The Second Generation was created in response to the sudden demand for the guns in the wake of the huge popularity of the TV Western. There were other minor cosmetic changes made to the gun over its run, which was from 1873 to 1941 when Colt halted production so they could concentrate on guns for the War. The smokeless frame has the more familiar push button on the side of the frame that requires no tools to operate. The main difference is that the black powder frame has a screw on the underside of the frame that you need a screwdriver to remove to take out the cylinder pin. As such, all black powder frame First Generations should be fired with black powder only, as should the earliest smokeless frames. The smokeless frame was introduced in the late 1890's. Colt did not say that the SAA was okay for use with smokeless powder until 1900. These terms are how they are commonly referred to, and they are technically inaccurate. The price seems to be reasonable based on my limited knowledge but I am concerned that my ignorance may lead to a mistake that I will regret.Īny and all advice will be greatly appreciated.įirst Generation pistols can be, broadly, split into two categories, black powder frame and smokeless powder frame. On line I found a third generation, 5 1/2' blued and case hardened that looks pretty good from the pictures, that is priced at $1,600 plus shipping. What would be a reasonable price for a solid shooter in the various gens? I understand that price will very a lot depending on condition and countless other variables, I have seen prices form about $1,000 to over $10,000. What is serial number that I need to be after in order to safely use smokeless rounds? Other than the date they were manufactured what else is different between the 3 generations?Īs a shooter which generation is preferred and why?Īt this point I will only be shooting smokeless powder at cowboy velocities, but I read somewhere that first generation guns before a certain serial number cannot be shot with smokeless. I am not looking for collector guns, I want to actually shoot them and they need to be in 44-40. I know very little about the different generations and was amazed at the wide range of prices. I recently started thinking that I should have a real colt SAA or probably a pair of them.

Colt saa forum