A New Slant on an Old Standard: Colt’s Cowboy Single-Action

In order to fill the demand for a less-expensive and plainer version of their rugged Single Action Army, in the late 1990s Colt came up with the Cowboy model as their answer to that need. The Cowboy’s price would be closer to the range of the many imported Colt copies, and its targeted market was cowboy-action shooters. This new model, prefixed with the letters CB, was introduced by Colt in 1999.

Colt’s cataloged model numbers for the Cowboy were CB1840 for the 4-3/4-inch barrel, CB1850 for the 5-1/ 2-inch barrel, and CB1870 for the 7-1/ 2-inch barrel length. The official factory terminology for the finish used on these guns is "case hardened," but like the SAA, the Cowboy actually sports a color-case-hardened frame, This one is .45 Colt with a 5-1/2-inch barrel. Author photos. with a blued barrel, cylinder, and grip straps.

The Cowboy finishes are different from the standard blue and color-casehardened Model Ps. The metal is not as highly polished and the color-case-hardening was performed using a different process. This process produces colors more reminiscent of the early Italian copies’d efinitely not as brilliant or pretty as the familiar Colt SAA case colors.

Hand fitting of some areas, like the grip strap’s fit to the frame and where the grips fit on the grip frame was obviously not given the kind of attention given to a Single Action Army. That’s the reason Cowboys will sometimes be found with sharp edges protruding in some areas, including the front edges of the cylinder where the flutes used to be chamfered.

On the positive side, my test gun’s hammer was equipped with some of the most practical, non-slip checking on its spur I’ve seen on any single action, and this is the easiest Colt hammer I’ve ever used for fast work. Incidentally, the hammer was finished in, from what I could tell, a Parkerized phosphate finish of some sort. A more modern transfer-bar ignition and a floating firing pin were also added to the new Cowboy design.

Removed from the Cowboy hammer is the first notch’t he so-called "safety notch." The familiar hammermounted firing pin we are so used to seeing is also gone, and the flat-faced front of the hammer looks more like a Ruger hammer. The shooter still has to draw back the hammer into the half-cock position for loading and unloading, but the Cowboy is officially considered a "two clicker," having only the half-cock and cocked positions. Colt’s Cowboy barrels are marked on their tops with the Colt

In the opinion of the author, this is Colt’s best hammer spur since early 1873. name and address and the barrel’s sides are roll marked "Colt Cowboy .45 Colt". You will notice from the photo that the patent dates have been removed from the left side of the frame. Colt’s representative, Amy Navitsky, told me that the Colt Custom Shop also did some work on Cowboy models, and that there is a "Z" modelnumber designation assigned, which denotes custom work on a few of the Cowboys.

There was also a Cowboy Buntline, as well as a few Cowboys produced in .38 Special. As Amy related to me in an e-mail: "I have seen nickel Cowboys and engraved Cowboys, and Cowboys with wood grips. All of these deviations of the standard models were done through the custom shop. Although it didn’t have the lovely fit and finish of the Model "P," I personally see the Cowboy model as a welcome addition to the selection of revolvers available for CAS competition.

It offers the serious shooter a genuine Colt, but one that could be "beat on" in heavy use without having to worry excessively about hurting its value. Unfortunately, the Cowboy was rather short-lived. I guess Cowboy Action Shooters didn’t respond as strongly as the Colt factory would have liked to the lower priced Cowboy model, so the company decided to discontinue the Cowboy in 2003.

Their official reason for discontinuing the Cowboy is that: "Colt was responding to market signals." The factory tells me that a total of 13,984 CCB models were manufactured over the period from 1998 to 2003. Takedown Instructions 1. Always be sure your revolver is unloaded. Check to make sure this weapon is unloaded by grasping the revolver around the grip firmly, and pointing the muzzle in a safe direction.

Keeping your fingers away from the trigger (#23), open the loading gate (#14) and pull the hammer (#19) slowly to the rear until you have heard

Colt Cowboy Single-Action Revolver 1 Barrel 2 Ejector Tube 3 Ejector Head 4 Ejector Rod 5 Ejector Spring 6 Ejector Tube Screw 7 Frame 8 Cylinder 9 Base Pin Bushing 10 Base Pin 11 Base Pin Screw one audible click. This will place the hammer in the half-cock or loading position; the cylinder (#8) should be free to spin in a clockwise direction.

Again, being cautious to keep your fingers away from the trigger, slowly rotate the cylinder two full revolutions by hand, all the while examining the cylinder’s chambers through the opened loading gate at the rear of the frame (#7) to make certain that the cylinder chambers have no cartridges in them. What if there are cartridges present in the cylinder chambers? Then you are holding a loaded gun. Leave the hammer right where it is’in the loading position with the loading gate opened.

Using your left hand to hold 23 Trigger 24 Bolt 25 Sear & Bolt Spring 26 Sear & Bolt Spring Screw 27 Bolt Screw 28 Trigger Screw 29 Hammer Screw 30 Trigger Guard 31 Front Strap Screw 32 Rear Guard Screw (2) 33 Main Spring 12 Base Pin Spring 13 Base Spring Screw Nut 14 Gate 15 Gate Catch 16 Gate Spring 17 Gate Catch Screw 18 Transfer Bar 19 Hammer Assembly 20 Hammer Roll Pin 21 Hammer Roll 22 Hand the revolver securely by its grip, tilt the revolver so the barrel’s muzzle (the front) is facing away from you and upwards. (Generally, it should be pointing in a direction that you determine is safe so if the gun did accidentally fire, no one would be harmed.) Using your right hand, rotate the Cowboy’s cylinder slowly, one chamber at a time in a clockwise direction (viewed from the rear), pausing at each audible click to allow each cartridge to fall out of its chamber and onto the bench.

If any cartridge fails to fall out of the chamber by its own weight, you should manually operate the ejector by pushing on the ejector-rod head (#6) toward the rear of the gun with 34 Main Spring Screw 35 Stock Pin 36 Backstrap 37 Backstrap, Lower Screw 38 Backstrap Screw (2) 39 Stock Left 40 Stock Right 41 Stock Screw 42 Firing Pin 43 Firing Pin Retainer 44 Firing Pin Spring 45 Firing Pin Spacer your right hand, until the ejector rod has pushed the cartridge out of the chamber.

Repeat this operation for each chamber. When you are absolutely sure there are no more cartridges left in the cylinder chambers, you can consider the revolver ready to be safely disassembled. 2. To remove the cylinder, the hammer should still be in the loading or half-cocked position, and the loading gate should still be open. The cylinder is rotating on apart known as the base pin (#10). This pin must first be removed through the front of the frame before the cylinder can be removed.

The base pin is held in the gun by a sliding, spring-powered cross bolt,

Notice the steps on the hammer face to clear the transfer bar. that Colt calls the "base pin screw." The base pin can be removed by first depressing this cross bolt (#11) and then pulling the base pin (#10) straight out through the front of the frame. The cylinder can now be carefully rolled out sideways toward the right side of the frame. 3. Remove the grips and grip straps by unscrewing and removing the grip screw (#41) from the center of the grip, and then remove the two grips (#39 & 40).

Unscrew and remove the two backstrap screws (#38) from the top-rear of the backstrap (#36), and then remove the single butt screw (#37) from the butt of the backstrap. The backstrap comes off by pulling it off to the rear. Unscrew and remove the mainspring screw (#34) from the inside-lower area of the trigger guard (#30); the mainspring (#32) will now lift off.

Unscrew and remove the two rear trigger-guard screws (#32)"these face straight up’and the front trigger-guard screw (#31) which also faces up, and the trigger guard (#30) will drop off from the bottom. 4. To disassemble the action, unscrew and remove the sear and bolt-spring screw (#26) from the underside of the frame. This is the only screw that faces straight up on the inside of the lock frame. The sear and bolt spring (#25) can now be lifted out from the bottom of the frame.

Next you can unscrew and remove the trigger screw (#28). This is the center of the three screws that pass through the frame side. The trigger (#23) can be removed out through the bottom of the frame. Notice how the trigger connects with the transfer bar (#18). The hammer screw (#29)"the rear-most of the three screws in the frame side’can now be unscrewed and removed, after which the hammer (#19) is rotated slightly to the rear and then pulled down out of the frame.

You will find the hand assembly (#22) is connected to the hammer, and it will withdraw with the hammer. Once the hammer (#19) is out, the hand assembly (#22) is removed by lifting it up out of its socket hole on the left side of the hammer. The transfer bar will now slide down out the bottom of the frame. Be sure to make note of its relative positioning for reassembly. Next, unscrew and remove the forward-most of the three screws on the left side of the frame.

This is the bolt screw (#27) that holds the bolt (#24) in place, after which the bolt can be removed from the bottom. Be sure you keep the Cowboy’s bolt screw with the bolt while they are removed from the gun; the trigger screw (#28) can easily be mistaken for the bolt screw, which is the same diameter but slightly shorter. 5.

To complete the disassembly, unscrew and remove the ejector-tube screw (#6) from the front of the ejector tube (#2), and the entire ejector-tube assembly can be pulled to the side by the front until it moves away from the barrel slightly. From this position, the ejector-tube assembly can be withdrawn forward and off the barrel. The ejector rod (#4), ejector head (#6) and its spring (#5) can be removed by pulling them straight back out of the ejector tube.

Under the frame in the Cowboy’s right-side frame rail, you will notice a small screw. This is called the gatecatch screw (#17), and it’s the key to removing the loading gate. Remove this screw and its plunger (#15) along with the gate spring (#16) out through the screw hole. The loading gate (#14) can now be removed from the frame by pulling it out toward the front of the gun. Additional disassembly is not recommended for routine maintenance and normal cleaning.

And, of course, as always, you reassemble the revolver in the reverse order. I