There was the Buntline made popular by the Wyatt Earp television show it was a standard SAA with 12" barrel length. Then some variations of barrel lengths began to gain names for themselves. When the 2nd Generation SAAs appeared in the 1950s, the same held true in regards to barrel lengths. However, the first three lengths mentioned above were considered standard. In the late 1800s, firearms manufacturers welcomed custom orders, and Colt SAAs are known to have been shipped with barrels as short as 2½" and as long as 16". The even shorter 4¾" length was made on request, but did not become standard until 1879. When civilians became enamored with SAAs, shorter barrel lengths became more popular. When developed, the SAA was intended specifically for the US Army as issue sidearm for cavalry regiments. Worthy of note is that somewhere along the way in the past decade or so, Colt saw fit to go back to the removable cylinder-pin bushing. At the time of this writing, the highest numbers personally observed by me have been in the S61000A range. By about 1994, numbers had reached SA99999 so Colt split the SA to either side of the numbers.
Barrel swapping between 3rd Generation and the previous two generations was now out.īy 1978, serial numbers reached 99999SA so Colt made the SA a prefix and started all over again. Third Generation cylinders could be fitted to 1st and 2nd Generation SAAs if the hands were also changed appropriately. Also the barrel threads were changed from 20 per inch to 24 per inch. Whereas the cylinder’s base-pin bushing was removable in the first two generations, now they were pressed in. The hand that rotates the cylinder was redesigned, and the ratchet at the rear of the cylinder was altered to match the new hand.
These revolvers now became known, as the 3rd Generation and this time not all parts were interchangeable. When Colt began shipping SAAs again in 1976, they skipped to serial number 80000SA. This time the recess was to allow retooling. Serial numbers reached somewhere into the 74000SA range by 1974, when Colt shut down SAA manufacture again. This was the 2nd Generation SAA production. Serial numbers started over again at 0001, but to keep old and new sorted they added an SA suffix. Due to the popularity of television westerns in the 1950s, Colt reintroduced the SAA in 1956 with total interchangeability of parts.
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