Colt's Single Action Army Revolver: The Legend, The Romance And The Rivals (Paperback)

~ Doc O'Meara (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Colt's single action army revolver is the one revolver that captures the spirit of the American cowboy and holds the attention of gun enthusiasts and collectors around the world. It has been in almost continuous production since 1873, copied by more than a dozen manufacturers and remains as popular today as it was more than a century ago.

In Colt's Single Action Army Revolver, author Doc O'Meara takes readers on a journey of discovery looking at this remarkable revolver from its beginnings. With production figures and serial number information, O'Meara serves collectors and historians. He also tests several modern reproductions of Colts and their rivals, providing ballistic and accuracy data for the shooter.

-Provides production figures, serial numbers by year and rarities -New low price -16-page color section featuring rare and exotic Colts and the people who owned them

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gun Digest Books (May 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896892182
• ISBN-13: 978-0896892187
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,042,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Valuable, enthusiasts' book: needed an editor and designer, April 16, 2000

By	ABH457 (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colt's Single Action Army Revolver (Hardcover)

A slim (160-page) coffee table book that will please, but...... O'Meara's setting of the Colt SAA in its historical background is clear, simplified and useful for anyone who has difficulty quite fathoming the sometimes intricate development of and differences between the various Colt pistols -- from the Patterson, Pocket, Walker, Dragoon, Navy, and Army models up to the SAA. The rest of the book covers a broad range of SAA topics -- replicas, rivals, fine-tuning, conversions and variants, cartridges, engraving, cowboy shooting, etc -- all in somewhat simple style and language. I get the impression no new ground is broken with this book. I imagine it is tough to publish such a limited-audience book and have it emerge just as one would wish it to be, however a professional editor (i.e. someone other than the author) could have done much to improve the readability and attractiveness of it. The pokey little b&w photos that litter the text are better than nothing but don't convey the power of thse guns or their historic significance. Any firearms catalogue offers better. And the color photos, which are bigger and better than the b&ws are too amateurish (or badly printed by today's standards) to enthuse any but the already enthused. I don't want to be negative as this book is obviously a labor of love by O'Meara. But I was disappointed that more had not been made of the opportunity to show off this key part of (monument to?) grass roots American history. ( ). That's a bit steep for a book with these limitations IMHO.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a book on Colt SAAs, September 26, 2000

By	richard siegel (portola valley, ca. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colt's Single Action Army Revolver (Hardcover)

This was one of,if not the worst, book on Colt SAAs I have ever bought. It appears as a compilation of articles from monthly publications. It has very little info on older, original SAAs. There is lots of stuff on shooting modern replicas and there is not much depth there either. I was very disappointed.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Everything but . . ., December 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Colt's Single Action Army Revolver (Hardcover)

An exceedingly strange production: it is really not about Colt's Single Action Army Revolver, but instead associated but irrelevant phenomenon, i.e., Italian clones (who cares?), Rugers (who cares?), forgotten celebrities who were once photographed carrying Colts (who really cares?) It's all there except for, er, you know, the SUBJECT OF THE BOOK, on which, alas, there's very little. It's as if the compositor lost a set of six or eight chapters somewhere and the publishers hoped nobody would notice. When I finished paging through it, I thought, Yes, but where's the stuff on the famed sixgun?