Born Again Bisley

In the early 1890s, Colt was playing catch-up in the target revolver category, while records were being broken with S&W’s New Model 3 with adjustable sights. To come up with a target pistol, Colt flat-topped the frame of their Single Action Army, added a rear sight set in a dovetail to make it adjustable for windage, and made the front sight adjustable for elevation by moving it and locking it in place with a set screw. Very crude by today’s standards but it was a start.

Target pistols are best when they don’t shift in the hands from shot to shot. The grip of the Smith & Wesson was such this was accomplished, however the Colt was designed to roll in the hand under recoil; a better grip pattern was needed. It arrived with the Bisley Target Model in 1894. The name “Bisley” comes from the English target shooting range, Bisley Commons.

To make the Colt Single Action Army more conducive to target shooting, Colt drastically changed the grip frame. The Bisley Model was made more vertical to the bore axis and made to ride up higher along the backstrap. In fact, Bisley Model mainframes are also higher along the back edge to gain the needed height. The frontstrap also came up higher behind the triggerguard to allow the grip frame to really nestle into the shooting hand. The Bisley was also given what is now normally referred to as a target hammer for easier cocking, and the trigger was made wider and also curved to fit the trigger finger.

Back To Life!

So who does one choose for such a project? Actually this is too big of a job for just one person but there is one person to head up the project and that is Jim Alaimo. When Jim returned home from Vietnam in 1969 he managed to hire on at Colt as a supervisor on the night shift overseeing the polishing department. Here he learned all about not only polishing but bluing, plating and color case hardening as well. Then he switched to a position which allowed him to spend time with the old school assemblers; from there it was supervisor of the assembler’s training school.

Over the next 20 years he served in many capacities including Commercial Factory Superintendent and head of the Colt Custom Shop. At the time the Custom Shop was somewhat neglected and Jim changed all of that by bringing in old master engravers, instituting custom options and building guns to customer specifications. It was said Sam Colt never refused a reasonable request, and that became Jim’s modus operandi. By 1993, due to several circumstances, Jim felt it was time to leave Colt and go out on his own. The result was Nutmeg Sports, the strange name coming from the fact Connecticut is the Nutmeg State.

Today Jim Alaimo and Nutmeg Sports offer the finest in elephant ivory grips and engraved guns available anywhere and at reasonable prices. Jim not only has 40 years experience, he has also been married to his wife Faith for the same amount of time and she is a valuable part of what makes Nutmeg Sports work. From my perspective age, wise Jim is still young but nothing lasts forever. His daughter Emily and her husband Tyler Cusson are now a valuable part of the business and are qualified to do more and more as Jim contemplates eventual retirement.

When I sent the Bisley to Jim he contacted me and said this would certainly be a challenge but he was definitely up to it. They say all good things happen in threes. On the same weekend my oldest grandson graduated from Boise State, my middle grandson got married — and I got my Bisley back. That is a lot of excitement for a short period of time and I must say I was absolutely stunned when I saw the Bisley. There is no way I could have expected anything this beautiful, this magnificent, this soul stirring, this sixgunner’s sixgun of sixguns.

The Details

Before performing any finish work on the Bisley, Jim corrected any mechanical problems, installing a new cylinder in the process. One of his subcontractors then went to work on the metal using draw files, sandpaper and emery cloth, to bring the metal back to perfection. Virtually all the lettering and serial numbers had to be re-cut and all the screwheads had to be re-cut and polished.

Jim says: “I selected what I thought would be the very best ivory for this Colt. I had to make sure the color was strong and it matched from side to side. The plan was to carve the right grip panel. The configuration of the Bisley grip lends itself perfectly to the Mexican Eagle. The bird’s wings are folded down, so I decided to tell the carver to place the eagle with it in a cameo style frame. I left the right grip panel very heavy to accommodate the high relief carving. Not wanting the right grip screw to protrude through the carving, I configured the grip assembly with what is referred to as a blind screw hole, that way the screw is not visible when viewing the carved side.”

Next step was doing the actual carving of the right grip. For this it was sent off to Dennis Holland in Lubbock, Texas. Dennis is well known among Colt collectors and his work is quite famous. When Jim got the grip panel back he said he felt Dennis had applied one of the finest renditions of the Mexican Eagle he had ever seen and I most heartily agree.

Jerome Harper of Tennessee, and former professor at UCLA, performed the engraving. Jerry is under exclusive contract with Nutmeg Sports, and one of his major clients is the Colt Custom Shop. For my Colt Bisley this master engraver chose to follow the style of two very well known old-style engravers, by applying a strong level “C” engraving reminiscent of Cuno Helfricht and L.D. Nimschke. The result is guaranteed to cause any sixgunners heart, soul and spirit to rejoice!

The only thing major left to do was refinish the old Bisley and who better for such a project than Turnbull Restorations? The mainframe, loading gate and hammer were given the color case hardening treatment as only Turnbull’s shop can do, while the rest of the Bisley was finished in Carbona Blue. The old/brand new .45 Colt was then returned back to Nutmeg Sports in Connecticut for final assembly and tuning.

Marvelous

There is no way words can express how beautiful my Bisley is and how much I appreciate the work by all of these talented artisans. It is the most beautiful sixgun I have ever actually experienced and certainly the most magnificent piece of artwork I will ever call my own. The pictures don’t do it justice, however if any readers visit, I may even actually allow them to shoot it! The only problem is which one of the kids/grandkids is to be fortunate enough to inherit this one-of-a-kind Colt when it’s time for me to go Home.

For more info: Jim Alaimo, Nutmeg Sports LLC, (860) 872-7373, www.nutmegsports.com

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