Confederate Pistols: Reproductions

[Regimental Colours]

Steve Krolick of Novelty Ordnance has been making reproduction Confederate pistols for Lodgewood. Has anyone here actually examined one of these pistols?

http://www.lodgewood.com/First-Model-Griswold-and-Gunnision-Revolver-By-Novelty-Ordnance_p_2231.html

http://www.lodgewood.com/Tucker-Sherrard-Dragoon-Revolver-By-Novelty-Ordnance--SOLD_p_2061.html

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Confederate Pistols: Reproductions

Hallo!

I own one, and have watched his work through the pictures.

In brief...

Positives: He is very talented.

Negatives:

1. They are reworked aka "defarbed" Italian reproductions and come with all of their issues.
2. They are for a niche market, and not not really suited or appropriate for Living History or Reenacting as they are what some refer to as 'original" or "antique finish" meaning NOT the finishes of when the revolvers were in CW use but rather as Modern Day surviving antiques with 150 years of "patina."

Curt

[Regimental Colours]

Re: Confederate Pistols: Reproductions

Vielen Dank Herr Schmidt.

Which Krolick pistol do you own? Do you think he is capable of making a Confederate pistol which would be appropriate/suitable for Living History?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Confederate Pistols: Reproductions

Hallo!

It was one of his G & G's.

I cannot answer your question as I do not know. I would assume he could, but do not know whether he does that type of so-called "defarb" work.

Basically, this falls in the category of "how authentic" looking a firearm one wants/needs to have to have a Believable Image that works for one's CW Community or Segment. As with the incorrect Italian 4th Model "Enfields," many lads are content with Italian repro revolvers
out-of-the-box as is.
IMHO, so far, the market for authentic let alone de-farbed revolvers is just not "out there" so there are no easy sources of revolver defarb work and test-marketing with replicating Period finishes and particularly vendors having to buy expensive steel presses and steel "logo and marking" stamps does not have a large enough demand to make it economically feasible for a businessman. (For example, cavalrymen make up a small proportion of the CW total, and CS cavalry using CS not US revelers even a smaller potemtial market And, maybe toss in a few CS officers with sidearms.)

By and large, the "state of the art" is just to remove the bogus modern stampings and simulate/fake the look of Period heat or quench type hardening and steel/iron bluing.

Curt

[dstavlo]

Re: Confederate Pistols: Reproductions

I've known Steve for awhile and spoke with him on the antiqued vs new finish of the Confederate pistols. He said that one of the things that needs to be remembered about the CS revolvers is that they are incredibly crude (with the exception of some of the Larger shops like Spiller & Burr) and were not finished like Colts or Remingtons. Most frames were only oil hardened-which doesn't give the nice colors of bone-charcoal color case, while most steel components were heat blued by putting them on a steel plate in the forge and then dunking them in oil. Some of the late-war guns were even issued in the white (like the very late-war Dance pistols) Heat bluing is incredibly delicate and can be rubbed off simply by inserting and removing a revolver from its holster. It's also not nearly as rust resistant as rust bluing. Steve contested that these cheaply finished firearms would begin to patine in the field almost immediately after being issued, which is why he opts for a patined finish. It provides at least some level of rust resistance while giving it a realistic "campaigned-with" look instead of looking like it was just issued yesterday.

-David