Hello, I'm a new member to these forums. Anyways, I have always been fascinated with handguns and I intend to buy one when I reach the legal age to do so. I decided that I want a revolver, so I began searching the web for good revolvers and found the Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Colt Peacemaker. It was love at first sight. While I've yet to handle one, let alone fire one, it seems to be a very superb revolver. Anyways, does anybody know what are some good models of the Single Action Army and where to buy one? Posting links would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

You can't go wrong with these, or the prices.

http://www.uberti.com/firearms/Cattleman.tpl

Welcome to the forum shoreikai. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

You might look at the Ruger Vaquaro and the new single action from Taurus. Rugers are modern copies of the Colt with coil springs and the new Gaucho by Taurus was engineered with all the goodies for cowboy competition.

Lots of folks like the single action look and feel. Actual Colts are on the expensive side, but fine firearms. The Cowboy action shooting events have caused a resurgence of interest in the single action revolvers and this has caused a lot of manufactures's to put a lot more effort and quality into modern single action revolvers.

Thanks both of you! Your input has been good. Anyhoo, this is a noob-ish question seeing as how I've never fired a handgun before, but how is the kickback for a .45 calibur Single Action Army revolver? If anyone here has ever fired one, tell me if the kickback is light, harsh, or moderate. I'm quite sure that I'd get the hang of it once I learn the proper way to hold and fire one, but I'm just looking for some more info. Thanks once again.

It won't be hard like a 44 magnum, and won't be too light either. I would put it as a little more than moderate. They have cowboy loads that are lighter for faster shooting and would be more comfortable to shoot with for a beginner. Usually a .22 is the best way to start out, and the Ruger Single Six is the best gun to start with there. Maybe go to a local gun range and rent a 45LC to try there at the range. That will tell you if you want to start that big at first.

You were looking at Colt's SAA's. You could buy a Ruger Single Six, and Uberti 45LC for less than the cost of a Colt brand relvolver. You can never have too many, and onle you start, the .22 will be cheaper to practice with and will help you learn Your shooting style.

If you haven't fired a centerfire handgun, they'll all seem like they kick a lot at first. It's just something you have to work up to.

Agreed.... if you had the $$ to spend on a Colt, you'd be far better served with getting a .22 rimfire, and then something a little more durable (and considerably cheaper) than a Colt. I like the Rugers; the new Vaqueros should be real close and lots tougher.

If you have never owned a handgun or shot one, would suggest you start off with a .22 revolver with adjustable sights. The .22 cartridge is very affordable (a box of .45 Colt sells for around $20) yet accurate so you can do a lot of shooting to develope your handgun skills. The adjustable sight will help you put your shots right on target. Practice, practice, practice THEN consider what you want in a larger caliber handgun. At this point you will understand handguns and shooting enough to make a sensible decision.

The Colt Single Action is one of the most desireable of the single action guns and also one of the most expensive. Due to the high cost of a Colt, many shooters choose Ruger single actions while others choose a "clone", generally an Italian made copy of the Colt. Uberti, American Western Arms, Cimarron, and Navy Arms are just a few of the many clones on the market. Many single action guns have fixed sights, that is, the rear sight is a cut notch in the frame which is not easily adjustable, a feature that you must compensate for when shooting.

Understand that with a single action, you must manually cock the hammer for each shot. With a double action, just squeezing the trigger will fire a shot or cocking the hammer and squeezing the trigger will accomplish the same thing.

Firing a large caliber bullet in a single action is generally more mild than shooting with a modern double action. The recoil along with the curved grip tends to drive the grip down in the hand while the muzzle rises thereby deflecting the recoil downward and not straight back into your arm.

Would suggest you transition towards buying a single action in this manner: Start with a .22 cal modern revolver with adjustable sights, next buy a modern larger caliber handgun, THEN consider the single action. The single action is a very old concept and does have certain limitations but it sure brings out the "cowboy" in all of us. Best wishes!

I spent several years as a shooting instructor and lots more years target shooting in the NRA. The one common thread that makes a good pistol/revolver shot is learning to shoot and shooting a 22 lr. pistol/rovolver.

Shooting is a hand eye coordination skill and being accurate means lots of practice. As Marshall said practice at $20.00 a box of fifty shells in a fairly heavy recoiling revolver is a poor way to learn to shoot.

Practice at $10.00 a box of 550 rounds of 22 lr. ammo from Wally world of non-recoiling ammo is the way to go.

Ruger makes a wonderful little 22 single action called the single six for reasonalble money that would let you transition into a centerfire later on. Take a look at them on The Ruger site.

I've been really getting into the "old west" style guns lately.
picked up a Henry Golden Boy in .22LR about a week or 2 ago and love it.

I've been thinking about getting a Colt SAA style revolver too now/

So I see several gun makers listed, but which are the better ones, especially if you really didn't want to spend much. The Uberti seem to be the least expensive from what I can see. I'll probably just want to stick with .22lr since i'll just be using them for target shooting.

I looked at the Taurus, Uberti, and Ruger guns. I like the Uberti's because most of them tend to look authentic. they had one in .22 that looked nice.

i'd appreciate any advice or suggestions.


just checked out another local gun shop and they said heritage is another maker. $176 for a .22lr/magnum adjustable sight. thats definitely in my price range. the shop owner said he's sold several, owns one himself, and hasn't had any complaints about them.

I would seriously look at the Ruger Vaquero for the 45LC and the Ruger Bearcat for the 22. 2 reasons, Ruger is American made, and you can get both for the price of a good Colt SAA. I have a Vaquero and love it. Les

I would recommend a Ruger too. Something with adjustable sights if possible.

But the best advice I saw was "start with a .22"! I did, and it made a world of difference. Like you, I bought my first pistol at about the same time my friends bought theirs.

I got a great Ruger Single Six while my buds bought 9mm's and 44 mags and big caliber guns. I could afford to practice twice as much as they could and I rapidly learned that trigger control is EVERYTHING in a handgun. Soon I was shooting their guns better than they could!

I wish we could hunt with handguns up here in Canada.

picked up a Ruger New Model Single Six tonight. Unfortunately didn't get to shoot it because it was dark by the time i got home. will be out tomorrow after work though!


got my lever gun, my six shooter, and tons of ammo. now to get me a horse, some leathers, and a trip out west! :)

Congrats on a fine revolver el borak. Have fun with it and be safe. Les

just got done shooting the Single Six.
One thing i know for sure is that it does NOT like CCI standard .22 LR FMJ . I couldn't hit anything with that. fortunately, I only had maybe 30-40 rounds of it left.

The other ammo i had was Federal hollow point hi-velocity .22 LR. 1st 2 shots were great. Following shots were way better than the CCI ammo.

Gotta get used to pulling the hammer back after each shot. its not that big of a deal but my thumb isn't used to that.

Do you guys know of any decent old west style holsters that would fit this gun? I'd prefer to stay under $50 if possible. I found one made by Hunter that I kind of like for $39.99 but I want to see what you guys have to suggest first.