Dance and Brothers revolver in .44 not N-SSA approved?

[Maillemaker]

A teammate has sent me an inquiry about Dance and Brother revolvers and asked why only the .36 variant is approved by the N-SSA rules.

Is this another reproduction that has not been sent in for approval, or did it fail approval for some reason?

Thanks,
Steve

[John Holland]

Steve - Both Dance revolvers were submitted at the same time, and the .44 caliber version failed the inspection process. The original .44 caliber Dance revolver is built on a Dragoon frame, the reproduction is not. Thank you for asking.

John Holland
Small Arms Committee

[Maillemaker]

Thanks for the info, John, I will let teammate know.

Steve

[Southron Sr.]

I think a Dance Brothers Revolver, would be deadly by propelling unspent caps at high velocity back at the shooter. The gun is a safety hazard.

They are O.K as a "wall hanger" but not a shooter.

[Southron Sr.]

In the post above I was referring to a Dance Brothers Revolver suffering from a "chain fire."

[Maillemaker]

Good point.

[Eggman]

A photo of the ornery little cuss would sure be interesting to look at.

[Sven205]

The Pietta 44's are about all you see now, and are still produced .

Uberti made 36 cal versions in the mid 80's to early 90's but there were only about 100 of them, with around half being commemorative models. Pietta made 36 cal runs in the mid 90's but it was also a very small amount from what I understand.

And as Southron Sr. said, I've wondered if these could be more prone to chain fires because of the flat sided nature of the gun, no recoil shields.

This is a stock photo from Piettas site:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0lxatw1hdev6p7/058cbe_b20fdafe647b4e5fb0a20c34bb36a592_mv2.webp?d l=0

[Maillemaker]

https://i.imgur.com/BCwcFfSl.png

[Eggman]

Thank you Steve (and all). Wild stuff!!!

[Ron The Old Reb]

"Uberti made 36 cal versions in the mid 80's to early 90's but there were only about 100 of them, with around half being commemorative models."

​The one that I have is a Uberti 36 cal. serial number 0035. I offend wondered how old it was.

[John Holland]

Ron - There will be a "Date Code" stamp on the right or left side of the frame. It should be an alphabetic code stamp in a square. If you post it I can give you the production date.

[Ron The Old Reb]

It's stamped on the bottom of the barrel under the loading leaver AN. on the top of the barrel it's stamped SMLS INC-ANGLETON TEXAS
Left side of frame stamped Aldo Uberti & CO. made in Italy
Plus it has a square back trigger guard not rounded like in the photo above.

Of all the Italian black power revolvers that I have I never saw one marked like this one.

[Maillemaker]

AN = 1985

Steve

[Sven205]

AN is 1985.

SMLS is Southwest Muzzle Loaders Supply Company and is the non boxed set model, should have a blank (non engraved) cylinder.

Edit, Steves quicker than I am typing. :)

[Ron The Old Reb]

SMLS is Southwest Muzzle Loaders Supply Company and is the non boxed set model, should have a blank (non engraved) cylinder.

Thanks I wondered what the SMLS stood for, I never heard of them before. The cylinder is not engraved but has that bright almost neon bluing on it.
The barrel looks like someone tried to cold blue it at one time. I don't really care I look for one for a long time for my collection so when I found it I bought it..
I bought it off a sutler at the fort about 20 years ago.

[threepdr]

Here is one of those elusive Uberti .36 Dances. This is #28 of 50 of the "Shooters" Model. They also made 50 of the "Commemoratives" which had a gold "CS" on them. These were commissioned and imported by SMLS of Angleton Texas.


10007

[Ron The Old Reb]

​That is what the bluing on the cylinder look likes on the one I have. Except the barrel looks like someone tried to cold blue it and messed it up.