Smith & Wesson Rescue

I had no intentions on buying any collectable guns in 2015. In fact, my only planned purchase was another Ruger 10/22 rifle with the rest of my "gun money" this year being saved for optics that are needed on guns I already own. But when this rare old S&W .357 Magnum came up for sale earlier this year there was no way I could pass on it. I guess my SCAR is going to have to wait a while longer for a scope.

This .357 certainly has an interesting history. Originally it shipped in January of 1939 to a sporting goods store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was ordered with an 8 ¾ inch barrel, the longest available. In October of 1946 the revolver was returned to the factory where the barrel was shortened to 3 ½ inches (the shortest available) and a Baughman ramp sight on King ramp base was added. The red front sight insert is not factory and was probably done in the 1950's. From the modifications and the amount of holster wear I would bet this revolver was owned by someone in law enforcement from 1946 and thru the 50's.

In 1960 the .357 changed hands again and it would spend the next 50+ years as someone's "truck gun." That fellow died in recent years and his friend ended up with it. The friend didn't have much interest in the revolver; he would rather have the money, now I own it.

The previous two owners didn't care much for this Smith & Wesson and it had suffered several decades of neglect. That's one of the main reasons I felt the need to purchase it, this historic old .357 deserved better.

When I got the revolver it was wearing an old pair of 1960's era S&W target stocks that looked like they had been used to hammer nails. The action was stiff and sticky with grime. I believe someone actually tried to pack the insides with axle grease. The trigger was awful, the cylinder release wouldn't return on its own. Red fingernail polish was slopped over the entire front sight.

I had to get a professional gunsmith involved but the small additional investment was worth it. The old girl has been made right again. Now if I can only get the weather to cooperate so I can take this S&W to the range!

Too many guns

Yesterday I spent a good portion of my day oiling handguns. Every time I do this chore I'm overcome with the feeling that I own too many guns and maybe should sell some. Fortunately the feeling quickly passes.

My personal feeding frenzy

I have been shooting most of my life; I've 'officially' been a gun owner for over 25 years. I lived through the 1994 gun ban as well as the 2008 pre-obama buying frenzy. You might think that I wouldn't be caught off guard this time; you might think I learned my lesson already. Well, I wasn't, and I did, for the most part.

For this most recent gun buying apocalypse I was sitting pretty. Long before the last election I had all that I needed (except ammo, can't ever have enough ammo), and then I bought my SCAR 17S. I was smart enough to start buying magazines immediately, and then it began. Prices skyrocketed overnight.

When I finally counted them up I had nine mags for my SCAR but that just didn't seem right to me. So the other day I bought one more to give me an even ten. It cost me exactly double what I paid for the others just a few weeks ago. With that extravagant purchase I don't need another thing (again, except more ammo).

I'm glad I could make my own contribution to this historic event, the most ridiculous display of fear purchasing and fear mongering I have ever witnessed in all my years as a gun owner. Now, can we get back to normalcy, there are some guns I want to buy at the old prices. I certainly don't need them but would like to have them, if you panic buyers and profiteers would just get out of my way.

Cleaning day

It took me a few hours yesterday to wipe down all my revolvers. Last month I did my long guns, next month will be the semi-autos. I oil my guns twice a year and it's the only time I regret having such a large collection. Once a year (this time) I also remove the grips and apply a coat of oil underneath. I use Break-Free Collector and have for a couple years now. So far I have been very happy with the results. It's easy to use and works great! Midway has it on sale until the end of the month. I wonder what it must've been like in the olden days when my pre-war Smith & Wessons were new. Modern technology has made being a gun nut so much easier. I can just imagine trying to clean by lamplight, using Sperm whale oil ...

Memo to Hollywood

Dear Hollywood directors, producers, sound editors, whoever.

For years I have put up with your firearm inaccuracies. Guns that never have to be reloaded. Shotguns that can send a 200 pound man flying 20 feet across the room. Automobile gas tanks that can explode on contact with one magic bullet.

I've put up with these mistakes (and many others) because I know you know nothing about guns. I put up with your blunders because it's only entertainment and I shouldn't let it bother me. In certain cases, like mindless action movies, it probably even makes for a better (or at least shorter) film.

But there is a new one you're using that does bother me. In fact it's killing me. I feel I'm going to go mad every time it happens. I don't know if it has just now become popular with you guys or I just now noticed. I've seen it used in numerous TV shows and movies recently and it is driving me nuts. I'm talking about this asinine practice of inserting the sound of a gun being cocked with a striker fired pistol.

Listen, I know you probably won't get this. I don't know if you care to get this or are even smart enough to get this. I'm going to try anyway. Striker fired pistols can't make that sound. That sound you're editing in is made by a gun with a hammer. It is an entirely different kind of mechanism from a striker fired gun, which cannot make that sound. The absolute worst example, the one that nearly causes me fits, is when someone takes their striker fired gun (usually a Glock), puts it to the head of our hero, then you hear that distinctive clicking sound of a single action revolver. I'm not even going to go into why the guy has to constantly cock his gun every minute or two. But when said guy is using a modern auto pistol and it's making the sound of a revolver that dates back to a hundred a fifty years ago, well it's just too much for many of us.

So here's a simple rule that will make your production a little more real. It might even save gun nuts like myself from having a stroke. Check your bad guy's gun for a hammer, if it doesn't have one it can't make that sound!

Thanks for listening.

Gun Addiction

I can identify with this one.

Happy Packages

Just received a box on my doorstep delivered from LaRue Tactical, only ordered it Monday afternoon. It has a very special something that I've saved up to get for a while now. No doubt the package also has extra free goodies that they are known for. Can't talk now, more later.

Blue Steel & Gunleather

Besides being a classic gun book, Blue Steel & Gunleather is also an apt description of my taste in firearms. I've been around guns since before I could walk, been shooting since I was in grade school. In those formative years of my youth there were few choices regarding your gun's finish. Yes, there were oddities like chrome or stainless steel that you might occasionally see at the sporting goods or hardware store. But in those days realistically you had three options. There were military type guns that had a parkerized finish. There was nickel if you liked bright guns, and it usually cost more too. And then there was blued steel. That's what I was brought up with. That's what I liked.

Of all the finishes you can put on a gun it is the least durable, while blue barely protects it is beautiful to behold. That's why I liked it. Probably allowed to touch my Dad's old guns too much, they were almost all blue. Maybe I watched too many old movies as a kid, those cinematic tough guys that I loved watching, they all carried blued steel.

I had a few guns before but didn't really start amassing my collection until 1991. And when I did start buying what did I buy? Those guns I admired from my youth. There were exceptions of course, I did purchase some modern guns, but mostly what I spent my hard earned money on was old and blue. Old Smith & Wesson revolvers, Colt automatics and Winchesters, that's what I loved. Not only were they tools that you could use but they were art too. They are art. If you can look at the fine polished finish of an old S&W hand ejector, Colt Government Model or Winchester Model 12 and not see the beauty in them, well, I'm at a loss for words.

So that's what I bought and enjoyed for the most part, blued steel. But occasionally I did buy a gun strictly as a "tool" and nothing else. I remember my first Glock, a first generation G21. I bought it just before the "assault weapon" ban of 1994. I figured I should purchase a "high capacity" handgun if for no other reason than "they" said I didn't need one. The Glock was accurate. It was also plastic and looked cheap. It would do everything my Colt Government models would do and held more rounds too. But it was ugly. It was unbreakable, it never failed once the entire time I owned it. It had no soul. My old Colts had a soul and you could feel it when you held them. The men, the artisans, who worked their magic into them made more than just a tool, they were something special and they put a little bit of themselves into each one.

Over the years my collection grew and most of my purchases continued to be old and blue. They did everything I needed and were nice to look at as well. But blue takes special care. Blue is much less forgiving than any other finish.

Also, like many collectors, I sought out the best most pristine examples I could find. I didn't shoot many of them though because they were too "nice." After several years I had a safe full of guns, at least a third of them never got shot. Would have been a lot cheaper to collect paperweights, as that was all they were good for.

Starting in '09 I made a conscious effort to rebuild my gun collection. To reduce the number of calibers I had and to move away from collectables and more towards guns that were more practical and fit a particular need. Finally, last November I sold my last "Safe Queen" and I had by that time also thinned out the calibers I owned. I had 20 different calibers at various times but now I have only 10 to worry about. I could probably get the number down to eight if I wanted but there are a couple of antiques in my collection with sentimental value. I am keeping them so the ammo is staying too.

I still have many fine old guns in my collection. Always will. I still have that love for old blue steel but now I can also appreciate the newer stuff. Although they're not much to look at there much more practical, more useable. When I want something special out comes the blue. But with the mundane day to day work something more modern and sensible usually gets used. They're not as pretty but they do get the job done.

Question for the Gunnies

Do you have a gun related log? If so, how detailed is it? I do, I keep a "Gun Journal" and I'm willing to bet a lot of my fellow gun owners do to. Mine is just a simple Word document. In it I record the guns I buy (by model and serial number) including purchase price and any other pertinent details I might have at the time. Like if it's an antique I might record the year it was made or basic condition, if it's all original etc. I also record when they are sold with price and purchaser listed. Additionally, any time the gun leaves my possession (like for custom or repair work) I note precisely when it left and when it returned, as well as the cost of the work done. Lastly, when I go shooting every gun taken is recorded with the exact number of rounds fired and if any malfunctions were experienced. Including the cause of the problem if I know it. Am I the only obsessed "gun nut" doing this? I doubt it, in fact there's probably some reading this that make my efforts look crude.

Happiness is...

Checking the mail Thursday morning and finding that package you ordered from Midway on Tuesday afternoon has already arrived.

A gun nut Christmas...

I had a great Christmas this year and got the usual assortment of gifts including clothes and socks, some money, and being a "gun nut" I also received my fair share of gun stuff. The "stuff" I got this year included 3 Check-Mate Industries 25 round M14 magazines, 3 black (no window) 30 round PMAGS (can't ever have enough PMAGS), a small gunsmith screwdriver set and no doubt my best present this year, and maybe ever, a stainless Colt Combat Commander. My Dad was in a gun giving mood this Christmas season and gave me the Colt and my brother a near new Smith & Wesson Model 40 from his massive collection.

The Commander he bought from me a few years back and it's not just a standard, stock Colt. This gun is moderately customized and according to the previous owner the work was done by none other than Ted Yost when he was at Gunsite in the early 1990s. The pistol is not marked by him nor do I have a build sheet to prove that Yost did it but whoever did the work it was certainly done right. The pistol was constructed using "Gunsite Service Pistol" specifications of the time and has the plain Hi Vis sights, a Videki trigger with a 3.75 pull, and other niceties that you might expect to see on a custom 1911 like a contoured and polished feed ramp, precision barrel crown, fitted solid bushing, a tuned Wilson heavy duty extractor, extended thumb safety, fitted Ed Brown grip safety, beveled mag well and a complete external dehorning with a bushed satin finish. The Colt also started life with the Series 80 safety but was at that same time converted to the 70 Series configuration. It's really a super nice pistol and I can't honestly remember why I sold to him in the first place, probably to finance some other gun I "had to have," such is the life of a "gun nut."

I'm really happy to have this Colt back and FREE is always better than paying for it. I am however a little troubled over one of the reasons he gave it back to me, he said it was just "too much" for him now. My Dad is getting along in years and this .45 Auto is probably more than he can handle these days. My Dad has had a .45 automatic as long as I can remember, up till now. I guess you just don't want to think of a parent getting old. Now days one of his favorite carry guns is another Colt, a Government .380 that he also bought from me a few years ago. He really likes that gun. One of my gifts to him this year was a Bianchi 19L holster for the tiny Colt and you could tell he really liked it. 2010 was one great gunnie Christmas for everyone in the Wilson clan, especially me!

Movie Guns

Jason over at Jason's BLOG had a post about Rossi's new pistol the Ranch Hand. I wanted this type of gun bad after seeing Zombieland but quickly lost interest when I found that they cost in the $1000+ price range. This new one made by Rossi has a suggested retail under $500 and can probably be had for $100 less than that. At that price I might have to look into a .38/357 version next year although I freely admit I have no practical use for it at all!

His post also got me thinking about guns that I purchased after seeing one in the movies. There have been plenty of movie guns over the years that I would have liked to have but there were only two that I had to have. I purchased my first Smith & Wesson N frame (a Model 25) because it had a remarkable resemblance to Dirty Harry's big .44 (Model 29). The only other gun I ever bought because of a movie was the Beretta 92 pistol. I purchased one in the early 1990s after seeing Bruce Willis with them in the Diehard movies. I went through a Beretta "phase" in the early and mid 90s and those films (and to a lesser degree Mel in the Lethal Weapon films) really fueled the desire. I had at least one of every model from the 92S through the 92FS. Eventually I lost interest in the caliber and the pistol but I can say they were all great guns!

Did you ever buy a gun because (or partly because) of a movie? If so you might be a gun nut...

You might be a "gun nut" when...

you get the latest Dillon catalog in the mail and the first thing you notice is the strange new gun on the cover, not the beautiful girl that is holding it...

You might be a "gun nut" when...

you go through your collection and discover guns that you had completely forgot that you owned. Or worse yet, don't even remember purchasing in the first place...

You might be a "gun nut" when...

you still have ammo, accessories etc. for guns that you haven't owned for years! This morning I was going thru some of my "gun stuff" and found magazines for guns that I have not owned in quite a while. M-14 mags, Beretta 92 mags, one mag for a Kahr MK40 that I think I sold in 2003 or '04. Not to mention numerous holsters and other "stuff". I even have ammunition for guns I sold some time back and currently have no use for, .32ACP, .40S&W, .357SIG and more than half a can of .308 for a M1A that I sold a half dozen years ago, although I hope to be needing that .308 again in the near future...