You have one of what Bruce McDowell in this book on Colt Conversions called The Original Metalic Cartridge Richards. Colt started with serial number 1 on the Richards made with parts newly made to be finished into cartridge guns.
The Richards models that Colt made using parts that that had already been numbered in the percussion range, starting about serial 190,000, McDowell calls the Converted Percussion Range - but says that these are not guns originally sold as percussion, and then returned for conversion, but were guns that were for the most part made up from overstocked percussion gun parts that Colt had on hand. So calling them Converted Percussion Range is a misleading title (but then, calling all these guns that were made as cartridge guns and were never percussion guns "conversion" as collector's do is also misleading, isn't it?)
I seem to remember that McDowell thought these guns were made at the same time.
By the time Colt got the the Original Cartridge Metalic serial range of about 5,900, Colt had developed the Richard Mason version, and I think all the Richads Masons were in the range, from 5,900 to 7,300. They are a rare variation of the Richards.
You should get a copy of McDowells book - it is a real treasure for the Colt Conversion collector
Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2010 08:28PM by jeffanderson.