The Colt New Frontier is regarded by some as the most desirable of all versions of the Colt Single Action Army. These revolvers were fitted with the Elliason adjustable rear sight and later the Colt Accro rear sight. These were an ideal revolver for target shooting and also good as a hunting revolver.
Fast Facts
- The Colt New Frontier entered production in 1961.
- The name was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s campaign slogan “New Frontier”.
- New Frontier revolvers have often been made by the Colt Custom Shop.
- These are some of the most beautifully finished revolvers that Colt made.
As the “Wild West” progressively became a tad less wild the Colt Single Action Army revolver that had become known as the “Peacemaker” became eligible for an update. A new generation took up target shooting with their revolvers – which is a great deal more safe and enjoyable than facing off in a real gunfight. Not only that but people wanted to go hunting with their revolvers – something that requires a quite different set of skills to master by comparison with hunting with a rifle.
Colt made its first foray into making a version of the Single Action Army with a flat top frame and adjustable sights in the 1890’s. This model having a drift adjustable rear sight and an elevation adjustable front sight. In 1896 they made a “Bisley” target shooting version also which had a widened hammer and trigger, and different grip angle.
But back then this didn’t catch on and it would be a few more decades before changes in shooter/customer preferences would persuade Colt to dabble further into versions of the SAA made for target shooting.
In the early years of the twentieth century there were a few pioneers who wanted to apply their expertise and creative common sense to revolver design and one of the best known of these was Elmer Keith.
Keith was a respected gun writer and he could see that one of the ways a revolver could be significantly improved would be to fit adjustable sights to it. It was commonplace to have adjustable open sights on rifles, whether they were for hunting or target shooting, so why not for a revolver?
Elmer Keith went ahead and fitted adjustable sights to revolvers he had, and no doubt others did too. But the folks at Colt don’t seem to have cottoned on to that idea, and it was not until Bill Ruger created his Ruger Blackhawk single action revolver with a flat top frame and adjustable sights that Colt’s design engineers started to think that might just be a good idea.
The Ruger Blackhawk made its debut in 1955 chambered for the 357 Remington Magnum. This was in all likelihood the factor that influenced Colt to resume production of the Single Action Army revolver, a revolver that had been taken out of production at the beginning of the Second World War and something Colt had not anticipated putting back into production – at that time reasoning that it was an old and therefore obsolete design.
This new model Single Action Army is referred to as the “Second Generation” Colt SAA, but at that stage it did not boast adjustable sights, it was still very much the traditional cowboy gun of the Wild West frontier.
The Colt SAA with adjustable sights would have to wait until 1961 before it made its debut. It was called the “New Frontier”, a name inspired by then newly elected President John F. Kennedy’s campaign slogan.
The Kennedy administration embarked upon the Space Race, particularly focused on landing a man on the moon – a new frontier indeed.
The Colt New Frontier model featured a thicker frame top strap with a decent adjustable rear sight which provided both windage and elevation, and prominent ramp front sight.
Colt only made 4,200 of these New Frontier versions of the Single Action Army, of which 70 were made with the long barrel of the “Buntline Special” – inspired by the television series “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp“.
Production of these Second Generation New Frontier revolvers ended in 1975 and they were replaced by the Third Generation version which did away with the removable and thus replaceable cylinder bushing, perhaps to simplify production and reduce costs, and also used a different barrel thread pitch.
The rear sight was upgraded to the Elliason sight, which enabled rather more precise adjustments – I had one of these sights on my Colt Gold Cup National Match M1911 back in the 1970’s and can vouch for just how excellent this sight was.
The Third Generation Colt SAA and New Frontier were in production until 1993 and then gave way to the Fourth Generation (sometimes called the “late third generation”) in 1994. These revolvers were once more fitted with the removable and thus replaceable cylinder bushing and the New Frontier model continued with the Elliason rear sight. Later models were fitted with the Colt Accro rear sight.
The New Frontier model was offered in three standard barrel lengths; 4¾ inch, 5½ inch, and 7½ inch. Additionally a Buntline version with a 12 inch barrel was made.
Calibers were 45 Colt, 44 Special, 44-40, 357 Magnum, and 38 Special.
Finish was blued with case-hardened frame and plain walnut grips.
Nickel finish available on special order.
There was also a 22 rimfire model made on a reduced size frame, with a 6 inch barrel, and a Buntline version with a 7½ inch barrel.
These were made in blued finish with case-hardened frame and hard plastic grips. Nickel available as an option.
The New Frontier remained in production at the time of the 175th Anniversary of the Colt single action, beginning with the Colt Paterson of 1836, and the 2011 Colt New Frontier were marked “1836 – 175th Anniversary – 2011” on the barrel and began with serial number 20000NF.
The fit and finish on this last generation of New Frontiers was exemplary, although that being said there were fastidious owners who took their revolvers to a specialist pistol-smith for fine tuning.
The New Frontier is not currently listed on Colt’s website so if you are looking to purchase a new one I suggest that you will need to contact the Colt Custom Shop and inquire. You will find the web page if you click here.
You will find the Colt New Frontier centerfire version owner’s manual if you click here.
You can find the Colt New Frontier rimfire version owner’s manual if you click here.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Rock Island Auction. Feature image at the head of this post is of a second generation Colt New Frontier chambered for 44 Special.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
