SAA's and westerns

[the Black Spot]

Grew up on westerns, and shooting cap-n-ball. I remember getting my first sa 22 rf and thinking now it wouldnt take so long to reload, lol.

90% of what i shot was sa, so much so, that is what i carry for concealed protection.

 

[200Apples]

.
Well, golly! There are some fine, fine posts here in this thread. Spoken from the heart, they be!

I live in the West, and though not a rancher or cowboy I've ridden horses, I've camped in the high chapparal, the Sierra Nevada, been hiking in the Rockies. I've read L'Amour, watched western-themed motion pictures featuring stunning cinematography... and like mavracer posted earlier I can't wait for the new season of Hell On Wheels. Also a Longmire fan.

For me? it all started with the love of all the above, but too with a sheer adoration of two particular John Moses Browning designs: the Model of 1911 and the Model 1892. Two more-wonderful firearms can hardly exist. Which then! led me to my appreciation of the SAA, in the particular form of the beefy Ruger 3-screw and now the original Colts (but ownership of one is far away at this time)... and so on and so forth.

My fondness for these articles is shared by my fondness for How Things Used To Be Built. I know nearly everyone that frequents this subforum can agree...

 

[Iggy]

Deemed irrelevant, immaterial, and inadmissible.

 

[Armybrat]

This thread is in dire need of a good Colt SAA picture. Now I'm old and only have a crappy cellphone camera, so my Colt will have to suffice until a skilled photographer/owner comes along & posts his/hers. This .357 was made in 1979 and has yet to be fired outside the factory. Will be busting its cherry one of these days.

 

[mavracer]

Another of my big influences of SAA love is the writings of Skeeter, Elmer and Taffin.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

This thread is in dire need of a good Colt SAA picture. Now I'm old and only have a crappy cellphone camera, so my Colt will have to suffice until a skilled photographer/owner comes along & posts his/hers. This .357 was made in 1979 and has yet to be fired outside the factory. Will be busting its cherry one of these days.

Howdy Again

Will this do?

Two 2nd Gens, the top one shipped in 1973, bottom one shipped in 1968. Both chambered for 45 Colt. They have been fired plenty, only with Black Powder since I have owned them.





This Bisley Colt is a little bit older. Chambered for 38-40, it shipped in 1909.

 

[Leanwolf]

DAVE T " ... was an early critic of a lot of those shows as I never believed any real "cowboy" or "lawman" wore engraved, silver plated pistols carried in highly carved, silver studded belt & holster rigs."

Dave T, the " silver plated pistols carried in highly carved, silver studded belt & holster rigs" seen in thousands of western movies and teevee shows were actually originated and designed by the master showman and movie actor, Tom Mix, in the late 1920s. His flamboyant style of extremely elaborate and gaudy "cowboy dress" was his creation for his movies. Mix became extremely popular, a major star ... and wealthy.

Soon after, every movie "cowboy hero" dressed the same and wore the same style sixguns and holsters.

FWIW.

L.W.

 

[Old Fuff]

Actually those "show rigs" go back at least as far as Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. They were also popular in Mexico.

That said, surviving holster and belts, as well a period photographs do not show genuine cowboys or gunfighters using such outfits.

 

[jehu]

Colts!

 

[Kaeto]

Just watched an hour and a half of TV Westerns where the hero didn't use a engraved gun. On one show the only flashy thing was on his holster (a Platinum Chess Knight). On another while the gun wasn't nickled or engraved it was flashy being a cut down rifle.

 

[Armybrat]

Driftwood - I'll bet those big clouds of smoke smell sweeter than vanilla cake bakin' in the oven.

 

[aarondhgraham]

My experience says you could well be correct,,,

My experience says you could well be correct.

When I take newbies to the range,,,
I always take a good variety of guns,,,
Semi-auto pistols, SA/DA revolvers, and SAA clones.

The SAA's are the ones they choose least often,,,
I believe it may be because they don't see them as much.

But lay a hammerless semi-auto on the table,,,
They're on it like flies on sugar cubes.

I will say that if I can talk them into trying a cowboy gun,,,
They will often like it and want to shoot it some more,,,
But it has never (not even once) been the first choice.

Aarond

.

 

[gwpercle]

Don't think for an instant that single action revolvers are going to drop off the face of the earth. Colt tried to stop making them after WWII, Great Western came along, then Ruger and they had to watch William Ruger sell all the single action revolvers he could produce....they came to the conclusion the 1911 did not make the SAA obsolete and they were missing the boat.
Double action revolvers and lever action rifles aren't going to disappear either !
Only experienced shooters have had the chance to find out how valuable a SA revolver can be. Newbees most often only see tactical guns , concealed carry and plastic wonder nines....they just haven't learned...yet !

Gary

 

[AZAndy]

The main reason I have a lever-action rifle is Chuck Connors.

 

[Leanwolf]

OLD FUFF - "Actually those "show rigs" go back at least as far as Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. They were also popular in Mexico. ..."

Old Fuff, you're correct. I should have been clearer. Tom Mix designed his "rig" for his movies and he was the first to use them in the flicks, along with many elaborate "cowboy" costumes.

Speaking of some fancy rigs out of Mexico in the 19th Century, I've seen color pictures of a Mexican carved leather, silver mounted holster and cartridge belt that was taken from Geronimo. According to the story, he had removed it from a Mexican caballero he'd killed down in Mexico and wore it during some of his escapades.

L.W.

 

[Red Cent]

....

 

[MedWheeler]

My interest in firearms began with an interest in law enforcement, so the guns I gravitated toward were more suited for that purpose. In my time, though, they were largely DA/SA revolvers.

Though I grew up with westerns frequently on the TV (Bonanza, Gunsmoke reruns, and Big Valley), I wasn't exactly hooked on them. It wasn't until the last 5-8 years or so that I saw some I really liked, which are namely the Robert Duvall epics such as Broken Trail, Lonesome Dove, and Open Range. Those spurred (get it?) some more interest, as did a fascination with 19th-century American history.

To feed that interest, though, I have only chosen rimfires so far, a Heritage RR, a Single-Six, and a Henry lever.