Post by Spencerman 
I am not too sure where to start on this one, but I shall give it a try anyhow. I am going to review the Kokusai metal version of the Colt Peacemaker. I do not have any pictures of the box it came in, but it was very basic. The packaging consisted of a styrofoam base cut out to suit the three different barrel length models that Kokusai offer, and two display .45 long colt rounds. Thinking that I would be smart, knowing that it came with only two rounds, and of course is a six shooter, I figured that I would also order a set of 6 real look .45 long colt rounds to go with it.
They dont.
The very first thing that I found out about this gun is that it takes the dumpy little .44 magnum rounds from Kokusai, so the display rounds supplied with the gun are just that, for display. They dont fit the gun whatsoever. So straight away that upset me. Not the right caliber. I have a Colt .45 that is in .44, which wouldnt have been too bad had they just made it so, as after all, Colt did originally make the Peacemaker in .44 as well. That was not the only thing that upset me about the gun, but first here are a few other shots.
After getting over my initial dissapointment, what I found was not a bad gun. The finish was certainly pretty good, nice and smooth, and the engraving was nice and clear. The markings keep themselves to the Colt ones, with the eagle logo Colt grips and no huge SMG stamp on it, you can see it on the right of the frame on the front of the trigger guard. The nicest thing that I liked about the gun though, and this I think is superb, is the serial numbers. Each part has serial numbers just like the original, although unlike some of the originals they all match!
You will see if you look, on the butt of the grip there are two serial numbers. I assume that one is a unique serial number, and the one towards the front is the generic one. You will then see it again by the front of the trigger guard on the strap. Again just in front of this on the main body frame of the gun. Then if you look close at the base of the barrel near the frame, you will see it on the ejector rod housing. I love this detail. Here is another shot that shows the other engravings along the top of the barrel, although they are probably clearer in the top photo.
Now, the barrel has one little feature that I do not like. I understand the whole legal who harr about the barrel being blocked, so although I do not like this, we all know about it, so I wont harp on about that one. The thing that annoys me about the barrel is that the screw that fastens the ejector rod casing is just screwed on, so that it is visable inside the shallow whole at the end. I also do not like the blockages on the cylinder, as they tend to get in the way of the ejector rod. The casting on them was very rough, and I had to clean off the scurvy debris before it could work on some of them, but if you get the cylinder in the wrong place then it wont pass through the tiny little gap.
And from the other side you can see where the cylinder is cut to prevent you from resizing the hole for .45 or soforth.
So, how is the action that the gun has? Well, bear in mind that I had no cartridges for this gun at first, but here is my first impression. It was great. Nice and smooth, and complete with the four clicks, that legend says spell out the word Colt as you cock the gun, the last word that your enemy would ever hear. C-O-L-T...BLAM! Here I have pictures that show the four different stages of the hammer cocked.
This next one is the second click position, this is the one that the gun has to be set to for re-loading as it lines up the cylinder with the gate at the rear of the pistol, and allows the free turning of the cylinder.
Finally my shells arrived and I could hardly wait to get them in and start some rootin' tootin' shootin'
, but alas, it was not to be so. The bloody cylinder didnt rotate.
The first thing that came out was the little spacer ring at the front of the cylinder, and I ground a bit of the front, so that it was not so tight fitting, as it was pretty tight fitting before, just look at gap between the cylinder and the conning cylinder, it even leaves scuff marks on the front of the cylinder. Now it rotates, but it jams, quite badly on some rounds, so something still isnt right. Out comes the file again, and I file inside the frame where the cylinder sits. I file the back, I file the bottom and I file the top. Much better action now, but still snagging on the rear of the cylinder, and it is starting to wear off the gold colour as it rubs, so I can see where it is catching, it is on the top of the frame at the rear of the cylinder. I filed a bit more off the top, and the action is now good, although it could still do with a touch more off, I just cant be bothered. Now this I think is bad for a model, it should at least work. Here it is with the little dumpy round.
So, I have shown a few really good points, and some really bad points. The cylinder was a poor rough casting on the inside, but just look at the beautiful shape and finnish on the outside. Two sides of the same coin. I have sorted out the performance problem, but can it spin? Yes it can. Maybe it doesnt spin as nicely or as easily as the original, but with a little practice it is not hard as it is weighted pretty good, probably down to the solid barrel. I dont like the grips, I find them very uncomfortable, so replacing them with wooden ones will be my next step after removing the gold finish, as this would look fantastic in silver, but I have not yet tried this, so any advise is well appreciated. I have to say that all of my dissapointments have been overcome with this gun over time, with the exception of the calibre, but I may even tackle that one soon, and I really like it. The finish is nice, much better than many other models of the Peacemaker that are available, although the little screw in the front of the frame to hold the cylinder pin in place is a little strange, rather than being fixed through the frame, but I still like it. I dont like the rounds. I never have liked those rounds, the newer ones are better, and hopefully they will re-release it with those as they have some of thier other metal series revolvers. It certainly is a far cry from some of the crap Peacemaker replicas that unfortunately are available, although I do not see the point of them at all, and anyone here who has one deserves to be shot with it, like this one here:
The detail on that model is not even correct FULL STOP. Just look at how cheap that is! This version is comparable to the real thing quite happily, as you can see here:
You can see certain cosmetic differences, such as the ejector rod housing is lower down on the real gun, and the little screw thingy that holds the cylinder relese in place instead of the screws through the frame, sure, but on the whole it is not bad, not bad at all, and the weight is pretty much the same, although slightly off balanced due to the solid barrel, but that makes up for it not being steel, so about the same.
I wouldnt think twice about buying another one, after all, the main question is when you go heeled, do you go single or double? In fact, after long and hard decision before I settled for this model, I would be hard persuaded to buy a different one, despite all the shortcomings that I have pointed out. I would also be intersted in maybe refinishing it in blue to resemble my other one above if anyone has any tips on that
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Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:03 am
