Project Halted........

[BobWright]

About a year and a half back, I bought this Hy Hunter Western Six Shooter, 6" barrel, .357 Magnum. I bought it for the experience, as I have done before, and with the idea it would be a project gun:



The Hy Hunter was developed as a copy of the Great Western Single Actions, made in the USA. Hy Hunter, who had been a distributor for Great Western, left that endeavor and had J.P. Sauer & Sohn, of Suhl, Germany, makde a copy of the Great Western. The Hy Hunter was all blue, lacking the case hardening of the Great Western. The Christy firing pin was retained, and the trigger guard, back strap, and ejector rod housing were of Zamak, a zinc alloy. And grips were plastic fake stag.

So, my fisrst step was to fit an Uberti brass trigger guard and a brass backstrap from a Hawes Western Marshal. Then made a set of home made grips.



I had wanted to remove the Christy firing pin and install a Colt style hammer and recoil plate. However, after conferring with my gunsmith, Keith Warner, I was looking at maybe pouring $1000 into a $300 gun. So, have decided to let it remain as is, and enjoy it as a .357 Magnum.

Bob Wright

 

[km101]

It's now a nice looking pistol, and the grips look great!

How does it shoot, and has it held up well?

 

[rcmodel]

You are probably better off with leaving the frame mounted FP in it.

They are better suited to handing the high-pressure .357 Mag then the hammer mounted pin.

rc

 

[BobWright]

As to its shooting qualities, and endurance, most of the time the gun has been in pieces in my work box. I did run a few rounds through it at first, and know some sight work is in order.

All in good time.

As to frame mounted firing pins, none of my Smiths have them, nor does my Colt SAA. I've only pierced a very few primers (in over 250,000 rounds of ammunition) so I didn't feel that was of great concern.

Bob Wright

 

[Hometeached1]

It looks mighty nice.

 

[Kernel]

Does it have a hammer transfer bar similar to the Ruger NM BH?

 

[chicharrones]

That's a very nice upgrade to your Hy Hunter, BobWright!

I have a good shootin' buddy with one in the condition of your first photo. It is a nice shooter.

 

[BobWright]

No, the Christy firing pin pre-dates transfer bars:



Which gives the gun ths most unattractive hammer profile you could dream up:




But the combination does pop caps.

Bob Wright

 

[bannockburn]

BobWright

Definitely in agreement about the unattractive hammer! The rest of the gun looks great, especially the new brass grip frame and wood stocks.

 

[5-SHOTS]

Looks ALOT better now. Stick with that firing pin design and forget about it.

 

[Millamber457]

you do nice work and the gun looks awesome ! keep the firing pin , and don't show the gun to anybody with the hammer cocked !