This was Colt's offering to compete with Ruger's Single Six, which had found a ready market when introduced in 1953. Ruger's then-reasonable pricing allowed the Single Six to sell well; it was a cheap-to-shoot old-west-type gun for those who revered the Colt Single Action, which Colt was no longer producing.
Then along came the Scout, an alloy-framed single action 22 caliber revolver from the folks who built the first successful six-shooters, whose four-click actions were said to spell C-O-L-T when cocked. The Scout went through several variations, and finally fizzled in 1970 (some sources say 1971). Colt's quality was there, but in the end, Ruger won the battle of the single action 22 revolvers.
The gun being discussed in this article is a '62 model, which began production in 1962. It originally had Staglite grips (plastic fake antler), and the frame and trigger guard/backstrap/grip frame are made of an aluminum alloy called Zamac.
The photo shows the left side of the gun. Stamped on the left side of the blued steel barrel are the words, "FRONTIER SCOUT '62 .22 MAG." Stamped on the lower left portion of the frame is Colt's rearing horse logo. There is what may be a heart on the left side of the top rear of the trigger guard.
This gun has seen its share of use. My late Uncle Kelly owned this revolver for many years before giving it to me. During that time, a rough, hot ride under the seat of a Volkswagen Beetle caused the original grips to warp and crack. I made these walnut grips when I was seventeen or eighteen years old.
