Iver Johnson's history in replica revolvers begins with Lou Imperato. It was Lou Imperato who had purchased Iver Johnson in 1973, the same Lou Imperato that was involved in the history of the Colt 2nd Generation “F” Series and the 3rd Generation Signature Series from Cokt Blackpowder Armes Co. Since Uberti had been producing the 1851 Navy since around 1959-60 and possibly the 1860 Army in 1962-63 for Navy Arms, Lou Imperato came to an agreement with Val Forgett to allow Uberti to provide some of the rough cast parts from Uberti for the "C" Series revolvers and all the parts for the 3rd Generation Signature Series.

In 1977, after Lou Imerato had assumed direct control of the parts issue from Val Forgett, the “F” Series were produced at the Iver Johnson factory in Middlesex, NJ.

It appears that Iver Johnson via Lou Imperato was also importing finished replica revolvers from Uberti at the same time that they were supplying rough cast parts to Colt. Most replica Iver Johnson percussion revolvers have code dates between 1975-1978 and the Uberti maker's mark and utilized the original Iver Johnson Fitchburg, Mass. address in the importer stamp. When the Colt revolvers started being produced at Iver Johnson in 1977 the Iver Johnson marked replicas disappeared. It is also interesting to note that the first “F” Series Colt revolvers were packed in the black boxes with a note that stated that they were produced at the Iver Johnson factory!

Thus we have importer marking, Iver Johnson's, which is closely associated with the production of the Colt resumption of their percussion revolvers.

The Iver Johnson marked revolvers were only imported for around two years. Iver Johnson replica percussion revolvers are worth a premium not only because of their rarity but the history that is involved with their existence.