate .45LC. It’s a little rough and had no grips, but it is going to go off to RobarGuns to get nickel plated anyway (unless someone can refer me to someone better). The old man’s actually had walnut grips on it while he carried it, but my brother swapped them for the stag ones while he had it the first time. I may go back with walnut on mine later, but for now, I like the repro Colt grips. I’ll post more photos after the nickel get applied.
Dad's old DA

 

[a9mmfan]

Range report on the .455Eley converted to .45LC

I was a little shocked with how well this old gun shoots. I was shooting from 21yds, and the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] six rounds grouped nicely around the bull’s eye, shot in SA mode. Except the 3rd shot hit the bull’s eye and subsequently my staple that was holding the plate to the backboard. No complaints from me about having to go downrange and re-staple. After the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] six, I started playing around with double action and left and right handed shots, so the pattern broadened, but they were all on paper. I like it, but it will shoot even better when it comes back all shiny.