Month: March 2024
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THE LEGACY LIVES ON BY JOHN TAFFIN
GARY REEDER’S KEITH NO. 5
Let’s go back in time. “Even in 1928 when Harold Croft of Philadelphia visited me for a month at my little ranch in Durkee, Oregon, he told me frankly, when I met him at the station, that everyone he knew in the revolver clubs in the East had asked him to find out if the long-range sixgun work I had written of was true; all firmly believing it was not.
Croft witnessed my hitting a four-foot square target at 700 yards with every sixgun save one of the suitcase-full he brought along, before said gun was empty. The one exception was a 2″- barreled .45 Colt slip gun. Croft also witnessed my killing several jack rabbits at 125 to 150 yards, as well as hitting one eagle at 200 yards, with .44 Special SA Colts.” (American Rifleman, May 1939)
Easy As 1, 2, 3, 4
Croft, described by Keith as a gun crank and collector, hit it off famously with the cowboy. Croft was a dedicated sixgunner and designer and brought four special lightweight sixguns to show to and shoot with Keith. These were all built on Colt Single Actions and Bisleys and basically designed primarily as lightweight self-defense single actions. These four sixguns were numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Keith liked the sixguns that Croft had designed and saw real possibilities with Croft’s designs, not in a lightweight pocket sixgun but as a full-sized single action .44 Special: “Needless to say, after playing with Croft’s guns awhile I decided to have one of my SAA guns worked over to incorporate some of Croft’s improvements, with a few ideas of my own thrown in,” said Keith. The result was the famous Number 5 Single Action Army pictured in many of Keith’s articles over the next 30 years, as well as in Sixguns.
All Add Up
Keith wrote about The Number 5 SAA .44 Special in the April 1929 issue of The American Rifleman in an article entitled “The Last Word.” The Number 5 SAA was truly “The Last Word” in sixguns for nearly 60 years, until the coming of the Freedom Arms Model 83, the Texas Longhorn Arms Improved Number Five, and the custom revolvers of such masters of the sixgun as Hamilton Bowen, John Linebaugh, Jim Stroh and Andy Horvath.
Keith’s Number 5 SAA was basically a Colt SA with a Bisley backstrap and a Single Action Army front strap. Grips were ivory, barrel length was 51⁄2″, sights were fully adjustable, the base pin was over-sized, and the cylinder pin catch was a masterful design operating on the lever principle. The chambering was .44 Special and for the next 30 years the .44 Special would be Keith’s caliber. His favorite load was a 250-grain hard cast bullet of his design over a heavy load of #80 powder, which was soon replaced by the then new #2400.
His load with the latter powder was 18.5 grains in balloon head brass. When the modern solid brass appeared in the 1950s, Keith’s standard load was lowered to 17 grains of #2400. Both of these loads are heavy and should be used with caution only in heavy-framed modern .44 Special sixguns such as the Colt Single Action Army, New Frontier or Smith & Wesson Model 24. Velocity is around 1,200 fps. With today’s #2400 16.0 grains will give the same results as Keith obtained with 17.0 grains.
Carrying On The Legacy
Elmer Keith may be gone, however the legacy of the No. 5 SAA lives on. Gary Reeder has reached back in time and is now offering a thoroughly modern No. 5 Improved based on Elmer’s No. 5 as it appeared in the 1929 American Riflemen. Modern touches include better sights, micro-style rear with interchangeable front blades and a transfer bar safety conversion combined with a standard single action style action with a half cock notch. The loading gate is opened and the hammer put on half cock for loading and unloading even though it has a transfer bar safety.
It was my good fortune to test the prototype No. 5 Improved, one of the most beautiful sixguns ever offered by Gary Reeder. The 6″ Deluxe Grade all-steel prototype is high polished stainless steel highlighted by bright blue screws, engraved, with a deep muzzle crowned octagonal barrel, chambered in .44 Special and stocked with elephant ivory.
There is one major change of the Reeder No. 5 compared to the Keith No. 5. Grover duplicated Keith’s Number 5 grip frame, however Keith had very small hands, which is evident in his grip frame. Reeder maintained the same basic grip frame making it more useable by adding three-eighths of an inch to the length.
The triggerguard and the hammer of the No. 5 Improved are both beautifully shaped with the triggerguard smaller than standard and beautifully rounded, however it is overshadowed by the stylishness of the hammer. The profile whether from the side with its very slim look or from the top with its beautifully shaped spur will stir a sixgunner’s soul and when cocked, the back of the hammer beautifully flows along the backstrap.
The prototype No. 5 Improved had to be sent back with me fully intending to order a No. 5 .44 Special later. Before I could act, Diamond Dot, (can you guess what she collects?) got together with Gary Reeder and ordered a very special No. 5 Improved and I now have one of the first two production No. 5 Improved .44 Specials. It will be available in .45 Colt and .41 Special also. A few changes have been made.
Instead of a 6″-barrel, this first of what will probably be many No. 5 Improved sixguns has the more eye-pleasing (to me) 51⁄2″-barrel, stocks are certificated 20,000-year old woolymammoth ivory out of Russia with a heart-stopping creamy smooth texture, and the serial number has special significance being MPM66 (See GUNS Campfire Tales, April 2005).
What makes it even more special is the fact Diamond Dot plotted with Gary Reeder to have this first production No. 5 Improved .44 Special put together for my birthday. I don’t know which of the two of them made the decisions as to barrel length and caliber but they did goooood! The wooly-mammoth ivory and engraving are just added icing on the cake.
Going A Step Farther
Keith found the .44 Special was just what he needed in the 1920s. With the coming of the .44 Magnum in late 1955 Keith basically retired his .44 Specials and spent the rest of his life almost exclusively with the .44 Magnum. He mostly carried a 4″ S&W .44 Magnum on a daily basis, however preferred the 61⁄2″ Smith & Wesson or the 71⁄2″ Ruger Super Blackhawk for hunting.
Keeping The Torch Aflame
From Croft to Reeder has been a path of 80 years. That’s a long time in sixgun history. The legacy of the No. 5 and the greatness of the .44 Special live on; I’ve shot everything there is to shoot caliber- and cartridge-wise, however the .44 Special was my first love way back in the 1950s and I now find myself shooting it more and more. It suits me just fine. The .44 Special is fast approaching the century mark and at this stage of my life I find anything I would want to hunt in the lower 48 can be cleanly taken with the .44 Special.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Keith extolled the virtues of the .44 Special; Skeeter Skelton picked up the torch in the 1960s and carried it almost 30 years. I am now in special company spotlighting the .44 Special along with Clint Smith, Brian Pearce and Mike Venturino. We will do our best to keep the legacy moving forward. The Reeder No. 5 Improved will play a large part of my role with the .44 Special.
In addition to the production No. 5 offered by Gary Reeder, Hamilton Bowen is part of the legacy also. He is offering high-grade No. 5 SAA conversions on USFA frames chambered in, of course, .44 Special. Brian Pearce just stopped over and brought examples of Bowen’s work, a blued/case colored No. 5 everyday workin’ and a fully engraved, ivory stocked No. 5 that is virtually a duplicate of Elmer Keith’s original No. 5 complete with Keith’s choice of the Mexican eagle carving on the grips. In place of the Masonic emblem on the top strap of Keith’s No. 5 SAA, Brian has his name and along with Hamilton Bowen as the creator of this historic recreation.
He also brought a very special gift. Brian has visited the old ranch site in Durkee, Oregon and brought back a three foot piece of an old poplar tree, the same tree Keith and Croft sat under for shade as they shot long range. Brian understands. That piece of old wood is now nestled on the mule deer rack above my desk. If you don’t understand that there is no way I can explain it.
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Darth Vaders back up piece?
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Minute of Mae: Spanish Mauser 1893
- Eleven teens die each day because of texting while driving. Maybe it’s time to raise the age of Smart Phone ownership to 21.
- (FACT) – If gun control laws actually worked, Chicago would be Mayberry!
- The Second Amendment makes more women equal than the entire feminist movement.
- Legal gun owners have 300 million guns and probably a trillion rounds of ammo. Seriously, folks, if we were the problem, you’d know it.
- When JFK was killed, nobody blamed the rifle.
- The NRA (National Rifle Association) murders 0 people and receives (0 $$$$) nothing in government funds. Planned Parenthood kills 350,000 babies every year and receives $500,000,000 in tax dollars annually.
- I have no problem with vigorous background checks when it comes to firearms. While we’re at it, let’s do the same when it comes to immigration, Voter I.D., and candidates running for office.
- Folks keep talking about another Civil War. One side knows how to shoot and probably has a trillion rounds. The other side has crying closets and is confused about which bathroom to use. How do you think that would work out?
- A man who left 300,000 guns for the Taliban is lecturing folks on gun control.
Don’t be afraid to share this. There’s more logic and common sense expressed here than probably anything you have seen on the news today.
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The M1 Garand
The Second Amendment protects people’s ability to own a gun even if they’ve entered the…
THE RELOADThe Second Amendment protects people’s ability to own a gun even if they’ve entered the country illegally.
That’s the ruling handed down by US District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman on Friday. She found the federal prohibition on illegal immigrants owning guns is unconstitutional, at least as applied to Heriberto Carbajal-Flores. She ruled the ban did not fit with America’s historical tradition of gun regulation as required under the Supreme Court’s landmark New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen ruling.
“The noncitizen possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores,” Judge Colman wrote in US v. Carbajal-Flores. “Thus, the Court grants Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss.”
The ruling is the latest fallout from the new standard for Second Amendment cases set in Bruen. Since the landmark case was decided in 2022, a wide swath of state and federal gun restrictions have come under increased scrutiny in the courts. Among the most commonly recurring questions raised by the new standard is who can be barred from owning guns, and the Carbajal-Flores case is among the first to examine whether people who entered the country illegally are among them.
Judge Coleman, a Barack Obama appointee, initially found the gun ban for illegal immigrants was constitutional back in April 2022. However, she agreed to reconsider the case in light of rulings from the federal appeals courts in the Third and Seventh Circuit that questioned whether those convicted of non-violent crimes could be permanently disarmed after the High Court handed down Bruen in June 2022. She concluded breaking misdemeanor immigration laws alone is not enough justification to strip somebody of their gun rights under the new test.
“[C]arbajal-Flores has never been convicted of a felony, a violent crime, or a crime involving the use of a weapon. Even in the present case, Carbajal-Flores contends that he received and used the handgun solely for self-protection and protection of property during a time of documented civil unrest in the Spring of 2020,” Judge Coleman wrote. “Additionally, Pretrial Service has confirmed that Carbajal-Flores has consistently adhered to and fulfilled all the stipulated conditions of his release, is gainfully employed, and has no new arrests or outstanding warrants.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) argued the modern ban was akin to historical bans on loyalists owning guns during the Founding Era and should stand. However, Judge Coleman found that historical ban included exceptions that imply the ban was based on the actions of individual loyalists.
“The Court also determined that based on the government’s historical analogue, where exceptions were made that allowed formerly ‘untrustworthy’ British loyalists to possess weapons, the individuals who fell within the exception were determined to be non-violent during their individual assessments, permitting them to carry firearms,” she wrote. “Thus, to the extent the exception shows that some British loyalists were permitted to carry firearms despite the general prohibition, the Court interprets this history as supporting an individualized assessment for Section 922(g)(5) as this Court previously found with Section 922(g)(1).”
She said there was no reason to think Carbajal-Flores was dangerous. So, applying the ban to him did not follow historical tradition.
“The Court finds that Carbajal-Flores’ criminal record, containing no improper use of a weapon, as well as the non-violent circumstances of his arrest do not support a finding that he poses a risk to public safety such that he cannot be trusted to use a weapon responsibly and should be deprived of his Second Amendment right to bear arms in self-defense,” Judge Coleman wrote. “Thus, this Court finds that, as applied to Carbajal-Flores, Section 922(g)(5) is unconstitutional.”
The ruling deepens the divide in the lower courts over how to interpret historical gun laws and compare them to modern restrictions. Several courts have come down on either side of whether permanent federal prohibitions on gun ownership by groups of people convicted of varying crimes are constitutional. For example, in US v. Jackson, a three-judge panel for the Eighth Circuit upheld the same law at issue in US v. Carbajal-Flores. But the panel also foreclosed challenges to that law based on how it was applied to specific non-violent offenders.
“In sum, we conclude that legislatures traditionally employed status-based restrictions to disqualify categories of persons from possessing firearms,” Judge Steven Colloton, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote. “Whether those actions are best characterized as restrictions on persons who deviated from legal norms or persons who presented an unacceptable risk of dangerousness, Congress acted within the historical tradition when it enacted § 922(g)(1) and the prohibition on possession of firearms by felons.”…