Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2023 i Guns of the Old West

In 1866, Remington began producing a two-shot, over-and-under, .41 Short Rimfire caliber derringer for a New York dentist named William H. Elliot, based on the latter’s original 1865 patented design. Sometimes called the Remington-Elliot derringer, it was more famously marketed as the Remington Double Derringer and least famously as the Model 95. The practical, if uninspiring, Model number nomenclature was applied to it by the company in 1922, so nobody living in the Old West would have ever called it that. Regardless of what you call it, it is the gun we all instantly associate with the word derringer in the Old West context because it is ubiquitous in Western genre film and television. History Lesson In the first year of production, Remington secured the patent rights from Elliot and…

AS with other modern prestige TV series, 1883 is a big-budget affair with a high-profile cast that includes the aforementioned country singer Tim McGraw and his real-life wife Faith Hill as Dutton’s long-suffering yet loyal wife Margaret; as well as Sam Elliott and LaMonica Garrett as Pinkerton agents charged with leading the expedition. Notable guest stars further added to the storytelling and included Tom Hanks as Union Army General George Meade in a flashback following the Battle of Antietam. Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson played a kindly storekeeper in the frontier town of Doan’s Crossing on the Texas-Oklahoma state line. Indigenous (Oneida) Canadian actor Graham Greene appeared in the season finale as a Crow elder who directed James Dutton to Paradise Valley, the eventual location of the Dutton Yellowstone Ranch. Billy…

RAVAGES OF TIME The ravages of time are immutable, and finding a vintage firearm in excellent original condition—especially one with provenance—is the Holy Grail of gun collecting. Most Old West guns, however, are not pristine after aging for more than a century, and these represent the lion’s share of actual original collector guns that are subjected to the various grading and condition standards dictating their value. One exception, of course, is well-worn historic arms with particular provenance—say, a Custer-era Single Action Army—in which case the story is often as important as the gun itself. Finding Old West guns in excellent condition is challenging and is also the most expensive form of gun collecting! Most guns, edged weapons and anything else crafted from metal is going to age. Therefore, recreating historic…

OLD WEST FORTS istoric forts dot the American landscape, built in a bygone era when life on the frontier was hard and the West really was wild. As we continue our look at significant forts on the American frontier, it’s important to note how critical these bastions were for the “taming” of the American West. Not only did such forts house soldiers making regular patrols into “hostile” territory, but they also provided a place for local settlers to come for both protection and trade.In this issue, we’ll take a look at an Oklahoma fort of special interest to me because I’ve hunted near there dozens of times over the years. Fort Supply, Oklahoma Fort Supply, originally called Camp Supply, was a U.S. Army post established in 1868 in present-day Oklahoma…

Over the years, much has been written about Billy Dixon, most of it centered on his unbelievable shot during the Battle of Adobe Walls on June 26, 1874. For readers unfamiliar with this remarkable piece of history, Billy Dixon and 28 others were attacked by a massive group of Indians at daybreak. Dixon and his group were vastly outnumbered. Wellarmed and fortified, they engaged the attackers, resulting in significant Indian casualties over the first two days of battle. On day three, a group of Indians regrouped on a plateau some distance from the Adobe Walls settlement. Dixon shot one of them out of his saddle with a single shot from a Sharps rifle in .50 caliber. These are the “facts” of the story on which most historians and campfire re-tellers…

I recently returned from a trip to Deadwood, South Dakota, where I participated in the 20th Anniversary Cowboy Fast Draw (CFD) U.S. National Championship. This was part of Deadwood’s annual Wild Bill Days celebration. Cowboy Fast Draw was founded in Deadwood 20 years ago by Brad Hemmah, who is Cowboy Fast Draw Association life member number one. At the time Brad, currently retired, was manager of Deadwood’s First Gold Hotel and Casino and the first CFD shoots were held across the street from the First Gold, as was the 20th Anniversary National Championship. So how did we make Cowboy Fast Draw history? Simply by competing in what turned out to be the largest shoot in the entire history of CFD. The 20th Anniversary CFD U.S. National Championship had a total…

BINGE WORTHY Since debuting on the Paramount Network in 2018, Yellowstone has become one of the most popular TV series. The “neo-Western,” chronicles the trials and tribulations of the fictional Dutton family—who in the show are owners of the largest ranch in modern-day Montana—and their conflicts with an Indian reservation, land developers and even 21st century “progress.” Though it was initially met with mixed responses from critics, Yellowstone has steadily gained an audience, and recent seasons have been favorably compared to such beloved TV series as The Sopranos, The Wire and even Game of Thrones. Part of Yellowstone’s success has been its ability to cross genres. It’s an action-packed modern Western meets evening soap opera, built around a highly dysfunctional and at times estranged family group. Set in the modern…

During the global Coronavirus pandemic, many of the country’s most popular antique arms and gun shows were canceled or scaled back considerably. As the shows in Las Vegas, Baltimore, Maryland, and New England didn’t go on, collectors of Western and other antique firearms increasingly shopped remotely. Auctions across the country saw a surge in business, yet one firm, in particular, was seeing an increase even before the pandemic began. Established in 1993 by Pat Hogan in the “Quad Cities” region of western Illinois on the Mississippi River, the Rock Island Auction Company (RIAC) has built up an international reputation. Prior to the pandemic, it was already holding more than 18 auctions each year and has repeatedly led the industry with record sales. The company reached a milestone year in 2021…

GUN TEST OW THAT STURM, RUGER & CO. OWNS MARLIN FIREARMS—literally lock, stock and barrel—long-time fans eagerly await what’s to come. Ardent Marlin Firearms aficionados have been waiting for many years for the return to “JM stamp”-quality firearms (for company founder John Marlin) after enduring the Remington-led, suspect-quality “Remlins” that have shipped since 2008. First up to bat is the Model 1895. While on a hunt in Texas’ Big Bend country last fall, I got a little trigger time with Ruger-Marlin’s first model, which launched a couple months later, a Model 1895 chambered in .45-70. Between my first experience with the new Marlin and its release to market, Ruger sent out a press release with employees from their Mayodan, North Carolina, factory holding the first Model 1895 that came off…

HISTORIC EVENTS W..... hen one thinks of the Old West, there are many iconic images that may come to mind. These could include a rowdy saloon complete with gamblers, swindlers and scantily clad women, or perhaps a stagecoach with mighty horses rumbling over dusty roads, or even a gold miner with pan in hand and the hopes of striking it rich. But as universally acknowledged as these images are, none can top the best-known scenario, and that’s the quick-draw showdown between two rival gunfighters. With that in mind, we will now travel thousands of miles west, to Japan, where samurai also engaged in similar showdowns, with katana swords replacing the six-shooters of the Old West combatants. Here, samurai would stare each other down, waiting for that millisecond to draw and…