The Bisley Model

Back in the ’50s, I ran across a couple of excellent articles authored by a grand old gentleman who must have been at least in his 70s. Walter Rodgers was born about the time of the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral and spent his lifetime as a cowboy, forest ranger and outdoorsman. His firearms of choice, of course, were a Winchester lever action rifle (he really liked the .25-35 chambering) and a Colt Single Action.

I was a longtime veteran of Saturday matinee Westerns and TV had arrived at our place in 1950 with Westerns being a major part of the airtime. So, I was well acquainted with the Colt Single Action. However, Rodgers’ Colt Single Action was a little different. I had never noticed it before the magazine articles, but as I started watching old westerns a little more carefully, his Colt of choice was seen though infrequently. Rodgers’ strange-looking sixgun was a Colt Bisley Model.

Not only did his sixgun catch my eye, but he also carried that Bisley .45 in a homemade holster on a companion homemade combination cartridge and money belt. His rig encouraged me to try to make my own leather, which I did successfully. Rodgers’ sixgun was not 100% Bisley, as the hammer spur had been modified to have the same shape as the Colt Single Action Army.

Bisley Origin

More than 120 years ago, in 1894, Colt brought forth a special sixgun for target shooters. The first guns went to England, where the target shooting matches were held at Bisley Commons. The new single action was advertised as Colt’s Target Revolver and soon became known as the Bisley Model. Those first Bisleys were true target models, as least as much as possible in the 1890s, with adjustable front and rear sights. Both sights were moved by loosening a set screw, moving the sights, right or left for the rear sights, and up or down for the front sight, and then re-tightening the locking screw. Very crude by today’s standards but much better than the fixed sights usually encountered on a Colt Single Action Army. The big changes on the Bisley over the standard Colt Single Action Army were encountered in the grip frame shape and hammer and trigger.

What Makes A Bisley?

The original Colt Single Action Army rolled in the hand when fired, thus lessening the felt recoil. The Bisley was designed to set back in the hand and maintain the grip when used for target shooting.

To accomplish this, the grip frame came up higher in the back and also much higher behind the trigger guard. To accommodate this new grip shape, the frame of the standard Colt Single Action Army had to be altered slightly, adding about 1/8″ in height along the back of the frame. To match the new grip frame, the hammer was lowered and fitted with a wide spur, and the trigger was also widened and given a radial curve in the oversized trigger guard of the Bisley. The wide hammer, mated with a new mainspring, allowed easier cocking without disturbing the grip on the gun, and the wide trigger allowed for an easier let-off when shooting bullseyes instead of bad guys.

Bisley To Market

Although the Bisley Model was designed for target shooters, many sixgunners looked to it as an Everyday Packin’ Pistol, and within two years, it was offered with the standard sights as found on the Colt Single Action while maintaining the new grip shape, hammer and trigger. All of these are marked “(Bisley Model)” followed by the caliber designation on their barrels except those found in .44-40, which are also marked with “Colt Frontier Six Shooter,” the same as the standard Colt Single Action Army when found in .44-40.

In 1912, sales of the Colt Single Action in general were on the decline, and the Bisley was dropped from the Colt catalog. For the next several years, Bisleys would still be produced from inventory parts on hand. In its short life of less than 20 years, the Bisley was serial numbered along with the standard Colt Single Action production. The most popular calibers in the colt single action, in order of preference, were .45 Colt, .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .41 Long Colt. With the Bisley Model, the order changed radically, with the .32-20, followed by the .38-40, then the .45 Colt, .44-40, and .41 Long Colt.

Bisley Examples

I have picked up several Bisley Models over the past 40+ years. One of these has been fitted with a .44 Special cylinder and a 7½” barrel, while another, also in .44 Special, is a nickel-plated 4¾” Bisley. One of my most cherished sixguns is my “Born Again Bisley.” This old, well-worn sixgun was totally rebuilt by Nutmeg Sports, fully engraved, blued and case hardened, and topped off with an exquisite pair of ivory grips carved in the Mexican Eagle pattern. Jim Alaimo and his staff put together what is one of the most beautiful sixguns in existence.

One of the most well-known Colt Single Actions, probably second only to General Patton’s ivory stocked and engraved .45, is Keith’s “No. 5 S.A.” This sixgun was featured in the April 1929 American Rifleman in an article entitled “The Last Word.” Every possible improvement was incorporated in The Last Word sixgun and Keith tried to interest Colt in making it a factory offered single action but to no avail.

Keith, along with the ideas of Harold Croft and gunsmiths of the time, Neal Houchins, R.F. Sedgley and J.D. O’Meara, worked together and welded up the top strap of a standard Colt Single Action to make a heavy Flat-Top Target design. The old flat mainspring was replaced by a U-Type spring, the hammer was made by welding a Bisley wide hammer on a standard hammer, the rear sight is adjustable, and the front sight is the high Patridge type. The base pin latch was changed to eliminate any chance of the pin jumping forward under recoil and the grip frame was made by mating a standard Colt SA trigger guard and a Bisley backstrap. After this .44 Special Single Action proved to be everything Keith could hope for in a sixgun, he had it fully engraved and stocked with ivory grips. It was used so much it has been re-blued several times. Along with all of the other Keith firearms, the #5 was auctioned off in March 2015, bringing in more than $70,000.

Left Handed

Bill Grover began Texas Longhorn Arms in the late 1970s. He believed all single actions were left-handed; that is, most shooters switched them to the left hand to reload. Bill’s single actions, the West Texas Flat-top Target and South Texas Army, were built with the loading gate and ejector rod on the left side in order for the shooter to keep it in his right hand when loading and unloading.

In 1987, Bill Grover set out not to copy the Keith #5 SAA but to really improve upon it and still keep the original flavor. He succeeded in producing a real salute to Elmer Keith as Dean of the Sixgunners. The grip straps, grip contour, base pin and lever latch are all identical to Elmer’s original #5 SAA. I have handled both sixguns at the same time, and when it comes to the grip frame, the original #5 and the Improved Number Five feel and look the same. The lever latch, other than being a mirror image of the Improved Number Five, is also identical. Grover’s original plans were to build 1,200 Improved Number Fives in .44 Magnum with 5½” barrels. After testing the original, I ordered serial number K44, which I now have, and also eventually purchased an identical Improved Number Five chambered in .45 Colt. The plan of 1,200 .44 Magnums never materialized, nor did the 1,000 each of the West Texas Flat Top Target and South Texas Army.

Improved No. 5 — .45 Colt

Once I had a .45 Colt Improved Number Five as a companion to my original .44 Magnum Number Five, and although I definitely had very fond feelings for the .44 Magnum #5, these feelings were expanded with the .45 Colt. One of the first things I did was send it off to Roy Fishpaw for some suitable grips. Roy is not only a master gripmaker, he always seems to have very special raw materials to work with. He suggested I go with sheep horn, which I did. Grips made from sheep horn are mostly straw colored with an almost translucent effect and often have black streaks when the horn comes from Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep and red streaks if the donor is an Alaskan Dall Sheep.

The Improved Number Five has a larger cylinder and frame than a Colt Single Action, being more on par with the Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawk; thus, it handles heavier loads easily. Some favorites of mine for this TLA .45 are the Lyman/Keith #454424 over 20.0 grains of #2400 for over 1,300 fps and the NEI Keith-style 310 and 325-grain bullets over 21.2 grains of H110 for 1,100–1,200 fps. For an everyday working load and certainly one that is more pleasant shooting, I go with the Lyman/Keith bullet over 9.0 grains of Unique for right at 1,000 fps.

Modern Number Fives

Today, we are blessed to have the finest gunsmiths who ever lived using thoroughly modern machinery to build great single-action sixguns, either replicating or patterned after Keith’s #5. To arrive at the #5 grip frame, Keith used a modified Colt Bisley Model backstrap mated to a standard Single Action front strap and trigger guard. It is obvious Bill Ruger looked at Keith’s grip frame before coming out with the Ruger Bisley Model, which is closer to the #5 than it is to the original Colt Bisley Model grip frame. Keith had very small hands, which is reflected in his perfect grip frame; Ruger designed his grip frame to fit shooters with larger hands.

Keith’s #5 was designed to handle his heavy .44 Special loads while the Ruger Bisley Model not only handles .44 Magnum and Heavy .45 Colt loads well, it also makes it possible for sixgunners to be able to handle the recoil of such cartridges as the .475 and .500 Linebaughs. I have found the original #5 to be quite unforgiving. The exact same grip must be maintained from shot to shot, or bullets will wander all over the target; the Ruger Bisley Model grip frame is much more forgiving. Size-wise, most #5 grip frames found today will be somewhere in between the original and the Ruger version.

Ruger first started producing the Bisley Model in the mid-1980s. The large frame Bisleys were chambered in .45 Colt, .44 Magnum, .41 Magnum and .357 Magnum. Single-Six versions have been offered in both .22/.22 Magnum and .32 Magnum, and with the coming of the .44 Special New Model Flat-Top also in this classic cartridge. Even the Bisley Model grip frame is not perfect. Such gunsmiths as Gary Reeder offer a Gunfighter Bisley Model by slightly rounding the sharp corners at the bottom of the Bisley Model grip frame. I find this to be a worthwhile alteration.

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