Month: October 2023

All About Guns

The Timeless Winchester Model 54

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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Born out of post-World War I demand for bolt-action sporting rifles, Winchester’s Model 54 proved to be a successful marketplace competitor—one that still performs well.

LAYNE SIMPSON

During World War I, Winchester and Remington built more than 2.25 million U.S. Model of 1917 rifles in .30-’06 Sprg. for the U.S. government. Cancellation of contracts toward the end of the conflict in 1918 left them with tons of parts in various stages of completion, not to mention acres of idle production machinery. Soon thereafter, both companies began to explore the possibility of building a bolt-action rifle for sporting use rather than for war. Remington beat Winchester to the punch in 1920 by utilizing modified M1917 parts on hand to create the Model 30 rifle in .30-’06 Sprg.

For several years, Winchester had been building target rifles in .30-’06 Sprg. on the Model of 1903 Springfield action for United States military rifle teams. The new Model 54 sporting rifle introduced in 1925 inherited several design details from that action.

The Model 54 was not the company’s first bolt-action rifle, but it was the first designed for use with high-intensity cartridges. Firearm writers of the day praised some of its features, with Philip Sharpe describing it as “standing high in a class by itself.” But other design details were thought to be less than perfect. At the top of that list was a one-piece steel stamping for the trigger guard and magazine cover. Another was the trigger serving double-duty as a bolt stop. As on the Springfield, the trigger was two-stage, and while Winchester claimed it was “necessary for safety reasons,” it did not belong on a target rifle or a rifle to be used for hunting big game.

A two-piece firing pin, much like that on the M1903 Springfield, also received its share of barbs. The same went for a three-position, Mauser-style wing safety on the bolt shroud that disengaged when rotated to the right rather than to the left. Despite those shortcomings, Model 54 sales were not bad until the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 when many citizens began to become more concerned with putting bread on the table than with buying a new rifle.

The Model 54 was introduced in .30-’06 Sprg. as well as a brand-new cartridge called .270 Win. A young college professor by the name of Jack O’Connor was one of the first to purchase a .270 Win.-chambered Model 54.

Later added were the .30-30 Win. in 1928, the 7×57 mm Mauser, the 7.65×53 mm Argentine and the 9×57 mm Mauser in 1930, the .250 Sav. in 1931, the .22 Hornet in 1933 and the .220 Swift and .257 Roberts in 1936. Special-order rifles were built in .25-35 Win., .32 Win. Spl. and .35 Whelen, the latter making the Model 54 the first factory-built, bolt-action rifle chambered for a wildcat cartridge.

The only .35 Whelen Winchester Model 54 I’ve ever examined was in a collection at a gun show during the 1970s that had all the correct factory-applied markings.

The specification drawing pictured contains the U.S. patent number attributed to Albert F. Laudensack for his modifications to the design of the Model 54 rifle that would allow it to fire the .22 Hornet cartridge.

Model variations eventually offered included the Standard Rifle with 20″ or 24″ barrel (26″ barrel in .220 Swift), Super Grade with 24″ barrel, Carbine with 20″ barrel, Sniper’s Rifle with heavy 26″ barrel, Target Rifle with heavy 24″ barrel and National Match with 24″ barrel.

The Super Grade sporter had a figured walnut stock with good checkering coverage, checkered steel buttplate, hard rubber grip cap, black fore-end tip and quick-detach sling swivels. Unlike the Standard Rifle with a 20″ barrel, the stock of the Carbine had no checkering, but both sides of its fore-end had a finger groove. Also missing were fore and aft steel eyes in the stock for hook-attachment of a sling.

The Carbine was promoted by Winchester as being perfect for carrying in a saddle scabbard while hunting from horseback. The NRA Standard Rifle, introduced in 1931 in .30-’06 Sprg. and .270 Win., had a select-grade walnut stock with checkering, a checkered steel buttplate and a Lyman 48W aperture attached to its receiver.

It was later available in other chamberings. The Lyman 48W was an extra-cost option on other models having open sights. For paper-punchers who used long, high-positioned scopes made by Stevens, J. W. Fecker and others, target rifles were drilled and tapped for a rear mount on the receiver ring and a front mount out on the barrel.

“The receiver has screw holes for attaching a Lyman No. 48W Receiver Sight, which will be furnished on the standard rifle on special order at an extra charge.” [vintage Winchester Model 54 pamphlet]

Like the Winchester Model 70 that replaced it in 1936, the Model 54 has three action bolts.

Beginning at the rear, one turns into the tang of the receiver, the next into the receiver just behind the magazine and the third into the recoil lug. Also like the Model 70, a screw out on the fore-end turns into a lug dovetailed to the bottom of the barrel. I have never fiddled around much with Model 54s in other chamberings, but my .22 Hornet is most accurate with the three action bolts tightened to 35 in.-lbs. and the barrel screw at 10 in.-lbs., all with a Real Avid torque wrench.

Once low-mounted, hunting-style scopes began to catch on, a modification made by owners of Model 54s became popular enough to make finding a rifle in totally original condition quite difficult today.

From his basement workshop in 1938, Maynard P. Buehler of Orinda, Calif., began selling a replacement, two-position, low-profile wing safety for the Mauser, Springfield and Model 54 rifles. In addition to eventually selling millions of those, Buehler became even more famous for his streamlined scope mounts.

The Winchester Model 54 action’s original lock time of 5.2 milliseconds was reduced to 3.1 milliseconds with the addition of the .22 Hornet in 1933. Called the Speed Lock, Winchester offered to convert earlier “plain lock” rifles for a nominal fee. This speed was quite incredible for the day, considering that lock time for the latest Model 70 action is 3.0 milliseconds.

This Model 54 in .22 Hornet was built by Winchester in 1933, the year that cartridge was added. It was re-stocked by Hart Arms Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s, and through the years, it has taken its share of prairie dogs, groundhogs, crows and gobblers.

I used to have a collection of rifles in .22 Hornet from Winchester, Kimber, Brno, Charles Daly, Anschutz and several others. The most unusual was a Herter’s Hornet from the old mail-order firm of that name. My Winchester Model 54 was made in 1933, the year the .22 Hornet was added, and it consistently shot smaller groups than the others.

Except for a Buehler safety and a very good single-stage trigger, its barreled action is factory-original. The rifle was re-stocked by Hart Arms Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, sometime during the 1940s, and like all early rifles in .22 Hornet (including the Winchester Model 70), the rifling in its barrel has a 0.223″ groove diameter and a 1:16″ twist rate. As contrary as it might seem, both rifles are considerably more accurate with 0.224″ bullets than with those measuring 0.223″.

Altering the Model 54 action to handle the .22 Hornet was costly, but the price was the same as for the Standard Rifle chambered for other cartridges. In addition to shortening bolt travel, a five-round, top-loaded, double-column magazine sized for the tiny cartridge was fastened to the inside of the standard internal magazine box.

The follower is machined steel and its spring is of a wire-type rather than a flat-type. The rim of the top cartridge in the magazine rests below the front of the bolt. As the bolt moves forward, a spring-activated lever drops down to engage the head of the cartridge and pushes it far enough forward to allow the face of the bolt to take over and chamber the round.

At that point, the pusher retracts back into its slot in the bottom of the bolt. It sounds a bit complicated, and it is, but cartridge feeding in my Model 54 and Model 70 rifles has always been flawless. A spring-loaded, blade-style ejector is attached to the magazine box rather than to the receiver.

The rim of the top .22 Hornet cartridge in the magazine rests below the front of the retracted bolt. As the bolt moves forward, a spring-activated lever pinned to the bottom of the bolt drops down to engage the head of the cartridge and pushes it far enough forward to allow the face of the bolt to chamber the round. It has always worked flawlessly.

Back when rifles could be legally used for bumping off Thanksgiving dinner in my home state, I preferred the Model 54 because calling a gobbler in close and taking it with a body shot from the .22 Hornet was more fun and more challenging than saturating its head and neck with a swarm of pellets from a shotgun.

Through the years, the rifle has also accounted for its share of crows, groundhogs, prairie dogs and flickertails. For best accuracy, maximum bullet length for its 1:16″ twist has proven to be around 0.590″, but it is more accurate with shorter bullets, such as the Nosler Varmageddon 40-grain hollow point (0.570″), Sierra 40-grain hollow point (0.565″) and the Speer 40-grain spire point at 0.510″.

The basic Model 54 design was also modified in 1928 to handle another popular cartridge not usually chambered in full-size bolt-actions: the .30-30 Win. Mine is a Carbine made in 1929. Bolt throw was shortened and the magazine was blocked for the shorter cartridge. The feed ramp had to be modified to handle flat-nosed bullets commonly loaded in the .30-30 Win.

And whereas Model 54 barrels in all other chamberings have the coned breechface of the M1903 Springfield, it is flat for the .30-30 Win. and fully supports the case with only the rim protruding. As mentioned by Stuart Otteson in his excellent book The Bolt Action, “Smooth functioning from clips and box magazines, and not strength, accounts for the widespread application of rimless cartridges in bolt-action rifles.”

Unlike a .30-30 Win. rifle with a tubular magazine, the Model 54 allows the use of pointed bullets, but its magazine restricts cartridge length to a maximum of 2.60“. When the Nosler 125-grain Ballistic Tip and AccuBond bullets are seated accordingly, the mouth of the .30-30 Win. case is 0.80″ beyond the forward end of their full-diameter shanks.

Cartridges feed from magazine to chamber without a hitch, but the appearance bugs me, so I roll crimp the mouth of the case for light contact against the ogive of the bullet. Another option is to shorten case length to 1.955″, no big deal since the neck of the .30-30 Win. case is considerably longer than it has to be. Regardless of the option chosen, accuracy is quite good.

Maximum cartridge length for the magazine of the Model 54 Carbine in .30-30 Win. is 2.6″. The following bullets (l. to r.) are excellent choices for hunting deer and feral hogs: 125-grain Nosler AccuBond; 125-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip; 140-grain Hornady MonoFlex; 150-grain Rim Rock cast; 160-grain Hornady FTX; 170-grain Swift A-Frame; and 173-grain Lyman cast. For best accuracy, maximum bullet length for the 1:16″ twist of the .22 Hornet barrel has proven to be around 0.590″, but it is more accurate with shorter bullets such as the Nosler Varmageddon 40-grain hollow point (0.570″), Sierra 40-grain hollow point (0.565″) and the Speer 50-grain spire point at 0.510″. Despite the barrel’s 0.223″ groove diameter, the rifle is more accurate with 0.224″ bullets.

When I bought the .30-30, it was wearing a Model 330 scope of 2.75X magnification introduced by Bill Weaver in 1933. The rifle was originally purchased by one of my father’s friends in 1935 who installed the scope at that time. Internally adjustable, it has a 3/4″ tube and a 100-yard field of view of 35 feet. The 330 and its 4X mate (the 440) were not the first scopes of American make to be suitable for use on big-game rifles (Rudolph Noske was first in 1930), but a $25 price made them the most affordable.

Not long after buying the Model 54 in 1965, I sent the scope to Weaver for refurbishing, and while the company did a wonderful job, each time it is used, I am reminded of how much riflescopes have improved through the decades. I have taken a couple of deer and several feral pigs with the rifle wearing that scope, but most of my hunting and all group-shooting have been with more modern optics. According to Bob Bell’s Scopes & Mounts (1983), approximately 36,000 Weaver 330 scopes were purchased by the U.S. military during World War II, during which it was known as the M73B1.

Perhaps the most criticized design detail of the Model 54 action is a military-style, two-stage trigger that also serves as a bolt stop.

The Model 54’s competition was the Savage Model 1920 and the Remington Model 30, both introduced about five years earlier. Having owned and hunted with all three for many years makes it easy for me to compare them. The Savage, with its short Mauser action and feathery weight, was a wonderful little mountain rifle long before hunters added the term to their vocabularies, but its action was too short for the .30-’06 Sprg. cartridge, so the race was lost before it started. Moving to the Model 54’s real nemesis, the safety of the Remington rifle allowed for the mounting of a scope low on the receiver, long before that type of instrument was readily available to the majority of hunters. It mattered not during the 1920s, but it probably began to make a difference toward the end of the production lives of both rifles.

The floorplate of the Remington was not hinged, but a push on its latch with the nose of a cartridge detached it for unloading the magazine. Not so for the Model 54. The Remington is also a bit lighter. In numbers sold, Winchester won, probably because Remington never offered target versions of the Model 30.

When the Model 54 was discontinued in 1936, more than 50,000 had been built versus about half that number for the Model 30 when it left production four years later. Whereas the Remington rifle would never be seen again, the Model 54 was greatly improved and re-introduced in 1936 as the Winchester Model 70.

Cops

NYPD Detective Thomas Byrnes Legendary Detective Was Effective and Controversial

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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Photograph of New York Detective Thomas Byrnes — Detective Thomas Byrnes. public domain

Robert McNamara

Updated January 04, 2018

Thomas Byrnes became one of the most famous crime fighters of the late 19th century by supervising the newly created detective division of the New York Police Department. Known for his relentless drive to innovate, Byrnes was widely credited for pioneering the use of modern police tools such as mugshots.

Byrnes was also known to get very rough with criminals, and openly boasted of having invented a harsh interrogation technique he called “the third degree.” And though Byrnes was widely lauded at the time, some of his practices would be unacceptable in the modern era.

After attaining widespread celebrity for his war on criminals, and becoming chief of the entire New York Police Department, Byrnes came under suspicion during corruption scandals of the 1890s. A famous reformer brought in to clean up the department, future president Theodore Roosevelt, forced Byrnes to resign.

It was never proven that Byrnes had been corrupt. But it was evident that his friendships with some of the wealthiest New Yorkers helped him amass a large fortune while receiving a modest public salary.

Despite ethical questions, there is no question Byrnes had an impact on the city. He was involved with solving major crimes for decades, and his police career aligned with historic events from the New York Draft Riots to well-publicized crimes of the Gilded Age.

Early Life of Thomas Byrnes

Byrnes was born in Ireland in 1842 and came to America with his family as an infant. Growing up in New York City, he received a very basic education, and at the outbreak of the Civil War he was working at a manual trade.

He volunteered in the spring of 1861 to serve in a unit of Zouaves organized by Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who would become famous as the first great Union hero of the war. Byrnes served in the war for two years, and returned home to New York and joined the police force.

As a rookie patrolman, Byrnes showed considerable bravery during the New York Draft Riots in July 1863. He reportedly saved the life of a superior officer, and recognition of his bravery helped him rise in the ranks.

Police Hero

In 1870 Byrnes became a captain of the police force and in that capacity he began investigating noteworthy crimes. When the flamboyant Wall Street manipulator Jim Fisk was shot in January 1872, it was Byrnes who questioned both victim and assassin.

The fatal shooting of Fisk was a front-page story in the New York Times on January 7, 1872, and Byrnes received prominent mention. Byrnes had gone to the hotel where Fisk lay wounded, and took a statement from him before he died.

The Fisk case brought Byrnes into contact with an associate of Fisk, Jay Gould, who would become one of the richest men in America. Gould realized the value of having a good friend on the police force and he began feeding stock tips and other financial advice to Byrnes.

The robbery of the Manhattan Savings Bank in 1878 attracted enormous interest, and Byrnes received nationwide attention when he solved the case. He developed a reputation for possessing great detective skill, and was placed in charge of the detective bureau of the New York Police Department.

Byrnes became widely known as “Inspector Byrnes,” and was viewed as a legendary crime fighter. The writer Julian Hawthorne, the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne, published a series of novels billed as being “From the Diary of Inspector Byrnes.” In the public mind, the glamorized version of Byrnes took precedence over whatever the reality might be.

While Byrnes did indeed solve many crimes, his techniques would certainly be considered highly questionable today. He regaled the public with tales of how he coerced criminals into confessing after he outwitted them. Yet there’s little doubt that confessions were also extracted with beatings.

Byrnes proudly took credit for an intense form of interrogation he termed “the third degree.” According to his account, he would confront the suspect with the details of his crime, and thereby trigger a mental breakdown and confession.

In 1886 Byrnes published a book entitled Professional Criminals of America. In its pages, Byrnes detailed the careers of notable thieves and provided detailed descriptions of notorious crimes. While the book was ostensibly published to help fight crime, it also did much to bolster the reputation of Byrnes as America’s top cop.

By the 1890s Byrnes was famous and considered a national hero. When the financier Russell Sage was attacked in a bizarre bombing in 1891, it was Byrnes who solved the case (after first taking the bomber’s severed head to be identified by the recuperating Sage). Press coverage of Byrnes was typically very positive, but trouble lay ahead.

In 1894 the Lexow Commission, a New York State government committee, began investigating corruption in the New York Police Department. Byrnes, who had amassed a personal fortune of $350,000 while earning a police salary of $5,000 a year, was questioned aggressively about his wealth.

He explained that friends on Wall Street, including Jay Gould, had been giving him stock tips for years. No evidence was ever made public proving Byrnes had broken the law, but his career came to an abrupt end in the spring of 1895.

The new head of the board which oversaw the New York Police Department, future president Theodore Roosevelt, pushed Byrnes out of his job. Roosevelt personally disliked Byrnes, whom he considered a braggart.

Brynes opened a private detective agency which gained clients from Wall Street firms. He died of cancer on May 7, 1910. Obituaries in the New York City newspapers generally looked back nostalgically on his glory years of the 1870s and 1880s, when he dominated the police department and was widely admired as “Inspector Byrnes.”

Good News for a change!

Paint me surprised by this!! Grumpy the born again cynic

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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Israel Loosens Gun Laws After Unprecedented Terror Attack

Stephen Gutowski It will now be easier for Israelis to carry firearms for self-defense in the wake of the worst terror attack in the nation’s history.Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Sunday he has ordered officials responsible for issuing gun licenses to broaden its standards. As the death toll inflicted by terror group Hamas grew to over 600, Ben-Gvir said he wants more Israelis to be able to legally arm themselves.“Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves,” he posted, according to a Google translation. “The plan will take effect within 24 hours.”
The policy change comes after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israelis that saw terrorists carry out the brutal murder and mutilation of men, women, and children. Many more were injured or kidnapped. Israel has declared war on Hamas and begun carrying out airstrikes in Gaza, but it remains unclear if all of the terror group’s fighters have even been expelled from the towns they ransacked at this point.

The move to arm Israeli civilians in the wake of a vicious invasion mirrors that of the Ukranian government last year. As the Russian Army approached Kyiv last February, the government distributed 10,000 rifles to civilians hoping to stem the tide. The Ukrainian Army, bolstered by civilian resistance, eventually pushed Russians away from their capital city.

Israel’s plan is more reserved than distributing rifles on the street to all comers. Instead, Ben-Gvir said the country would loosen its gun-carry requirements. Still, he said the changes should allow thousands of Israelis to get and carry guns within the next week.

The first change is moving from an in-person interview to a phone interview for gun-carry applicants.

“Any citizen who meets the detailed tests for carrying a private firearm due to self-defense and serving the security forces and is without a criminal or medical record will be required to undergo a telephone interview instead of a physical interview and will be able to receive permission to carry a firearm within a week,” Ben-Gvir said. “(Self-defense tests: residence in an eligible settlement, rifle veterans 07 and above, officers in the rank of lieutenant and above and combatants in the rank of major and above in the IDF and the security forces, service in special units, firefighters, policemen, and workers and volunteers in the rescue forces).”

The second change allows anyone who had a permit to purchase a firearm in 2023 but didn’t do so before the license expired to buy a gun without going through the process. He estimated that would apply to 4,000 citizens.

He said another 1,800 citizens would also be allowed to retrieve a gun they were forced to give up in the last six months because the owner didn’t get “refresher training or renewal training.”

He also raised the ammunition purchase limit for “conditional permits to carry firearms” from 50 to 100.

“I thank the members of the Firearms Licensing Division, the Civil Response Department of the Israel Police, and the employees of the Ministry of Health for the very important commitment that will allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves and protect themselves and their environment when necessary,” Ben-Gvir said.

Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad Soldiering The Green Machine War

Nelson Miles: America’s General

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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N.S.F.W.

Gun, what gun!??

Well I thought it was funny!

Better late than never!

All About Guns

FN Twelvette / Browning Double Auto Firing Demonstration

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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All About Guns

The Colt Single Action Army: A Look Back by DAVE CAMPBELL

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 10, 2023
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Top image courtesy Colt.com

Colt—the name has stood for great firearms for nearly two centuries. From the first Paterson revolver of 1837 to the M16 rifle, millions of people have bought, bartered or stolen to acquire a Colt gun. With its long and storied history Colt conjures up a plethora of images at the mention of the name. Some wax nostalgic over the elegant cap-and-ball revolver models of 1836, ’51 and ’60. Others lean toward the notion that pistol development reached its pinnacle with the Browning-designed 1911.

Still others get giddy over the gorgeous Python. But there is no doubt that the one gun that has defined Colt for some 144 years is the Model 1873 Single Action Army (SAA) revolver, a.k.a Model P or Peacemaker. Twice the company has tried to jettison this revolver and focus its business on more modern arms, and thrice the demand from people from all over the world has compelled Colt to bring the SAA back into production.

Many incorrectly credit Samuel Colt with inventing the revolver, citing the well-known tale of his time aboard the ship Corgo on a voyage to Calcutta where he observed the ship’s wheel could be locked into position via a capstan on the spokes. It is on that voyage that the 16-year-old seaman carved a wooden prototype of a pepperbox revolver.

However, the revolver was actually first invented in the late 16th century in Europe and was nothing more than expensive curiosity. What Colt did is take the concept and figure out how to manufacture it into a workable firearm. He was also the one who first made the use of interchangeable parts a practical reality in the manufacturing process. Colt died in 1862 of complications of gout.

His net worth at the time of his death was about $15 million—about $350 million in today’s dollars—and though his company had gone through several fits and spurts, the percussion revolvers made under the Colt name were used by militaries, lawmen, outlaws and citizens throughout the world.

Image by author

In 1849 Rollin White went to work for Colt making revolver barrels one at a time on a lathe. While working at Colt he came up with the idea of a bored-through cylinder that could be loaded from the breech. In the meantime Colt had put White under contract to manufacture the lockworks of revolvers. Colt was reportedly more concerned with marketing its revolvers than improving them.

When White attempted to pursue an improvement on the Colt design he was summarily fired. In 1855 White patented his bore-through cylinder design. Though White’s patent was an ultimately futile attempt to improve on the cap-and-ball concept, Smith & Wesson realized that the bored-through cylinder deign would be necessary to allow the use of a self-contained, breech-loading cartridge. A year later White signed an exclusive agreement with rival Smith & Wesson to manufacture the first cartridge repeating revolvers.

Colt could not work on a bored-through cylinder for its revolvers without paying arch competitor S&W a royalty until 1869. During this time Colt engineers William Mason and Charles Richards put forth some conversion concepts resulting in the 1871-72 Open Top revolver chambered in .44 Henry rimfire. Colt submitted the revolver to the army for testing, but it was rejected. The army wanted a more powerful cartridge and a more robust revolver than an open-top. Mason is credited with adding the topstrap to the design.

Concurrently Colt and the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. were developing a new cartridge that had more power than anything produced thus far. This new cartridge featured an inside-lubricated bullet that would not pick up dirt and grit in the field.

The bullet was a .454-caliber weighing 255 grains and powered by 40 grains of black powder. It also featured a centerfire primer, a concept developed in 1855 and perfected by several inventors, including Col. Edward Mounier Boxer, a British artillery officer. The cartridge, .45 Colt, was chambered in the new revolver and submitted to the army in 1872. The army accepted both the revolver and the cartridge, and production began in 1873.

Image courtesy Colt.com

The SAA was an instant success, and civilians as well as the military clamored for the robust sidearm. Barrel lengths were 4 3/4″ (often referred to as Gunfighter), 5 1/2″(a.k.a Artillery) and 7 1/2″ (Cavalry or standard). Initially the frame and hammer were color casehardened with the remainder of the metal parts deeply blued. Stocks were either walnut or black hard rubber. Sights consisted of a blade front and a groove in the topstrap for the rear.

Its cylinder held six cartridges, but those who carried one daily soon learned to carry five cartridges with the hammer down on an empty chamber. There is no hammer or firing pin block on an SAA so the pin would rest directly on the primer of a cartridge under it, thus making the real possibility of an accidental blow to the hammer or dropping of the gun resulting in something perforated that was never intended to be perforated.

The correct method to load an SAA, by the way, is to bring the hammer to half-cock to free the cylinder, load one cartridge, skip one cylinder and load the remaining four. Then bring the hammer to full cock—this is important—and lower it onto the empty chamber.

Loading this way ensures the hammer will always be on an empty chamber and should prevent the user from looking at the front of the cylinder with the barrel pointed at his head to see bullet noses. Too, lowering the hammer from half-cock to its resting position does not allow the locking bolt to register in a cylinder notch. Not only is this not a safe way to pack the gun, it wears an unsightly groove in the cylinder.

Image courtesy Colt.com

As Colt developed the SAA, Winchester also came out with an improved lever-action rifle that was introduced at the same time. The 1873 Winchester was chambered in an equally new center-fire cartridge developed by Winchester, the .44-40 Winchester Center Fire. Cowboys, frontiersmen, settlers and explorers of the west decided it would be real handy to have a rifle and six-gun chambered in identical cartridges, so in 1877 the first SAA was chambered in the Winchester round. It was called the Frontier Six-Shooter. Eventually the revolver would be chambered in some 36 different cartridges ranging from .22 LR to .476 Eley and including the .44 Magnum (very few—I’ve heard of just two examples).

Collectors have divvied the SAA into three generations. First-generation SAAs (1873 – 1941) were initially made with iron frames that were color casehardened to withstand the higher pressures of the cartridges that were being developed. They also have removable bushings in the cylinder that support the base pin. Up until 1896 the base pin latch was retained by a screw. After serial number 164,100 the base pin latch was spring loaded.

Four years later steel metallurgy had improved to the point that Colt certified the SAA capable of being used with smokeless powder. Today a relic, non-shooting example of a first-gen SAA will fetch as much as $8,000, and a near 100-percent sample will go for somewhere north of 50 grand. Those with historical provenance…well, the sky is the limit.

Colt first attempted to retire the SAA after World War II. The tooling was pretty much worn out, and the company wanted to focus on more modern designs. That made perfect sense until television renewed the interest in cowboys and rugged frontiersmen ways of life. An upstart by the name of Bill Ruger brought out a close copy of the SAA called the Blackhawk and began selling the pants off of Colt. Jumping like a gut-shot grizzly, Colt quickly retooled and brought out the Second-generation SAA in 1956.

Second-generation guns had some smaller improvements in manufacturing but are nearly identical to the first-generation guns. The hammers on second-generation revolvers are blued with polished white sides. Numerous variations including the long-barreled Buntline—cashing in on the television show “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,” starring the recently departed Hugh O’Brien—Sheriff’s model and an adjustable sighted New Frontier model in 1961 were produced. By 1974 interest had waned again and Colt decided to cease further manufacture.

The shooting public would have no such nonsense regarding a favorite, though. Enough of us sunk the spurs into Colt to cause it to rethink that decision and in 1976 the third-generation SAA was brought out. Third-generation SAAs have a solid cylinder bushing press fitted to the cylinder and a different thread pitch for the barrel and frame. Though not the hot seller that modern polymer semi-autos are, the demand remains steady for the iconic SAA.

When it was first introduced the SAA could be bought with a $20 gold piece. The price is nearly the same. Today the MSRP of a Colt SAA is $1,499 for a blue model; $1,699 for an all-nickel-plated gun—which is about the same spot price for an ounce of gold.

Volumes have been written on the SAA—no surprise since anything that has been so much a part of a civilization for nearly a century and a half is bound to have had every nuance of it examined. It has been the tool of cavalrymen, cowboys, lawmen and outlaws. Whether used to protect and defend, an ersatz hammer to pound fence staples or as a movie star, the Colt Single Action Army has delivered every time. Rusty relic or pristine safe queen the SAA carries with it an elegance and panache few manmade objects could command.

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