Category: All About Guns
And as an added Bonus it’s in caliber 44 WCF too! Grumpy
A replica of the Sharps Model 1874 Sporting Rifle in 40-70!! WARNING I AM IN A STATE OF LUST OVER THIS ONE! GRUMPY
Minnesota’s Walz Says He’s Going To Take “Aggressive” Executive Action On Guns
Minnesota governor and failed vice presidential candidate Tim Walz is fed up with Republican lawmakers’ opposition to all the gun control schemes he wants to see passed in the North Star State.
In fact, he’s so fed up that he’s now threatening to unilaterally make his own laws through executive action, despite the fact that such shenanigans would almost certainly run counter to the law.
At a press conference last week, Walz said he is preparing to take “incredibly aggressive executive action” on gun control proposals because of what he called “stonewalling” by Republicans in the legislature, according to a report at Fox9.com.
Of course, what he calls “stonewalling” is simply lawmakers representing their constituents, many of whom don’t believe more gun laws are the answer to any of the state’s problems.
“I’ll be rolling out a series of incredibly aggressive executive actions because of the stonewalling, and the ability to deal with this,” Walz told reporters in his usual impossible-to-understand speech pattern. “78% of people in the suburbs support an assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines. 60% of the people strongly support it across the state, 18% do not.
Those 18 are apparently Republican legislators and leaders who are here at the Capitol. Minnesotans are dying, literally, for us to do more around gun violence prevention.”
His B.S. statistics aside, Walz’s boast about executive action comes after anti-gun lawmakers were unable to garner enough support to get a special gun-control session of the legislature to first base.
Finally, he decided the idea of a special session was just “a waste of time”—one of the few sensible things he has said since he came into the limelight during the 2024 presidential election.
The Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector First Model, commonly referred to as the Triple Lock, is one of the most coveted large-frame revolvers of the 20th century. For many, this gracefully configured hunk of steel represents the epitome of the modern double-action, even though the Triple Lock dates from 1908. Appropriately, it was catalogued as the .44 New Century.
Also listed as the Smith & Wesson .44 Military Model of 1908, the Triple Lock chambered a new cartridge specifically developed for it, the .44 Smith & Wesson Special, a slightly more powerful version of the older .44 Russian. Like the .44 Russian, the .44 Spl. began as a blackpowder cartridge, but Smith & Wesson soon realized its new revolver was more than capable of handling smokeless powder loads.
The Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector First Model in .44 Special as owned by Ed McGivern. This revolver can be seen at the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Va.
Indeed, the Smith & Wesson Triple Lock was the most over-engineered double-action of its day. In addition to its innovative under-barrel shroud, which protected the extractor rod, its swing-out cylinder system sported three locking points: A spring-loaded catch between the end of the yoke and the extractor shroud; a center pin indentation in the frame that secured the cylinder; and another catch in front of the extractor that secured it to the shroud.
Available blued or nickeled, and with barrel lengths of 4″, 5″, 6″, 6½” and 7½”, with fixed or adjustable sights, the Triple Lock was also chambered in .44 Russian, .455 Webley Mark II, the scarcer .38-40 Win. and .44-40 Win., and even rarer .45 Colt.
With an initial price tag of $21—a substantial sum back in those days—the Triple Lock was expensive to manufacture. Thus, in 1915, with 15,376 guns produced, it was modified into the .44 Hand Ejector Second Model, which eliminated the extractor shroud and the yoke-locking mechanism.
This example of the Triple Lock, although mechanically tight, exhibits moderate blemishes to its finish. Chambered in .455 Webley Mark II (not marked on the barrel, which is proper for this variation) and stamped with British crossed-pennant proofs and opposing broad arrows on the frame (indicating it was “sold out of service” to the civilian market after military use), it is one of 5,000 Triple Locks made in 1914-1915 for Britain during World War I.
These guns can fetch as much as $1,750 on today’s market, according to the 38th Edition Blue Book for Gun Values, though more typical examples in the 65-percent condition range in price from $885 to $1,150.
Gun: Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector First Model (Triple Lock)
Caliber: .455 Webley Mark II (part of the initial order, not to be confused with the 808 Triple Locks that were converted for British use from .44 Spl.)
Serial No: 34XX
Manufactured: 1915
Condition: 65 percent—NRA Good (Modern Gun Standards)
Value: $885-$1,150
(By the way this article was written by the NRA Staff back in Aug. 2020. I think its safe to say that these guns draw a much higher price! Grumpy)