Bob Wright
Hawkeye
On another forum, a gent thre was bad-mouthing the Colt New Service revolver as being clunky and unmanageable.
My first "real" revolver was a Colt New Service, at $34.95 via mail order in 1954, it was a RNWMP (Canadian Mounties) revolver. Originall chamber for the .455 Eley cartriges, it had been reamed to .45 Colt. When I shot that gun it began to shave lead to the point that when I ejected empties little "half moons" of lead fell into the palm of my hand. Now Elmer Keith was writing about the wonders of the .44 Special at the time, som decided to customize my treasure. I wenmt to the most well known custom gunmaker aroujnd, Mr. H.L. Highsmith. He sort of gave me the cold shoulder. So Iwent to a lesser known "smith who converted the revolver for me. The .44 Special barrel was non-existant, so we went with a .44-40. Over a period of months, my "new".44 Special got a S&W rear sight, a Micro ramp and Patridge blade front sight, copmplete re-blue and home made walnut stocks. The result:
Some of my very first hevy .44 Special handloads were made up for this revolver. Around 1972 the mainspring broke and I put the gun in the shop. It was stolen in a break-in at that shop. But by then, I had learned of a firm called Ruger, and I took a brand new .41 Mag, Blackhawk as a replacement. Here the .41 Compared to my 5" SBH:
Bob Wright
P.S. These photos were in black and white as at the time I was writing a gun article in a local sportsamns publication and photos submitted had to be B&W.
My first "real" revolver was a Colt New Service, at $34.95 via mail order in 1954, it was a RNWMP (Canadian Mounties) revolver. Originall chamber for the .455 Eley cartriges, it had been reamed to .45 Colt. When I shot that gun it began to shave lead to the point that when I ejected empties little "half moons" of lead fell into the palm of my hand. Now Elmer Keith was writing about the wonders of the .44 Special at the time, som decided to customize my treasure. I wenmt to the most well known custom gunmaker aroujnd, Mr. H.L. Highsmith. He sort of gave me the cold shoulder. So Iwent to a lesser known "smith who converted the revolver for me. The .44 Special barrel was non-existant, so we went with a .44-40. Over a period of months, my "new".44 Special got a S&W rear sight, a Micro ramp and Patridge blade front sight, copmplete re-blue and home made walnut stocks. The result:
Some of my very first hevy .44 Special handloads were made up for this revolver. Around 1972 the mainspring broke and I put the gun in the shop. It was stolen in a break-in at that shop. But by then, I had learned of a firm called Ruger, and I took a brand new .41 Mag, Blackhawk as a replacement. Here the .41 Compared to my 5" SBH:
Bob Wright
P.S. These photos were in black and white as at the time I was writing a gun article in a local sportsamns publication and photos submitted had to be B&W.
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