EAA Bounty Hunter 45 Colt

by Sarge , Central Misery, Monday, September 21, 2015, 11:45 (3291 days ago)
edited by Sarge, Monday, September 21, 2015, 11:52

I've seen these mentioned here occasionally so I'll add mine to the pile. This one is the 4 1/2" revolver in 45 Colt. For basically what is (now) a $400 revolver, they are pretty well finished with nice bluing and bright case colors. I got lucky and it also has some figure to the grips.

These guns take their lineage from the old Hawes 'Western Marshall' series of revolvers. Hawes contracted them out to JP Sauer & Sohn. They were essentially Colt copies built on a slightly larger frame capable of handling the 44 Magnum. The 45 Colts were capable of handling warm handloads. I owned several in the 70's-80's in 44 Mag & 45 Colt; they had smooth actions, good triggers and the thing that impressed me most about them was they all shot precisely to the sights- by no means a given with Colts or their clones by any manufacturer. The have a grip frame that feels somewhere between the Single Action Army and the 1860 Army to me, with lots of room for the knuckle of the middle finger. I prefer them to any Ruger save the Bisley.

Weihrauch GmbH of Germany later acquired manufacturing rights for these revolvers and procured a license from Ruger to include their patented transfer bar mechanism. European American Armory imports them as the 'Bounty Hunter'. They still load and eject on half-cock like God and Sam Colt intended. The downside is that the fine trigger was sacrificed and they require some smoothing up. This one has about a six pound gritty trigger.

I shot the gun today with several 45 Colt reloads, from factory duplication loads to my 'Linebaugh Load', a 255 grain SWC at about 1075 fps. It gobbled them all up and the smooth grip handles recoil like a champ. Like the earlier versions I've owned, it shot precisely to the sights. Six rounds of Missouri Bullet's 250 grain RNFP over 7.1 grains of W231, standing unsupported from 25 yards. If it shot this well with a downright awful trigger, I believe it will shine with a little work.