[rgman]

Hi Guys, I'm a first time visitor to this site and a complete beginner as far as gun collecting goes. Can any of you answer my questions?
I recently bought a cased navy Colt and would like to find out a bit more about it. The gun is numbered 192141 which I believe is about 1866/7. Here's where it get complicated. It looks like all the numbers have at some time been changed they seem to be over stamped. I was an antiques dealer for twenty odd years and in my opinion if they have been changed it was a long time ago. It has a Birmingham (England) proof mark on the rammer. Also the barrel appears to have been shortened to about 6 3/4 inches. The grips have been replaced by what appears to be an English maker and finally the barrel has what looks like the Colt London address on it but it is very badly stamped ( the letters don't line up very well). As far as I can tell it is a forth version of the gun. It would be true to say at some stage it has been well used, it looks every bit of it's 140 years old. It has the usual calibre and Colt markings. Does any of this make any sense to anybody? I'm very happy with my purchase but curious about the history. What do you think?