I recently acquired an Armi San Marco black powder pistol. Serial # is 2319...
It is cased with a bullet mold and powder flask...

I've found little info about this company except that they're out of business....

Being a repro is it safe to shoot with it ????

I'd like to find out anything I can about it as there is no booklet or any kind of info with it..
I'd like to find out how to break it down for loading, cleaning, etc.


I'll appreciate help on this !!!



Regards to all....

Lou Zamp

If you can give us some more information about your revolver, you'll receive better responses.

Like, first, is it a Colt or Remington clone, or a clone of some other brand?

What caliber is it?

Is it all steel or does it have a brass frame?

Yes it is safe to shoot as long as you don't exceed the powder charge for your caliber.

The powder flask is useable. You may have to trim off the flask spout to achieve the proper charge weight. Do you have or have access to a powder scale? You will need one to do this job.

I would not try casting with the bullet mold if it is a copy of the original. The all brass construction transfers too much heat from the handles to your hand. A modern made mold would be much better or you can purchase lead balls from bullet makers.

Since Armi San Marco is out of business, if you know what model revolver you have and the caliber, you might try contacting a company like Lyman, Cimarron, Uberti, Traditions and ask them for a copy of the owner's manual. Other than Traditions, just try not to mention that you have an Armi San Marco revolver.

Hope this gets you started.

I use to have a Armi San Marco 1860 Colt in .44 caliber. It had a steel frame with brass back strap and trigger guard. It was a good solid revolver. Dixie Gun Works use to carry parts for it. Like Marshal Kane mentioned, find the same model by another manufacturer and down load the manual off their web site. Like modles will break down the same way and should take the same loads. The internet is a wonderful thing. I gave the Armi San Marco to my nephew when my wife bought me a Euroarms 1858 Remington .44. That Armi San Marco is over 35 years old and my nephew still shoots it. If I found another one at a good price, I won't think twice about buying it (if I could get it around my wife).

I have an ASM .36 caliber black powder Remington copy. It is very solid, great to shoot and very accurate, about on par with modern cartridge revolvers. They have been out of business for some years now, but if the gun is in good condition it should be good to shoot.

If there is a top strap over the cylinder, it is a Remington copy...if no top strap and the barrel assembly is held on by a wedge, it's a Colt copy.

I recommend you find a copy of the Lyman Black Powder Manual for a lot of good information on shooting black powder revolvers, including loads and how to...


mark

Your best bet for parts, and you might have to do some filing to get them to fit just right, is VTI Gun Parts; VTI Replica Gun Parts

VTIGunparts.com Online Store - Armi San Marco

Also, see if there are any SASS/CAS clubs in your area, and contact one of the members and ask if they know of any gunsmiths in the area that do action jobs on BP revolvers. Some of the springs in both the Colt and Remington style actions can be recreated using wire or flat stock spring steel and many times the function turns out to be much better than the factory ever intended thus reproduction parts are not needed.

Hope this helps get you shooting again.

Hello all. I was just wandering around the gun related forums and came across shootersforum.com and this post so I just joined up. My first BP guns were a couple of Armi San Marco Colt 1851 replicas from EMF in Santa Ana, CA at $139 each back in 2000. EMF carries mostly Pietta now days but it was ASM back then. It didn't take long before the loading levers would drop down on recoil and a local gunsmith did some latch adjustments to fix the problem. Other than that the guns were fine and eventually I had to replace the bolt, hammer and hand & spring assembly. As I recall the ASM were known for some soft metal parts in those areas.

I happened to have a Pietta spare parts kit for Colt that I had gotten from Cabela's at $29 back around 2005 and it goes for about $40 now. I had stripped the guns down for cleaning a hundred times but had never replaced any parts in the mechanism. I guess I lucked out as I managed to get some smooth operation and good timing with just a small file and a healthy serving of patience. The Pietta parts fit just fine.

If the OP is inexperienced with guns then he might want a more experienced shooter to check it over for safety purposes.

...look here to ID your gun and let us know which model you have. armi san marco revolvers - Bing Images They look like nice guns and I've heard that they were well made. Everything depends on condition and wear if you decide to shoot it. Let someone familiar with BP handguns look at it for you if you have any questions.

Bill in OR