Double Action C&B Revolver

[doc623]

Has anyone made a double action revolver in the past or is anyone currently making one?

[Hardcase]

Look up in the "For Sale" section. Somebody is selling a Pietta copy of a Starr DA cap and ball revolver. Pietta still makes them, although they're pricey for those of us accustomed to Pietta SA C&B revolvers from Cabela's!

[madcratebuilder]

The Starr DA is the only one I'm aware of. These can be found on the used market at fairly good prices. They tend to be finicky, may not be the best "first" cap and ball revolver.

[Claddagh]

The Pietta Starr repros are the only ones I know about. If you decide to try one, be aware that their mechanism works very differently than today's conventional designs. The vastly uninformative piece of paper that passes for an instruction sheet which came with mine doesn't make this clear at all. Attempting to cock the hammer for a SA shot with your thumb in the usual way can damage the mechanism, and it's a real PITA to repair. I suppose everyone can guess how I learned that

Also, the sights on the original Starrs seem to have been regulated for use with an unusually small powder charge for a .44: about 20 gr., IIRC. Mine comes closest to hitting my POA with an approximately 20-22 gr. volume/equiv. charge of Pryodex P, an Ox Yoke originals Wonder Wad and a 0.454" ball. The 25-30 gr. charges I use in my 1858 and 1860 replicas hit way low and I have to remember to switch spouts on my flask for the Starr.

[Doc Hoy]

There is a Pietta Starr revolver for sale on the Gunbroker with an opening bid of 400.00 and a reserve price. The "buy it now" is 550.00. Nothing about a box or papers, whether it was fired or turned.

That pistol new from DGW is 425.00. Is it conceivable that the seller is one of the many sellers on GB who are hoping to catch a fish, or is there perhaps a valid reason why the pistol should go for a price which would likely buy a new one and then some.

Am I missing something?

I am editing the post to add that after rechecking the auction, I see that the seller has only one feedback. Perhaps he is geniunely under informed as to the price for a new revolver. Or perhaps I am underinformed.

[Howard31]

Gees Doc I've had that listed Starr on the Open Range form and this form for 3-4 months. I don't think there is a big interest in the Starr DA. I think my price is resonable,comes with a holster and the original box. Now you are probably going to ask why I'm selling it.
I do like it and it's really unique,fun to shoot and it shoots well.I just have too many guns. I got 4 1860's and a 58 . The down side to the Starr is that it is slower to load,no cylinder press fit it's cylinder,noboby has extra cylinders and no one makes conversion cylinders.
When I go to the range I shoot 200-300 lead balls down range w/ the other BP's but 1/2 of that with the Starr is a lot .More labor intensive would be more descriptive. The little second stage trigger is hard and hurts the finger after a while.On the 1860 the right side stock mounting screw makes a blister on my trigger somewhere after 200 rounds but I can remove that and keep shooting . I think for the casual shooter or a re-enacter the Starr is great,For a
hardcore enduro shooting gun demolishing shooter it is not a good choice

[Doc Hoy]

I hope the Starr you are listing is not the one on Gunbroker.com. I was looking at your ad on the forum and I am very tempted at the price you list.

There is a guy on the Gunbroker who has one for what I think is more than the asking price for a new one at DGW. (I do not know the reserve price on his auction but his opening bit is 400.00. Twenty five more bucks buys a new one unless I am confused.) Marstar lists the same pistol for 599.00. Don't know how many of them they sell?

Yours at 320.00 is a good deal. My problem is that I just got done buying two revolvers this week and just paid 1200.00 in car repairs and 900.00 in house repairs.

I mentioned the auction on Gunbroker as a reason to whine and complain.

[Howard31]

Doc , I am not the guy on Gun Broker. I go on this form and Open Range.

[madcratebuilder]

Originally Posted by THE Doc

That pistol new from DGW is 425.00. Is it conceivable that the seller is one of the many sellers on GB who are hoping to catch a fish, or is there perhaps a valid reason why the pistol should go for a price which would likely buy a new one and then some.

Am I missing something?

I am editing the post to add that after rechecking the auction, I see that the seller has only one feedback. Perhaps he is geniunely under informed as to the price for a new revolver. Or perhaps I am underinformed.

Doc, I think half of the listings on GB are over priced. Yes, waiting for a fish!

I paid $250 each for my Starr's, new in the wrong boxes. Could not pass them up at that price.

[Claddagh]

Howard, I think that you're right about there not being nearly as much interest in the relatively obscure C&B designs such as the Starr. FWIW, a majority of the folks I've met or known (especially the younger ones) seem to regard C&B revolvers as being quaint, if sometimes mildly interesting, anachronisms.

Lacking a sufficient interest in history and seeing no "practical" use for them, they regard them as being mere playthings. They might like to see what it's like to actually shoot one, but only if they can do it at little or no cost. For these folks, even the cost of a moderate-quality replica 1858 Remington, 1860 Colt Army or 1851 Navy is more than they're willing to spend.

Many of my acquaintances probably regard me as being somewhat (in politest terms) "eccentric" because of the intensity of my interest in War Between the States -era firearms, especially sidearms, and the amount of money I've spent to feed that peculiar "Elephant's Child" over the years. When I tell them (if asked) what I paid for something such as my Le Mat "Navy" replica or Starr DA the usual response seems to be wide-eyed incredulity.

Guess I may be crazy, but I'd truly love to be able to own and shoot things like the Adams, Savage, Root, etc., etc. revolvers were I able to acquire them, even as replicas. The evolutionary processes demonstrated in the sheer scope and variety of design approaches fascinates me.

[Doc Hoy]

I agree with you and I can say that now that I have thought it over, a Starr needs to be next in my accumulation. LeMat is a little further off because I doubt the price will come down to what I consider to be reasonable. I would likely never shoot the LeMat and probably won't shoot the Starr very much.

Tnx,

[pohill]

The Savage & North .36 is sometimes called a double action but it's actually lever action.

[Claddagh]

I certainly sympathize, Doc. I bought my Le Mat from Navy Arms during an inventory reduction sale many years back and felt lucky to be paying "only" $500 for it. Regular retail was about $695 at the time, IIRC.

It was so costly, and so beautifully made and finished, especially for a Pietta, that it took a couple of years for me to bring myself to get it dirty despite my raging curiousity to see what firing one of the most rare and fabled pieces of the era would be like. Most of my immediate ancestors fought for the Confederacy, including one Brigadier General from SC who died leading his troops at the Battle of Franklin, TN.

Family legend has it that he'd owned and carried one, but no pictures or other hard data exist to document that to my knowlege. He was apparently well acquainted with, and perhaps a friend of, P.G.T. Beauregard from their mutual participation in the attack on Ft. Sumter, so it's at least plausible.

For me, the experience of shooting it was well worth any depreciation in relative value. This undoubtedly had to have been about the most devastatingly effective hand-held close combat weapon of the period. The cavalryman armed with a pair of these on his saddle would've been a most formidable opponent, indeed. With a total of 18 pistol balls and two loads of buckshot at his immediate disposal before ever having to resort to his saber, he could wreak some real havoc on his foes in very short order. One can only imagine how larger numbers of them might've figured in the fighting had they been available.