EUROARMS BRESCIA .44 cal.

River Ron

On a whim I picked up a Euroarms Brescia .44 cal. New Model Army. I know nothing about cap and ball revolvers and I'm not sure what I have! Looked nice! [:D] It has an 8 inch round barrel, engraved cylinder, case harden frame, brass trigger plate and grip frame and looks like walnut grips. The action is tight and it doesn't appear to been used much if at all. Serial #0XXX. What I would like to know is anyones opinion of the pistol and ball park figure on whats you would think the worth would be (high/low). Also it's a replica of what? Thank You in advance!

allen griggs

It is a replica of the Remington 1858 New Army pistol.
These were used extensively in the Civil War, especially by cavalry.

A used Italian repro cap and ball pistol is worth $150, give or take 50 bucks.

It ought to be a good shooter.
Get some round balls, CCI caps, and some fffg black powder and go to the range!

ofitg

Can you post some photos? The "New Model Army" tag makes me think of a Remington repro, but your description - round barrel, engraved cylinder, etc - sounds more like a copy of the 1860 Colt.

In either event, Euroarms is supposed to be decent quality, so your revolver should be fun to shoot. I always recommend the Lyman Blackpowder Handbook - it illustrates how to load percussion revolvers, and provides tons of ballistics data for different calibers, barrel lengths, etc.

River Ron

Not sure how to post pics. I have a photobucket acct! Any help would be appreciated![:D]

ofitg

In the "Ask the Experts" forum, there is a sticky called "Posting Photographs", which gives instructions.

44caliberkid

A round barrel, case hardened frame, and brass backstrap and triggerguard would be an 1860 Army, not a Remington. It is a Colt replica and worth $150 - $175. If it had a steel backstrap it would bring a little more. Euroarms pistols are generally pretty good.

River Ron

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I hope this works!

allen griggs

oftig is right, this is a repro of the 1860 Colt Army.
Likewise used in massive quantity during the Civil War, this is regarded as the great classic cap and ball pistol, and is considered to handle better than the Remington models.

River Ron

The cylinder is engraved with a navy scene and say's on the edge of the cylinder "engaged 18 May 1843".

ofitg

Yep, 1860 Colt. If I remember my history correctly, Custer carried one of these all the way to the Little Bighorn.

You've probably seen those old westerns, made in the 1930's, where the cowboys point their revolvers straight up in the air after each shot and cock the hammers.... I suspect that practice originated with the percussion Colts.... the best way to make sure that the spent cap didn't fall under the hammer and jam the gun.

River Ron

On the right side of the frame below the cylinder are 2 proof marks with XXX between them!

44caliberkid

The XXX means the production date was 1974.

River Ron

When did they start making these pistol. This one has a low 3 digit serial # preceded by a 0 (0XXX).

44caliberkid

I don't know that the serial number is relevant. They've been made since the late 50's. They used a Roman numeral production date code till 1974, then switched to letter codes.
There was a lot of interest in reproduction civil war pistols in 1960 to 1965, because it was the 100th anniversary of the war. Euroarms were popular with re-enacting groups.