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AzWolf

32 Cal
Joined
May 31, 2019
Messages
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Howdy y'all!

Yeah, don't let the screen name fool ya. I may be in Northeast California now, but I grew up in Tucson and pretty much spent most of my life either there, or in OK. <insert joke about jumping from the frying pan to the fire, with a detour through the blender! :-D > So since I consider myself to be 'from' AZ...

I reckon I'll just stroll through the different sections and get the 'feel' of the place before jumping in and bombarding people with questions. All you rifle, shotgun, musket, and matchlock folks can relax - I don't have one of those...

YET!! ;-)

You revolver folks (especially Italian copies), you can start sweating now. I've got two. A sweet little (and I do mean little!) Euroarms Brescia 1851 in Army caliber, and a San Marco Gardone VT 3rd Model Dragoon.

Ciao!
(dang... Been around those Italians too long!)
Wolf
 
Howdy + Welcome from Texas. Questions are more than welcome on this forum. Speaking of questions, I have one for you. That San Marco Gardone you mentioned, the Dragoon. Is that a ASM as in Armi San Marco? I have a ASM 1851 Navy and in my opinion ASMs were works of art.
 
Welcome from the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a good place to be. Useful information and some great folks. :cool:
 
That San Marco Gardone you mentioned, the Dragoon. Is that a ASM as in Armi San Marco? I have a ASM 1851 Navy and in my opinion ASMs were works of art.
Sadly, I can't tell you if it's an ASM or not. I bought it used, and the store I got it from had it tagged as an 1851 only, no 'Dragoon'. It's been pretty well-used, and I'm 'still' trying to get crud out of the barrel. Looks kind of like it was rode hard and put away wet one too many times. :-(

I'll try to get a picture later, but what I can tell you is that the top of the barrel is marked as follows: <<SAN MARCO>> GARDONE VT - BRESCIA -

On the side it has "3rd-Dragoon 1851 Cal. 44", then underneath that is "Black Powder Only-Made in Italy-" (all caps, except for the word "Cal" which is stamped the way I typed it).
 
There should be a small rectangular box on the underside of the frame. Mine has the letters B + D inside the box. Thats code for 1994. When Italian guns were manufactured is coded inside this little box.I'm hoping someone more learned than me will stumble upon this thread.
 
If you can post some pictures. We always like to see what everyone is talking about. I think and I'm pretty certain about this is that a San Marco marked revolver is an ASM. I have the complete set from Walker to 1848 Wells Fargo or Baby Dragoon in Colt 2nd generation
revolvers but they don't get used. Most of them are in cased sets. I use the reproductions for practice. Ask all the questions that you want. We love to try and help others enjoy this sport safely.
 
I dont have the code handy but I think everything before 1975 was numbers, regular numbers then roman numerals in the 50's. Then came the Double Letters '75 and afterward.
 
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I stumbled across this a year or two ago, when I picked up the 1851 Navy (in Army caliber, surprisingly). Based on it, the 1851 was made in 1971, and the Dragoon was made in 1977. I promise to get pictures at some point, but at the moment I'm taking a break from the 'HoneyDo List' - now that we're done with "sprinter" (the weather folks started using that because the weather here couldn't decide if it wanted to stay winter, or become spring!), we're trying to get a garden in.
 
Lots of luck on your garden. Believe me, winter is over in Texas. It's already getting almost too hot for gardening down here. The tomatoes maybe can take it but the gardener can't.
So your date codes are XXVII and AC ?
 
Hockey pucks... I forgot the link on my last post! :-( And I hear ya about the tomatoes taking it but the gardener can't - when things warm up here, outside work comes to a screeching halt about noon! And the date codes are XX7 for the 1851, AC for the Dragoon - funny thing about the 1851 though, the date code isn't in a box. There's no 'boxed' anything, although I did just find another marking underneath the barrel (hidden by the loading lever) that I need to check out.

Wow, that was quick. 'DGG', the markings for Armi San Paolo.

Okay, 'here' is the link I meant to post last time: http://www.powderhombre.com/mbpproofmarks.pdf
 
So are you saying that both your guns are Armi San Paolos instead of Armi San Marcos? Or just the 1851?
 
The DGG had me sort of puzzled for a while. The founders of Armi San Paolo were Doninelli, Grassi, and Gazzola. "DGG" . I also heard this firm was changed to Euroarms. But I'm sure everything I just mentioned can be googled or looked up and probably already has.
 
The 1851 is clearly marked 'Euroarms Brescia' on the top flat of the barrel. The Dragoon... So far all I've found are the proof marks, the bit about '3rd Dragoon', and what I said previously about <<San Marco>>, etc...

I wish the Italians had started off with a consistent marking system! On the other hand, that would take away half the fun of trying to figure out what's what! :-D

I'm going to go with ASP - Euroarms for the 1851, and ASM for the Dragoon, until proven otherwise. Sound like a plan? ;-)
 
I'm not at all familiar with ASPs. I still stand by my original statement that ASMs are beautiful works of art. I've also read that the guns of earlier manufacture are a better quality than the later ones. On ASMs anyway. But I've never really learned when that "earlier/ later" date is.
 
I'm going to attempt to send a picture of my ASM 1851. Let's hope this smart phone does a decent job. Some of the time the pictures come in sideways.
20190610_222119.jpg
 
Any luck on removing that "crud" from the barrel of your 1851? You got me curious as to just what that crud is. Caked on oil, rust or just something else ?
 
I'm sorry to say, but your phone takes better pictures than my camera!

Okay, my lighting's off, otherwise they would be better. I'm afraid you can't read the date code on the 1851, and I'll have to reprocess the Dragoon before you can see the boxed 'AC'. I was able to see it, right up until the point where I resized the picture...

Still working on blowing the crud out - honestly? If I didn't know any better (and I don't), it looks like some Civil War reenactor loaded it with powder and Cream of Wheat and then put it away without cleaning it. Most of the bore is nice and shiny, but from about halfway down the bore, almost to the muzzle (mostly top and left side) looks stained dark.

Okay, let's see if I can get more than one pic here - at least you'll be able to see the guns in question!! Oh, and please don't say anything about them being loaded - I'm dumb, not stupid. Hammer's down on an empty chamber. ;-)

Happy Father's Day, all you front-stuffers!!
 

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Lassen, Bill. When you're zipping down to Reno, you pass right by our house!

(Modoc is between Lassen and Oregon. ;-) )
 

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