Ok, so what's up with Ruger, John Wayne was a Colt man.

[Old Fuff]

And, according to John Taffin, who can be considered an authority on single action sixguns, some of the sixguns used by John Wayne were indeed Great Westerns,

Tis true, but ya' don't understand the movie business...

This was back in the 1950's whe Colt wasn't making Single Actions, but Hy Hunter (AKA Great Western) was. Compared to Colts, which were starting to go for big bucks, A new Great Western was inexpensive, and worked fine for a prop gun. Prop guns were and are, thrown around and abused in all sorts of ways - and the powder used in 5 & 1 blanks will eat out a bore in the blink of an eye. Today a lot of the props are made in Italy - for a very good reason.

 

[dagger dog]

IF !
A !RELIABLE! large bore double action revolver was available in the time periods that most of the DUKES films depict, he would have been carrying one!
Now thats a weird picture PILGRIM, a S&W triple lock on his hip instead of that 43/4" barreled yellow ivory gripped Great Western Colt SAA clone.

At one of the recent shows there was a Great Western Collectors booth . I did not realize that there was interest in these Italian made Colt clones. At the time they were produced the Rugers and Uberti's weren't around, they filled the void, I guess Bill Ruger saw that there was a market and shortly there after designed the original Blackhawks.

On the modern market U.S.A. Firearms Co. is making their Colt SAA clone , it is a exact copy down to the smallest details, but with modern steels and production methods.
Then there is Bretta/Uberti, Pieta, and some othe quality makers out there.
To have the ability to look foward in time could make a man a million!

 

[cdrt]

The Cowboy Hall of Fame in OKC had the revolvers John Wayne used in The Shootist on display when we visited there in 1994. They were Great Westerns. The plaque is kind of hard to read in the photo but it indicates they came from Great Western. They also had his personal Colt SAA, which I believe has been bought by a private party. And they had the two large lever Model 92 Winchesters from Eldorado. One of the two Model 92s from Stagecoach was recently sold at auction. It had to go through a Federal transfer since it had a 15 and half inch barrel.

 

[Old Fuff]

The original Great Western revolvers were first made in the United States, and later in Germany by Sauer. They were never made in Italy.

The new Great Western II revolvers are made in Italy, and marketed by EMF.

During the last third of the 19th century Colt made their models 1877 and 1878 double-action revolvers that were very popular on the western frontier. Their mid-frame model 1888 and 1892 double-action / hand ejector revolvers were quickly accepted, and the U.S. Army adopted the model 1892 to replace their model 1873 single actions.

There is a big difference between what happened in the historical west, and Hollywood's myth.

 

[Hawk]

Where'd the 1875 Remington fit into that mess relative to competing with the 1873?

I suppose neither of the single actions slowed down double action sales much and the Army change in 1892 likely would have put it to pasture but for movies and CAS?

I wonder if there was a spike in civilian numbers when the 1873s were surplused out (1911?) that kept them somewhat in the public consciousness?

The current fixation with the 1873 doesn't seem to be in context with what was likely actually going in the late 19th century but there was so much going on I find myself easily confused (nothing new there).

 

[Harve Curry]

Kinda getting off topic but there were alot of different guns out there. Just like now we have had various makers of semi auto pistols in 22's, 380, 9mm. In the late 19th century were revolvers made by Marlin, Hopkins & Allen, Merwin & Holbert, Harrington & Richardson, Remington, S&W, several tool companies, plus imports and patent infringements.
Most were cheaper then any Colt model. So just like nowadays you bought what you could afford to be armed.

 

[RichardB]

"Ok, so what's up with Ruger, John Wayne was a Colt man."

All of the above and consider the Wayne Estate licensed the use of his name for this project. The fantasy that is Hollywood meets todays business needs.

 

[dagger dog]

Hawk,
Thats a unique veiw you have ,could it have been the surplus thing? Or does the fact that the boomer group brought up on the boob tube was brainwashed into the 1873 Colt SAA being the only cowboy gun along with the 1892 winchester lever gun.

I have been watching older western films from the silents to the late 30's
You see a whole lot of other guns and leather in the older films. The thought being the older guns of the period were used up in the production of the films of that era.

By the late '40s, and I don't think there were many western movies made during the war ,TV took over, and due to the overwhelming popularity of westerns they were forced to use the 1873's etc!

 

[Hawk]

All I've got is conjecture and more questions than answers.

The CAS folks are pretty upfront about drawing inspiration from the movies rather than history. Too bad my history is weak.

I hadn't dug into the Colt's 1877-8 DAs until Fuff's post - I hadn't realized the 1873 was that "squeezed". There was presumably a metric pantload of converted Remington 1858s - I believe around 132,000 were shipped but I've no idea how many were converted. Then comes the 1875 and Colt's offering DAs within a couple years of the SAA turning up in the commercial market.

I'd like to know what the respective pricing was SAA vs. Colt's own DA. How many Remingtons in .44 got converted would be interesting as well.

1873 to 1892 is a pretty short service span for a sidearm or at least it's pretty weak compared to the 1911. I thought the 1873s were retired but not surplused until 1911 but could be wrong on this. Assuming the Colt's DAs were available in the chamberings popular in the 1873 and were reasonably reliable I can't guess at an advantage that would have kept the 1873 going strong other than possibly price and that's pure conjecture.

I need a book or three.

 

[theNoid]

Don't really care if he used Rugers, Great Westerns, Colts, or otherwise...I would love to have a matched pair of each of the Rugers, USFA, Winchester, and Colt commemorative pieces...all are beautiful if you were to ask me. Of course, I am sure I'd be pissing all the collectors off as I would indeed shoot these great firearms on at least a semi-regular basis.

Noidster

 

[Hawk]

My John Wayne Ruger has been getting a fair amount of use.

Can you imagine what the Duke would say if he knew something with his name was a safe queen? It's in the spirit of the thing not to let that happen.

The USFA looks pretty servicable as well - even comes with a rig. Automatic holster wear - might as well shoot it.