I wanted to start this article with a brief history of Armi San Marcos, but there is surprisingly little information available online. I’ll tell you what I do know. Don’t worry, it won’t take long.  They were one of the first Italian companies to produce reproductions of classic western revolvers by Colt and Remington, both percussion and cartridge-firing varieties. In 1962 they made the first reproduction of the 1847 Colt Walker revolver, and the prototype was such a precise reproduction that experts could not tell it from an authentic Colt- and that small changes were made to the production guns so they could not be passed off as originals. Their guns were generally considered the most ‘true to Colt’ in their details and dimensions, if not always their quality.

ASM revolvers were imported by a variety of folks over the years, and they produced many of the Navy Arms percussion revolver replicas. Back when I collected reproduction percussion revolvers I owned several, including a Navy Arms 1860 Army that was exceptionally well finished.  In later years they developed a reputation for spotty quality control, and they were out of business by the early 2000s. That’s pretty much it.

In recent times I have bought a number of used percussion guns made by them, and these have supported the idea that their quality control was not as good as it should have been. Some of have been very well made, others, well, less well-made. Enough were good that when this EMF New Dakota Model showed up in Pinto’s case at a very good price I thought it worth a look.

This is definitely one of the good ones, and I snapped it up pretty quickly. I’ve owned a lot of SAA reproductions from various companies, ranging from Cimarron to USFA, and I have to tell you- this gun is closer to the USFA end of the spectrum than the Cimarron end.  Honestly I bought this one with the idea of converting it to a Sherrif’s Model, but it’s my favorite barrel-length and it was just too nice.

The first thing to understand is that this is not one of ASM’s premium guns like the Hartford series. For all of that it is a surprisingly well made gun. The fit and finish it the best I’ve seen on an Italian revolver, especially the fit of the wooden grips. The bluing of the barrel, cylinder and other components is very good, easily comparable to a Ruger and other workaday single-actions. The color case-hardening isn’t all that colorful on the frame, but it’s a bit better on the hammer. The grip-frame and trigger guard are black-chromed brass, and extremely well polished under the chrome. The proper patent dates are stamped on the side of the frame, and there is a discreet .45 Colt stamp on the left side of the barrel just ahead of where it meets the frame.

The cylinder has a proper bushing for the center-pin, which has the ‘Swiss-safe’ double groove, allowing the cylinder pin to be locked backwards far enough to prevent the firing pin from striking a primer. When the button on the side of the frame is depressed the cylinder pin slides in and out easily, not binding the way many reproductions do.  The rifling is crisp and clean, and the chambers are cut precisely and cleanly as well. Despite having been handled and fired many times there are no drag marks from the cylinder lock- this is evidence of better fit and timing than Colt often managed. The cylinder gap is .003″!

Even the internal parts are nicely finished, and the lock-up of the cylinder is as good as any I’ve seen on a gun of this type. The hammer cocks with four precise, almost musical clicks, and the trigger breaks, crisp and clean, at around four pounds.

The machining, even in places you don’t see, is precise and clean.  This is not the case with every ASM revolver I’ve owned, mind you. This gun looks, feels and operates exactly as it should, and is a delight to shoot- though like almost all SAA replicas it shoots high at closer ranges. This is the point at which I would normally show you photos of targets, but strangely I can’t find any; I seem to have misplaced them. Suffice it to say it’s handled everything from cowboy loads to peppy defensive ammo with aplomb.

Is this gun the equal of the likes of a USFA or Standard MFG.? Of course not. It’s not even the equal of a modern Colt SAA. That being said it is very good, and for what they cost these days, $275-$375, it’s a bargain.  But buyer beware- not all ASMs are created equal. However if know what to look for and what you are looking at you can find a genuinely worthy gun for a fraction of the cost of currently-produced Italian guns.

I’d sort of forgotten about this gun, but now that it has come to my attention again I expect you’ll be seeing a lot of it in future range reports.

ADDENDA:

Had this gun out to the range today, and I mis-remembered- the gun actually shoots low. I used a little tape to adjust my point-of-aim and it worked a treat. I’ll shorten the sight to the top of the tape and try it again.

Ten rounds at 7 yards, .45 Colt. Load is a 200gr. LRNFP over 7.2gr. of Unique with a CCI primer.

25 rounds of .450 Adams at 7 yards. A variety of different loads were used- I was getting rid of old and experimental loads- a lot more fun than using a bullet-puller!

Michael Tinker Pearce, 23 August 2018

I had several guns that needed testing this time out.  The Cherub had a new firing pin, The Dandy had a new cylinder, as did an 1860-based Avenging Angel sleeved for .38 S&W. There was also the new-to-me Dan Wesson Model 15 VH .357 Magnum, and of course I pretty much always want to shoot the Detonics.

The Cherub- an 1849 Pocket sleeved and re-chambered in .22LR.

I started things out with the Cherub. It had had a problem with its firing-pin, and I had replaced it and was hoping it would fix the problem. It did… but a new problem manifested. The fired cases were jamming against the breech-face after a shot or two. Annoying, but it shouldn’t be too hard to fix; I already have some ideas.

Next up was the .38 Conversion.

As you can see in the photo this is a ‘long cylinder’ conversion; the cylinder is purpose-built rather than a converted cap-and-ball cylinder. I made the cylinder out of half-hard 4340, and made a thin breech-plate of the same material, pierced for the hammer-mounted firing-pin.

This gun was more success than failure- it worked quite well actually. Every shot went off, and things didn’t jam up at any point. Two problems; accuracy was not good at all, and the firing pin was piercing the primers. I may re-line the barrel, and I’ll need to shorten the firing-pin. Call it a qualified success; the important thing was that the cylinder functioned just fine.

Moving on to The Dandy-

This gun originally had a cylinder remade from a cap-and-ball cylinder and chambered for .44 Colt, but I made a new cylinder from 4340. The new cylinder is a five-shooter, chambered in .450 Adams. Once again the cylinder functioned fine and the gun worked well… until the sight-rib came off. I’ll need to solder it back on, and do a better job this time. Accuracy was quite reasonable- though the point of impact changed after the sight fell off…

7 yards with a six-o’clock aiming point

I also shot The Outlaw- I did some repair work on it and wanted to see how it worked out. It seemed to- but I could only fire one shot at a time. It developed a bizarre new tendency illustrated below-

I ‘d fire one shot and the gun  would jam up solid.  I broke the gun down and the empty under the hammer was stuck to the firing pin. This happened with both .45 Colt and .450 Adams. It’s never done this before, so I’m baffled. It wasn’t the loads, either; .450 Adams is very light, and the .45 Colt loads were very mild for that caliber.  The fourth time this happened it ejected the firing pin. I’m going to consult with the maker, Kirst, and see what they have to say.

Next up was the Dan Wesson Model 15 VH .357 Magnum. This gun has the 6″ barrel mounted; I’ll be looking for a short barrel and probably be making a set of custom grips for it. I’ve already ordered the barrel-wrench and tool kit.

I had a 4″ Model 15 in the 1980s that I used as a carry gun, and I’ve wanted another since approximately two minutes after I sold it. When I saw this one on the shelf at Pinto’s at a ridiculous price I snatched it up.

It did not disappoint; while the sights may need a bit of adjustment the gun works a treat. Of course this wasn’t immediately obvious… Using a box of old hand-loads about 40% of the shells failed to ignite even when struck multiple times. The primer-strikes didn’t look light, but I was concerned. I bought a box of Fiocchi ammo at the counter, and they worked 100%. Not the gun- good to know!

My initial 7-yard target. This was basically rapid-fire as I was having ammunition problems.

My final target. I may need to adjust the sights slightly.

The gun is shooting consistently low and right, even with single-action slow-fire. I may adjust the sights if this persists in continued practice.

Last but not least I shot the Detonics Mk.1 Combat Master. As usual it functioned flawlessly and was a delight to shoot.

Rapid-fire at 7-yards.

So- a day of ups and downs. There are some issues to deal with, but overall the important bits all worked out.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 13 August 2018

Around 1970 a fellow named Pat Yates yearned for a compact, accurate .45 Auto as a concealed carry piece. There were no commercial offerings that fit the bill, so he obtained several 1911s from a pawn shop and set to work, cutting, welding and probably making blood sacrifices to dark gods. In a short time he had achieved his goal. The grip was shortened 3/4″, the slide by 1-1/2″. The magazine held six rounds.  As his preference was to carry hammer-down on a loaded chamber he dispensed with the grip safety and manual safety, instead moving the sight and inch or so forwards and milling away the back of the slide to facilitate thumb-cocking, creating the distinctive profile of the gun.  He dispensed with the barrel-bushing, using a semi-conical bull-barrel. The recoil plug was inserted from the rear of the slide stirrup, and three springs circled the full-length guide-rod. Extra flat grips completed the package.

The gun functioned well with a variety of ammunition and had remarkably little felt recoil for such a small gun in such a large caliber.  Sid Woodcock was so impressed with the one-off gun that in 1974 he purchased the rights to produce it. Pat loaned them his prototype and did a series of design drawings to help patent the gun’s unique features. Pat later admitted he thought they were crazy- what kind of lunatic would want so much power in such a small package? Other than him, of course.

The original production guns were cut and welded just like the prototype, but before too long they were having bespoke slides and frames made by Essex.  The production guns also differed from the prototype in several respects, not the least being the addition of a conventional 1911-style manual safety. The also added a screw to the end of the guide-rod, making it a captured recoil spring assembly.

The disassembled gun, showing the bull-barrel and captured recoil spring assembly

The bull-barrel is important; it doesn’t just allow the gun to dispense with the barrel-bushing. Whenever the gun is in battery the muzzle bears on the same two points, which makes for improved consistency and accuracy.

In addition to the Combat Master they produced several other models, all but one based on the 1911 pattern and using their bull-barrel system. I’m not going to give you the full history of Detonics; suffice to say that by 1986 they were out of business. A combination of a poor sales strategy and bad management decisions did them in.  They have been resurrected more than once since, but never with any great success.

I worked for Detonics in 1984, mainly assembling their Pocket 9 pistols- but that’s a whole different story. I had a few Detonics guns in the 1980’s and loved them, but always wound up parting with them, very much to my regret. Linda was well aware of this history, and for my birthday last month she bought me this gun- a Mk.1 Combat Master made in the 1980s. It’s fitted with custom grips and a Wolfe spring, but other than that it is quite stock.

Peter Dunn, who worked for Detonics for many years and is now the ‘go-to’ guy for all things Combat Master, now works at Ben’s Loans in Renton, WA. and gave it a good once -over. A tweak here and there and he pronounced it a good gun, and so it has proven to be. We’ve put several hundred rounds through it at this point, and I am quite happy with its reliability and accuracy.

Two seven-yard rapid -fire groups.  This gun is brilliant!

Linda loves shooting it too. You’d think that a .45 this compact would have some serious recoil, but a lot of people find the Combat Master more pleasant to shoot than a full-size 1911! The slide is quite a lot lighter than a stock gun, so the slide velocity is quite high. While the muzzle jumps but it comes right back on target very quickly. The short duration of the stroke and the speed of recovery fools the mind, makes the recoil feel lighter than it is.

I remembered loving these guns, but over the years I had forgotten just how good they are; shooting this gun has been like coming home after being too long away. A friend recently provided me with several magazines, so after I make some appropriate leather this gun will become my main EDC.

In these days of super-compact polymer wonder-guns the Detonics may seem like a bit of a dinosaur with its single-action mechanism and steel frame, but it was the first of its kind and even now, almost fifty years later, it has a lot to offer.

Michael Tinker Pearce  25July2018