Bob Wright

As a matter of interest, spent primers are brass, too! I save them in a coffee "can" as well as fired .22 cases. You'd be surprised how soon you can accumulate five pounds of spent primers! My last trip to the scrap metal dealer I had ten pounds of primers, twenty pounds of other brass unfit to reload. Even bringing home $20 or $30 dollars from the metal dealer helps in the gun budget! Even had a couple of plumbing parts. I do keep spent primers separate from cartridge cases, just in case there is any question. I'm not getting so much brass now as I'm salvaging split .45 Colt brass to make my .45 Xtra Short. Bob Wright

Many years ago I had the care of two 106mm Recoiless Rifles entrusted to my care. These guns had a record book and each round fired was recorded in those books. So, I decided to do the same, keep a log book for my guns. My first entry was made in 1958, and it now consists of over a one hundred thousand rounds fired, and maybe fifty handguns. So when I give a round count for any gun, I know its accurate and know what I'm talking about. This milestone for my Ruger Blackhawk is for my most-fired revolver: I record the date, rounds fired, type of ammunition, bullet used, and total rounds to date. Often photograph targets with loading data displayed: Bob Wright

Yes and no. The inmates served as range attendants. But the landfill was further west. And before any angst arises, the inmates were either awaiting trial or were convicted of misdemeanors, mostly DUI, failed to pay traffic fines, behind on child support. No felons were allowed on the range or other work details. If you're thinking of the landfill I think you are, that was near the airport, where FedEx parking is now. Bob Wright

Are you implying that either one or both are not licensed FFL's? I have bought handguns online and the seller mails the gun to my dealer, this common knowledge. What are you saying is different? Bob Wright

Many years ago I spent many Saturday morning at the old Shelby County Rifle and Pistol range near Memphis. One of the regulars was an older gentleman who came out pretty regularly. He was straight and lean, but walked sort of halt. He always wore khakis, shirt and pants, and wore a cap that bore some kind of Navy emblem. He shot an older Colt M1911, which he told me his father had carried in World War I and he had carried in World War II. He also had a similar vintage S&W Combat Masterpiece. He drove a fairly new Ford pick-up truck, plain Jane otherwise. Now the range was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and one day he asked the range officer, Mr. Bobby Keen, if he and his wife would drive him up to Hohenwald, Tennessee so he could do some banking business, as he had gotten to the age he no longer felt safe driving on the highway. He would furnish them lunch. They agreed, and on the morning appointed, he picked them up and Bobby got behind the wheel. After having driven a while, he pointed out a roadside park, and they pulled over. This gent pulled out three brown bags, each with two cheese and baloney sandwiches, a piece of fruit, some chips and napkins. Also there was a jug of sweet iced tea. Well they all ate their lunch and drove on into town. Bobby and his wife waited while he conducted his business and then he returned ready to drive back to Memphis. Out of curiosity, pone of them asked why he did business with a bank so far from Memphis. "Why," he replied, "this is the bank I own." At his death the obituary noted he was a chief financial officer of Union Planters Bank of Memphis. Bob Wright

I have a few guns that have special meaning to me, and as such doubt that I'll ever part with them. This S&W Model 36 Chiefs Special being one exception: Now there's a story (Oh, No! you may groan!) behind this gun. I was at the range one morning and mentioned to a good friend of mine that I was looking for a Chiefs Special. Now this friend was one of those who I knew only from the range, but a friend nonetheless. He told me he had just traded one at a local gun shop. I believe I left him standing there, so quickly did I depart. I hied to that store and there was the gun sitting in the display case, and I filled out the paperwork and went over to an ATM to get the money. And that afternoon I had my Model 36. Some time after that my friend died. He was the father-in-law of my gunsmith, and in time I learned his wife, the daughter of my friend, was trying to assemble her father's gun collection. Well, Christmas was approaching so I told my 'smith about having the gun. Well, he bought it from me to give to give wife for Christmas. He told me she teared up upon opening the package and finding that gun! Bob Wright

No, Sir. I have the .357 Blackhawk, the 5" Super Blackhawk, and the 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk. Rest assured I am still well armed! This is the .357 Magnum today: This is the 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk today: And this the 5" Super Blackhawk as of todya: Each one of these guns has in excess of 17,000 rounds fired through it. Bob Wright Bob Wright

This photo was made around 1971 or so. It was shot on Kodak Plus X 35 mm film, and the print scanned into my computer. This was my entire handgun battery about that time. Top to bottom: Ruger Super Single Six .22 L.R (a convertible), Blackhawk .357 Magnum, Blackhawk .41 Magnum, and Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum: The .22 was a favorite squirrel gun at the time, using .22 WRF in the .22 WMR cylinder. A 5" .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk and 4 5/8" .41 Magnum. I got the .44 about 1979 so this photo dates about then. The .41 now fitted with a Super Blackhawk grips frame: Bob Wright

I saw a photo of the Old Hickory Powder Plant in a Cracker Barrel restaurant here in Memphis. My uncle worked there just before he joined the US Army. At the time he worked there it was operated by DuPont and they were producing Cordite for the British. Cordite was a soft pliable stuff that was extruded. Before it solidified it could be molded like clay. My uncle made a shapely ladies' leg complete with a dainty high heeled shoe from Cordite and gave it to my mother, very racey at the time! When I first saw the leg, about 1943 or so, it was maybe six inches from thigh (blush!) to heel. The last time I saw it, 1985 or so, it had shrunk to about 3 1/2" long, but still perfectly portioned. It varied in color from charcoal gray to translucent amber. At my mother's death in 1998 it went to my oldest sister in Florida. I have no idea of its whereabouts now. I believe Old Hickory's output was for British artillery shells. I don't know if any was produced for small arms ammunition, but the British used Cordite for awhile after that War. My uncle was Maynard Wright and was on the editorial staff of the Nashville Banner then moved to Charleston, WV as an editor for the Charleston Gazette. Bob Wright

Close, but no cigar................ Bob Wright

Both the Martin and Benet primers were inserted through the neck of the empty case prior to charging and seating the bullet. This allowed a seamless cartridge, which the Army deemed more waterproof. However, at times the primer cup or anvil would be blown out into the bore, causing a bore obstruction. The Army finally went to a Boxer primer, but required a lacquer seal. The fit of the external primer cup in the primer pocket had proven to be sufficiently waterproof. Bob Wright

Read it a few times, it'll come to you. Bob Wright

I'm gettin' there. Not the smooth lady....................... Bob Wright

A few years ago, well, many years ago, I delved into the realm of the Ruger Bisley. I had this one made up from a Ruger Blackhawk, a .45 Colt: A friend of mine also got into the Bisley, but in a much bigger way. He went so far as to orchestrate some custom models, such as this one here: After Skeeter Skelton's death, he bid on one of Skeeter's Bisleys, and got it: The one at the top belonged to Skelton. Here, with authentication from Skeeter's widow: This gun was displayed in the photograph of Shooting Times with the article introducing the Bisley. My friend was Tommy Russell, and some time later Tommy's wife died and I have lost contact with him. Bob Wright

While I'm convalescing my wife won't let me do anything meaningful. So, if y'all will indulge my posts here abouts, a few cartridges: These are some variations of old .45 caliber rounds, all commercial: The notes below are the headstamps of the rounds. The nickeled case round is from one of the first boxes of ammunition I bought many years ago for my Colt New Service. Some .44s: The .44 Remington is unmarked, but the case is Remington, but I believe the round is a reproduction. And, sort of the progression from .44 R.F. to .44 Magnum: I believe the .44 S&W is in reality just a centerfire Henry. The first Smith & Wesson No.3 submitted to the Army was rimfire, and the Army returned it wanting a centerfire. According to what I have read, it the gun was simply changed to centerfire without changing the chamber dimensions. Early cartridges loaded for the US Army: Thanks for looking. Bob Wright

This from several years ago at the old Shelby County Rifle and Pistol range: We, the old hands there, often got there well before the 10:00 am opening time and exchanged stories, news, and man talk in general. One day a very pretty, young blond lady joined us. She was, well, noticeable, petite, blond, well shaped, make-up just so. And above all. personable. She had a little .45 ACP, a Springfield of some sort as I recall. Since we were not permitted to wear sidearms while on the range, she removed the pistol from a holster. She wore black fitted pants and black sweater with a Wrangler denim jacket. The jacket covered a small hip holster, and she very smoothly drew and cleared the pistol. As she did so, she remarked that was her shopping pistol. "Where do you shop?" asked one of the men. She smiled sweetly. "Anywhere I want to," was her reply. Bob Wright

in the spring of 1946 my older brother returned from WW II, when I was about nine years old. Among his souvenirs was this Mauser M-1910 .25 ACP pistol. The caliber designation read "6,35 mm" and none of us knew what that meant. My Dad took the gun to old J.G. Schmidt's in Memphis and learned it was .25 ACP. He bought a box of cartridges for it and we went down to an uncle's farm in Mississippi: We got some cans from the trash pile and set them on a fence post. After we each tried our hand and the box was expended, the can still stood unscathed. I kept one live round, the first of my cartridge collection, and determined then and there I would learn how to shoot a handgun, and to learn everything I could about them. Still learnin'. Bob Wright P.S. After my brother's death the pistol was passed on to his son. Shortly before his death, my nephew gave the gun to me.

It might come as a surprise to some that I went through a double action revolver phase. In an attempt to learn all I could about the handgun, I tried the DA revolver for awhile. One of my favorite .357 Magnum revolvers is the S&W Model 586, the Distinguished Combat Magnum. The first I bought was a 4" model as soon as the model was announced. I quickly put on a pair of S&W combat stocks: I liked this gun so well I decided on a 6" companion to it: These grips, incidentally, were on a K-22 that was in the shop. I commented that they were handsome enough to buy the gun for those stocks. I went back a few days later and the .22 had been sold, but the purchaser put rubber Pachmayrs on it and left those grips. Asking price was $10 so i went home with these grips. After a couple of weeks, I bought this gun to put them on. I had gone through a few Model 29s and ha Smith & Wesson make me one up with a 5" full lug barrel. This became my favorite .44 Magnum DA revolver: This was my first Model 29 and was one of the early Model 29s. I had many troubles with the gun and finally S&W told me to return it and they would install an "endurance package" to correct my problems. While they had my gun there I asked them to fit a full lug barrel. They told me they had just made an 8 3/8" full lug barrel and they put that on my gun. This gun shot like a .30-30 rifle out to about 100 yards or so, but it was heavy and unwieldy, and I later had Ed Mason gunsmiths cut it back to 6": After the surgery: Been an interesting study for some sixty years or so. Bob Wright

Handsome gun! I'm not about to get into black powder at this stage of my life, but they were, and are, among some of the hamdsomest of revolvers. Bob Wright

Those are the first issue grips from Ruger. Later Ruger went to the inlaid logo. Not sure who makes Ruger's grips now. Bob Wroightt

There is a lot of palaver here, and elsewhere, about color case hardening. So here's my take on the matter: The old case coloring used on the original Ruger Vaquero was a chemical application, from what I've heard, was almost like a decal or coating. And could be easily washed off with harsh solvents. Here is my Vaquero, dating from 1996. It has had about 3,500 rounds fired through it and cleaned with Hoppe's No.9 solvent and oiled after each range session: This is my Cimarron/Uberti Model P. Not fired so heavily (yet) but cleaned in the same way. Uberti uses a hot salt bath to obtain the colorization, it is not the same process as Ruger used: Here is a Ruger Super Blackhawk color cased by Doug Turnbull. He uses a heat process with bone and/or other charcoal additives to obtain the color: This is a Colt New Frontier, which, so far as I know is truly case hardened. Case hardening alone leaves a dull gray finish (think mill files) unless additives are added to produce color. Current Single Actions from Ruger and others are made of steel hardened through and do not require case hardening, so only a color treatment is necessary on these guns. As to durability, all case hardening, regardless of method used, will fade when exposed to sunlight and wear. Which is best? The one that suits your fancy. Bob Wright

I see that this post has been licking around awhile, but I'll still add my two cents. As to copy (I hate the word "clone") or Colt, I've got a number s Single Action revolvers, Ubertis, Colts, and Rugers. Of the Colts, mine are either Colt New Frontiers or the one customized Single Action Army. I've got one Vaquero, the rest are Blackhawks/Super Blackhawks. The one thing that turns me off on genuine Colts is not only the original purchase price, but the additional price of the action job to get it in the same ball park as the Ruger or Ubeti. The feel of the grip for the Colt and Uberti is about the same, but I find the Ruger Blackhawk grip better to my liking. But when all is said and done and the guns are fed the ammunition that best suits them, its really hard to make a choice, except when magnum performance is wanted, then its Ruger hands down. Bob Wright

................some photos of custom revolvers, especially Single Action revolvers. If you've got a customized Colt, Uberti, or Ruger that's been to your 'smith's, post a photo of it here. Here is one of mine: This is a Colt Single Action Army, .357 Magnum. The brass backstrap is from an 1851 Navy, grips home made, S&W rear sight, Ruger front sight. This was done by (the late) Ed Mason & Sons gunsmiths. Yours? Bob Wright

Checked my posted photo, and you're right, no .45 Colt in the photo. those shown are the .45 Xtra Short, .357 Magnum, two .44 Magnums, .44 Special and a .38 Special. Have since rearranged them and rest assured, there is a .45 Colt round there now. Bob Wright

Which guns have the different chambers, and when? My New Service had typical .45 Colt dimension, and dates from around 1900. I have never seen one with odd chamber dimensions. Maybe a Remington? H.P. White laboratories make no mention of odd dimensions in their work. You're not thinking of the .45 M-1909 round, are you? Bob Wright