PH1301 Classic Arms Snake Eyes Pistol Kit

This is a relatively simple kit BUT it takes A LOT of buffing if you want it to shine. (Especially the two hammers which are rough-finished.) But when the hammers are polished they shine like nickel-plate or chrome. When placing the hammers into the frame a padded vise to hold the frame is HIGHLY recommended! (Unless you have three hands.) Otherwise compressing them against the springs and aligning the retaining pin holes @ the same time is rather difficult. I only found two problems with this kit: 1. The percussion caps don't always fire. Possibly due to the relatively short nipple cups. 2. The trigger sear spring on my model broke after a few months. I solved this problem by replacing it with custom-fitted pencil erasers. (Cut from two pencils.) Overall this is a real showpiece!

I bought this kit in 1978 for $40 and gasoline was 50 cents. It was either the first or 2nd kit I had ever built I was 23 yrs old. It was simple easy to build but it took a lot of brass polishing. I did it all with fine files and 1000 grit sand paper. It looked nice. Three hands definately would be handy to get all the springs and hammers into place but I managed. In 1990 I disassembled the piece and put it to a polishing wheel at the place where I was then working. It shined like a golden mirror when I was done. Back in 1978 it came with a brass ramrod (but still no place to hang it.) I don't remember having any problems with the fit. I fired it a couple times then polished the inside of the barrels till they looked new and never fired it again. It is more of a display piece than a target pistol. Almost 30 years later my last children are leaving home and I'm starting to do gun kits again. Classic Arms has always been the best. Nobody makes the unusual & classy little kits that they do. Thanks Dixie Gun for carrying them.

This is really pretty cool! Put it together and replaced the plastic grips with wood mine pops caps just fine just a cool little snake gun. fun to shoot and assemble Its like anything...you get what you give..If you do a half way job thats what you'll have a half way derringer. Take your time and youll have a relyable little fun snake killer! Its cool

Okay as fart as the horror stories go that I have read about Classic Arms these have never been the case for me. Everything as a matter of fact that I have bought from Dixie has been exactly what I was looking for. I got this kit for Christmas which was yesterday. Once again my girlfriend picked this up for me(what can I say she knows me!). She ordered it around the 15th and it was here in 3 days. I was definitly not expecting that... So I opened it up yesterday and everything was there in it's respective bags no rusty parts or anything missing. No parts attatched with bread ties none of that. I will however say that the guy who was upset about the \"imitation Ivory\"" was right the grips are white plastic and resemble more to Mother of Pearl than Ivory. I will also say that Dixie themselves said the same in the product description as well so he shouldn't have been so shocked. It also doesn't come with a ramrod but I've got a few of them lying around here so I'm not very worried at this point. The brass is thick and therefore very easy to work with. The metal comes white as with every other Kit gun out there and I've found this really neat little way to blue the metal with motor oil! Just take the part heat it up with a small torch(this step is a nessecaty anyways as to temper the steel so that it WILL bust a cap) and dip it in the oil for roughly 3-5 seconds. comes out with a nice dark finish everytime. I wouldn't suggest this on barrels but for hammers it works nicely. I haven't fired it yet I still have a lot of work on it left to do. I will however write another one telling everybody how it works when the time comes. Until Then!!!!!!"

I got one of these at a gunshow. I paid a very small price for it. It is one of my favorite pistols. It has neat style. The solid brass will hold a stout charge and deliver a wallop. You can load with shot or 000 buck. I bought 5 pounds and have ammunition for a loooong time. I believe the price is right made in USA and does what it says. I agree with the trigger spring. It needs to be changed or something. I fixed one broken side with a ball point pen spring by sliding under the flat spring and putting the other side on the sear. It works. The handles look like mother of pearl. They don't even look vaguely like ivory. I don't think they were supposed to. I paid $20 for mine and am going to probably buy some more from Dixie in the future to give to friends.