American Firearms

This revolver is one of the rarest of all the Large Frame Frontier revolvers to be manufactured in the 1870’s. Hopkins & Allen was a thriving manufacturer of revolvers starting during the Civil War and continuing all the way till the early 1900’s. However, they specialized in Pocket pistol size revolvers, like the Ranger, the Blue jacket series in .32 and .38, CF and RF. ll being, despite rumors, they were of high excellent quality. In the 1870’s H&A decided they should attempt to gain a foot hold in the large frame frontier revolver market. They entered cautiously, manufacturing very small quantities. There were actually 3 XL offerings, the Navy Model in .38, and the Police Model in .38. The ONLY one in 44 caliber was the XL No.8. They offered it in 44 WCF (44/40) and .44 Henry Rim Fire. Never exceeding a total quantity of several hundred !! This SUPERB specimen is the XL No. 8 in 44/40 with 85%++ original bright blue finish, maybe the best blue specimen known ! This one, is Serial No. 150X, like Merwin’s, the number doesn’t reflect production quantity. Along with the abundant original blue finish, case color is strongly present on the hammer. Even better than finish is something NEVER seen on the few existing specimens, Factory Ivory grips !!

The XL Army .44 cf & rf, the XL Navy in .38 RF, and the XL Police Model .38RF are considered the finest quality models that Hopkins & Allen manufactured. Yet, all three were manufactured in incredibly small numbers, guesstimated at a few hundred ! This XL Navy, Serial No. 11X is 100% correct. It has the six inch barrel, six shot, in .38 rim fire, finished in blue. This was unusual as mort were finished in nickel plating. Currently it has about 90%+ of the original blue, only now beginning to turn a plum color. ALL factory applied markings are present, all parts are original, and it is 100% mechanically correct in all phases. It was made from the mid 1870’s to the very early 1880’s, probably in a quantity of LESS than 150, as all three models accounted for only about 400. It even has its original two loop holster which fits perfectly. Although never purchased by the Government, they sometimes are referred to as secondary martial’s.