My neighbor bought an Uberti 1851 Colt at an auction and these came as part of the lot. I'm considering buying both of them from him but I don't know much about them.

Here's the first. Any idea what brand it is? The instructions are missing, so I'm assuming getting a copy of them is impossible. I should be able to figure the build out but instructions would be nice. I paid him $40 for this one. Here are a few pics:




Now the next one. It's a complete kit which appears anyone could knock out in a basic machine shop. The bore is a .36 smoothbore. What should I offer him for this one?

The first one was from a company called Mendi, I think? Might have been Mendl. Made in Spain, some of the earlier repros, I've read. I owned one example by them, though not from a kit, and it was a fun little pistol. Quality was ok, though I had the bore honed since, although a smoothbore, it was not as smooth as I felt it should have been. Shot well enough. I rather liked it and sort of wish I'd kept it.

I'd have bought it for $40. Should be an enjoyable project, but I've never seen an example of a flintlock by Mendi before, so I don't know what you may encounter with that.

The second one, I haven't a guess. I've never seen one like it before, nor heard of Fernwood gun supply. Might be fun to tinker with, if you can get it cheap. I just don't know on that one. Perhaps someone else here will know more of it than I.



Cpt. Redleg

I also posted this over on the first website I ever joined, Gunboards.com. It used to be called Mosin-Nagant.net back in the mid-90's.

Anyway, someone said the kit is a Markwell Arms. I already paid my neighbor $40 for that kit and it will be a winter project for me, sometime. I have a long list of winter projects so I don't know when I'll get to this one.

The other kit is of extremely low/rough quality. The smoothbore brass barrel is bored so roughly that I'd probably have to be close enough to the target to hit it that I'd start the paper on fire. I know I could get it for $20 but the work involved in the build isn't worth what the end result would be.

I've not heard of Markwell arms, but anything's possible. The lock, the engraving on the lock, and for sure the barrel with engraving, are dead-on to the Mendi pistol I had a million years ago. Who knows. Maybe Mendi bought from Markwell, or the other way round. Dunno. But, it seems like a really fun winter project.

The other, I'm with you. I don't think the end product would end up being worth the time. If I saw it for that price, with the bore you describe, I'd pass.

Now watch me be wrong, and the thing is ultra-rare and worth a fortune.




Cpt. Redleg

I have some info on the Fernwood Gun Supply kit. It is a real small world. I went to high school with Mr. Fernwood. He built the kits in a machine shop in his garage in the late 60's after graduating. He made a variety of kits. A 3 barrel duckbill, a small derringer, a key gun that looked like an old jailers key, and the one you are looking at. The hammer was investment cast. Depending upon your skill level they can turn out to be very nice looking pistols. I do not remember what the cost was back then but they weren't very expensive. It should be a fun project.

Norm