by Mike Nesbitt | Contributing Editor
Taylor’s #3 Frontier fits the grip and the spirit of the Old West.
Taylor’s & Company, Inc. is importing an Uberti-made copy of the old Smith & Wesson New Model #3 single action revolver. They’re calling it the Frontier because it has the longer cylinder, which was needed to chamber .44/40 cartridges originally, and Tayler’s version is available in .45 Colt caliber. In my opinion this is quite a nice six-gun and I’m glad I have the chance to tell you about it.
Before saying more about this new gun, let me quickly present just a little bit of Smith & Wesson history. Their New Model #3 was introduced in 1878, after the Russian and Schofield contracts were filled. This single action proved to be fairly popular although Smith & Wesson did make more of their .44 caliber top-break double action revolvers. The New Model #3 was discontinued by Smith & Wesson in 1908.
Mike shoots at a distant target with black powder loads.
One of the best options that could be had on the old New Model #3 revolvers was target sights. Instead of having the tiny rear sight on the pivot point of the top latch, the target versions had a very nice rear sight on the end of the top latch just over the hammer. Moving the sight to the back or rear of the top latch increased the sighting radius by over ½-inch and it also gave the shooter a very nice flat-topped rear sight with a nice deep notch in it. The rear sight on the target versions is adjustable for windage by loosening the screws that hold the sight in its slot and sliding the sight to the right or left, something quickly and easily done. The new Taylor’s version copies the target model and that easy to see rear sight can be appreciated all over again.
Authenticity is really important to me and the profile of this New Model #3 is very good. While I strongly wish it was available in calibers other than .45 Colt, and I will loudly recommend that Taylor’s add some other calibers to this revolver as options. We can all see why Taylor’s selected the .45 Colt chambering because of that cartridge’s popularity in the Cowboy Action arena. For those of you who also like maintaining authenticity, the old New Model #3 was made on special order chambered for the .45 S&W Schofield cartridge. In fact, in the book SMITH AND WESSON 1857-1945 there is a picture of a New Model #3 with target sights and a 6½-inch barrel in .45 S&W caliber, almost a twin to the replica we’re talking about right now.
Shown is the #3 Frontier with a 6 ½-inch barrel; a 5-inch barrel is available.
Even more important than authenticity is how well a six-gun shoots and this revolver shoots pretty well. The first loads I tried with this .45 Colt used 32 grains (by volume) of Olde Eynsford 1½F under a 235-grain bullet. With that blackpowder load I quickly learned to grip the gun a little harder because the recoil let the gun’s trigger guard hit on my middle finger hard enough to really make it very noticeable. Also, somewhat because of my relatively loose grip, those shots went high and the sights needed to be held lower than a typical 6 o’clock hold. It took a few shots to learn where the gun was hitting, and after that hits could be counted on.
While most of my shooting with this new revolver was done while using blackpowder loads, some more comfortable smokeless loads were also used. Those smokeless loads had 7.5 grains of Unique under 250 grain bullets, a good old load for the .45 Colt. The 250-grain bullets were cast from Lyman’s old standard mould, #454190. This load was not chronographed but that is a good load for cowboy action shooting and general all around use with a Colt .45.
This group was fired at 50 feet with smokeless handloads.
Those smokeless loads using 7.5 grains of Unique with the 250-grain bullets were used to shoot a group at 50 feet. For those five shots, the gun was fired across a benchrest while holding with both hands. The sights were held at 6 o’clock on the bullseye and you can see the results in the photo. I’d say that is a real good group even with the surprising low flier that happened to go right through the X ring.
Some finer shooting could be done if the easily adjustable rear sight was moved just a touch to the right to correct the windage slightly. But an even bigger improvement would be to give this gun a better trigger pull. While Uberti is known for making fine guns, they really do need to tone down their springs a bit. This .45 has a very stiff trigger pull which simply must be fixed and that is actually my only critical remark about the New Model #3 Frontier revolver.
The gun shown here has a 6½-inch barrel and it is also available with a 5-inch barrel. At this writing the New Model #3 Frontier by Taylor’s & Co. is only available in .45 Colt caliber. The manufacturer’s suggested price for this gun is $1053.00 and for more information or to see a list of dealers, visit their website: taylorsfirearms.com.
