|
Howdy Doc,
I wouldn't say that SASS frowns on black powder. They have a Frontier Duelist class for cap& ball shooters,and Frontier Cartridge class for those shooting black powder-loaded
cartridges. Not many folks shoot black powder because of the amount of clean-up involved.
The 1878 Frontier differs from the Lightning in a few ways. The loading gate is thin and flat,not rounded. The spur at the top back of the grip extends a little more to the rear,and the hammer is not quite as upright. The 1902 model of this pistol does indeed have the larger "Alaska" triggerguard and some were sent to the Phillipines.
Getting gun manufacturers to reproduce these old guns is an uphill battle. If produced by the original manufacturers,they usually become "Custom Shop" items with four figure prices that put them out of reach of a lot of folks,such as the Colt SAAs and the Remington Rolling Blocks currently offered by those two companies. The Italians have to see that there will be a market for any reproduction firearm they produce,and at this point,the only viable market they see for repro pistols and rifles are CAS shooters,the majority of which are members of SASS. We are fortunate to have affordable copies of the Colts,Remingtons,and Schofields,as well as a bunch of old rifles. Like you,I would like to see copies of some these old double actions. In fact,someone is making a repro of the Starr double action. But,they hedged their bets a bit by offering a single action model of the same pistol.
Bellicose Bill
|