Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

[MiniSnipa]

So as we know i also reviews the cavalry version which is in this section as well check it out!

So

The Tanaka Colt 45 Single action army 4 3/4 civilian (or quickdraw special) Fast draw special limited edition!

So talking points are:
Whats the difference between this and other saa's?
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opinion
Pictures at the end

So lets begin

What makes the fast draw special...special?

Ok firstly its a civilian 4 3/4 inch barrel gun

Its a limited edition run from tanaka, it features custom not paint work as such but metal work.
it has a upper black frame
real wood grips
nickel cylinder
nickel extractor rod
nickel lower frame
nickel hammer and trigger

So other than the colours of the gun what makes this gun special is that the fact it includes two hammer springs, the fast draw spring which makes the gun fire at around 250 + but has a very light hammer pull, funny thing is the other spring that makes it fire at a staggering 350+ has been said to be a TINY bit heavier than the fast draw spring.
another feature of this gun is that the trigger guard is modified, usually its thick however on this it has been cut from the trigger onwards meaning its wider at the back end obviously for fast draw and what not.
This was obviously made for the uprising of Japanese airsoft fast draw competitions.

The firing system uses the great pegasus system by tanaka this is the older version but to be honest its fantastic nothing much to say about it really, find the shell saying gas fill it up and have some fun.

Strengths:
Rare
Fun
Bloody powerful
Beautiful
Silly good range

Weaknesses:
Ammo capacity of 12, I think of this as a strength, its fun to reload
Finding replacement parts is like rocking horse poo
The bolt in the gun should be reinforced before use, super glue works fine

My opinion:
Cant get a better revolver, even pistol, this matches the TM MK23 socom from what i have seen so far and will give a definite answer when it goes to my first skirmish, great fun to shoot, and will make you smile from the day you open it, if you find and buy one of these id expect you to buy the proper gun leather its blasphemy not to wear gun leather with these things.

Considering these revolvers are looked up upon by real steel shooters id say tanaka has done a very good job.

comparing it quickly to my other one, since its not a detachable cylinder the frame is stronger, I prefer this baby over my other.

PICTURES! you've been waiting for these after reading that wall of text




Hope you have enjoyed this review

[Stealth1911]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

Its a hideous pistol, its not a practical skirmishing pistol (I'd like to see you reload it as quick as anyone with a magazine based pistol)

One thing you forgot to mention is.

Noise, it doesnt make any (well, the ones ive had made so little noise its not worth caring about)
Kick, it has none, at all.
Trigger pull, better than a socom, barely.

It is a limited edition, but you could call all tanaka revolvers limited edition, they didnt make that many of any of them, because they were high (read, over) priced, not easily skirmishable weapons with no parts base and had a tendancy (like tanaka shotguns) to break and the parts arent replaceable.

At the end of the day its a flawed archaic design of a gun thats used purely for competition, in my eyes it has no real place at a skirmish site and is more of a wallhanger

[Black Bull]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

Good Review Mini, or shall we start calling you billy the kid?

how much did that set ya back?

[romeo]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

good review i thought. not my cuppa tea but i can see the why people are drawn towards them.. id love to be shot by this, haha

[MiniSnipa]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

Do you even know what your talking about?

i have no idea what saa you owned

Noise, its effing loud
Kick, well course not its a nbb

Ok trigger pull was the big clincher weather you owned or not

how can you say its barley better than the socoms

there isnt a trigger pull, romeo nearly shot me with it barley touching the trigger

Its a hideous pistol, its not a practical skirmishing pistol (I'd like to see you reload it as quick as anyone with a magazine based pistol)

One thing you forgot to mention is.

Noise, it doesnt make any (well, the ones ive had made so little noise its not worth caring about)
Kick, it has none, at all.
Trigger pull, better than a socom, barely.

It is a limited edition, but you could call all tanaka revolvers limited edition, they didnt make that many of any of them, because they were high (read, over) priced, not easily skirmishable weapons with no parts base and had a tendancy (like tanaka shotguns) to break and the parts arent replaceable.

At the end of the day its a flawed archaic design of a gun thats used purely for competition, in my eyes it has no real place at a skirmish site and is more of a wallhanger

[Stealth1911]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

When you use any tanaka DA (im not applying it to the SAA's) they rotate the cylinder before firing, this is what makes them barely better than a socom, DA's suck. where as the SAA is a signle action but you have to cock it each time, so therefore its no better than a socom for the fact its basically a glorified springer.

Noise, well all teh ones ive owned have been quiet, I dont see how you can think teh sound of gas exiting a barrel is loud as theyre not.

You can attack my posts all you like, you cant defend against the fact thats its useless as a skirmishing pistol.

You can keep your horrendously ugly archaic revolver that will break within 100 rounds, i'll stick to my reliable, known to work, accurate and ranged magazine fed pistols thanks.

[YankKiller]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

No they don't keep up with GBB/NBB semi autos that is true, after all they are single action/fixed hop so they aint going to. If you stick a bolt action rifle next to an aeg both firing at 350, which one is going to be a better skirmisher?

They don't break if looked after and tanaka stuff is of good quality, you can use them at games and they are damn fun. Of course each to his own, but you can not put these guns down just because they are ugly, and not to your taste.

The good out weights the bad with these I am afraid, and anyone buying one won't be buying it because they think with some pistol skill they can take on the world, they are a good collectors peice and fun, that's it.

Tanaka is a good make hands down, sure maybe some of their kit is not great for skirmishing but they are a first rate model gun maker.

Trigger pull is light, and can be modded just like the real thing to make it lighter. Noise is not really loud but sounds good and is not whisper quiet.


So then, who makes better revolvers than Tanaka? If we are going to argue their case, let me know which company makes better ones?

Comparing them to other pistols is pointless.

[iratecabbie]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

good review, and a very nice looking gun,

I have to argue with the guys who say a tanaka revolver isnt a skirmish gun,, I use a tanaka m29 .44 magnum as a my primary pistol and i get stacks of kills with it, you just need know its limits and work to them.
if you dont mind me asking minisnipa where did you get your SAA from?

[Artekus]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

Great work MiniSnipa, I really enjoyed reading your review. In general though, how do you find using revolvers as a skirmish weapon? Does the fun/satisfaction outweigh those times (and they must happen sometimes?) where you get 'caught short' and laced trying to reload cylinder by cylinder?

Again, great review :D

[Stealth1911]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

Minisnipa was banned about a year ago, so great timing on the resurrection of a dead thread!

[Wingmann]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

You were wrong about calling that nice revolver a "pistol" though.

[Deagle]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

i was just confused why people were comparing it to a socom in a bad way??!! i love my blowbacks but the mk23 is an amzing pistol ,

back on topic ..........tanaka revolvers rock end of lol

[jfox61]

Re: Tanaka Colt 45 SAA Fast draw special review!

FYI Minisnipa is alive and well under another name, so he is, in effect still on the forum. Also why should a thread be called dead because no one has posted for a long time. If a relevant comment is made to resurrect it then why not.

I personally happen to think Western era revolvers are attractive. Not to everyone's liking I know but sufficiently different to be noticed.

As for skirmishable, I agree they are difficult to use effectively, but I know of at least one skirmish site where they have days for just this type of pistol.