armi san marco 1860

[rbseagle]

I am going to a auction this weekend, and they are going to auction of a armi san marco 1860 army. I seen a small picture of it and it don't look to be rusted or anything, but the shape it is in is only a guess at this point. I was wondering what could be a good price, and what quality the san marco pistols are.

 

[necchi]

I picked one up at a gun show a year an a half ago (Brass frame).
Paid $140 but it came with an extra barrel and cylinder, a big plus.
Quality seemed OK to me, parts are still available from VTI and Dixie.
Now your right, condition is key. Check the bore and the pawls on the cylinder. If the pawls are buggered put it down, a replacement cylinder is about $60, other internal parts are cheap enough.

 

[M. De Land]

I overhauled two pistols from this firm for a friend ,both cartridge conversion models and they were not very well made guns for the price he paid for them new.
I was rather disappointed in the quality of material and fitting, at least on these two guns.
I would gauge them on the order of and perhaps a bit lower than early Pietta's, that can be made into fine guns with some tune up and re-fitting. MD

 

[hawkeye2]

MD, that's a very accurate description of ASM revolvers. If it can be bought cheap, which is unlikely at an auction, it's a gun to have fun with till it wears out and then it makes a great wall hanger or paperweight. They are often confused with Armi San Palo revolvers which later became Euroarms and are much better quality.

 

[Many Klatch]

I have an ASM 1858 Remington that shoots well enough. The tooling marks on the trigger mechanism are a bit rough but it works OK. Don't go much over $120 for it.

Many Klatch

 

[George T.]

I have a CVA that was made by them. It is a really nice handgun. I bought it for $100 a couple of years ago. It is not polished as nice as my Cimmaron but it shoots as well.

I did some searches on them before buying it and I saw that it can be hard to get some small parts. My guess id that other makes could be fitted. Love mine! Geo. T.

 

[rbseagle]

Thanks for the info guys. I will keep that in mind. I just might wait and buy a better quality pistol down the road, that sounds like the best thing to do.

 

[swathdiver]

ASMs were pretty accurately sized to the originals and many used fast twist rates for stabilizing conicals; something Piettas and older Ubertis do not have.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

We always wonder about the idea of Monday morning or Friday afternoon guns. I have an ASM fluted 1860 that is bar none the finest Italian Repop that I have ever seen. I sold off two Uberti Walkers that were pretty crappy, and replaced them with two ASM Walkers (good trade). One rivals the best Uberti Walker I have ever seen. The other, while pretty, uses a semi-truck leaf spring for a mainspring, and has a 20# trigger pull.

The can be the best and the worst of Colt repros.