Interesting Pistol at Range Today-Single Shot .357

[Big Mike]

While at the range today I struck up a conversation with a gentleman shooting several stalls down from me. He went back to his box and came back with what I thought was a Colt Woodsman on steriods. He asked if I wanted to see a "rare" gun.

He said it was called a "Merrill" and was made by Rock Engineering. It was a single shot .357 mag that broke open and pivoted at the end of the frame. He said he used it for silhouette shooting nearly 20 years ago and even then he bought it well used, and that it was the most accurate handgun he ever owned. It appeared to have a 6 inch barrel and was built to last literally forever. On the left side of the receiver/frame it was stamped "Woodsman .357."

Has anyone ever seen/shot/owned one of these? It made me jones for one for sure. I wish I had brought my digital camera and I would have taken a pic of it.

Mike

 

[AlleninAlaska]

Don't know if they are still made by R.P.M. or not but that is whom Jim Rock went to work for. Don't even know if R.P.M. is still in business. Might want to try and find somebody in Tuscon AZ that might know. They were direct sales only back in the early 90's.

 

[Sharps Shooter]

Yeah, Merrills were fairly popular when my wife and I were really into metallic silhouette competition - that was around 20 years ago. I can't say that I remember seeing any with 6" barrels though. It seems like the Merrills people were using in "Production Class" had 8" or 9" barrels and there were a few sporting 12" barrels used in "Unlimited Class." The Merrills were never as popular as Thomson Contenders, but that may have been due to cost and/or availability.

 

[Big Mike]

I found 3 on GunsAmerica.com:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976556140.htm


Not too cheap but one of them seemed affordable. Maybe it was a longer barrel, 8 inch? And it was in blue finish with those target grips. The breech on the pistol was thick and looked like it could handle super loads.

 

[sigstroker]

It was probably a .357 Maximum because plain Magnum was weak sauce for silhouettes. Maximum is a real thumper. It can still shoot ordinary Magnums and .38 Special.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

A True Cannon

While shopping for a 9mm after my CHL arrived, I came across a pistol that I still can't believe I saw!

The round was about 2-1/2" long and the 6 shot revolver (45 mag?) weighed about 8 lbs. I'll try Negals' web site and try to locate a pic. Cost was $1004 in the box.

This sight is all new to me, so pardon the intrusion is I brought this up out of context of the topic!!

I'll get the hang of it!

 

[Working Man]

beaucoup ammo it may have been a BFR .45-70. But that is a 5 shot.
The "round" length is about right.

 

[steveno]

the Merrill was noted for not having very good extraction on any load even getting close to max. most of the users always had a cleaning rod (also known as a Merrill rod) for knocking out the empties. it had interchangeable barrels but you had to send the frame back to the factory to have each barrel fitted

 

[Sharps Shooter]

^^^^ I remember those "Merrill Rods" from my silhouette days too.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

Working Man

Here's a photo of the "BFR" you mention. Rounds of the revolver I saw were larger in circumferance. I've e-mailed the man who showed it requesting a photo..I'll post it here later for anyone interested.

Thanks for the reply!


http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=76061

 

[Working Man]

Ahhhh.... I do have one, its my baby.

 

[Gewehr98]

Wow, that brings back memories!

I'd almost forgotten about the "Merrill Rods".

Every now and then, the Merrill pistols pop up for sale, as do their derivatives, the RPM XL.

Here's an RPM XL in .30-30 Winchester, as found on www.gunsamerica.com

Every now and then, one sees the MOA Maximums, and Wichita Silhouette pistols. I found and bought this 10.5" Wichita in 7mm Rimmed International (predecessor to the 7-30 Waters) just because it intrigued me, but quickly learned it does a good job on those 50 pound 200-meter steel rams:



There were some interesting creations built and sold for the IHMSA silhouette sport. Unfortunately, with the demise of Elgin Gates, I don't think the sport ever regained the level of popularity it once had.