Saddle by Hyman Lebman - San Antonio,TX
(Lebman's store has a long storied history in guns, saddles, gangsters, and law men. I can write more for those interested. Also, we have some historians among us who probably know more than I. I recall wandering the isles of their saddle shop in downtown San Antonio as a child. Their last store closed in the early 90's)

Winchester 1897 12 gauge slide action shot gun (family)

Winchester 1887 Lever action 10 gauge shotgun (this shotgun stood guard at an Atascosa county cattle ranch up to about 10 years ago when my father acquired it. It was later given to me by my lovely wife for Christmas)

Spurs - A very experienced set of spurs that my grandfather wore on the rodeo circuit in the pre-war years.

Hat - Was my grandfather's when I was a youth. It has hung at my home since his passing and gets worn from time to time when I am out at the ranch.



What guards your homeland?

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On the Oak Savannah

Exceptional display!

This the grandfather that belonged to the hat & spurs?


This the great-grandfather that belonged to the '97?

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Yes on both counts. Thanks for posting those.

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On the Oak Savannah

I love it when family and historical artifacts are treasured and preserved. Attaboy!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

For some unknown reason, he failed to include his grandfathers double barrel "Ranger" shotgun.... and his great-grandfather's "court" gun.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Thanks John. I am doing my best to carry on. Here is a more modern take:

Saddle is a Circle Y, made in Yoakum,TX to my exacting specifications. It is one of the most comfortable western saddles that I own.

Hat is a fine palm that I acquired from Catalena Hatters while I was in college, the hat band is hand braided horsehair.

Shotgun is a Winchester Stainless Police. It was acquired by my grandfather (shown in pictures by quinn). He purchased it to carry while out in the Gulf of Mexico "To repel boarders". It now rides with me in the 4x4 truck as 'good hog medicine'.

The rifle is a Marlin 1894FG in 41 Magnum. I bought it to pair with one of my 41 Magnum Model 58's or 657 when out walking the ranch.

The bosal rig is horsehair and sterling silver with braided rawhide accents.

The spurs are general using grade with basket stamped straps. One day I will have some made with blued steel and silver (maybe).

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On the Oak Savannah

You mean he didn't have a Winny 1894 SRC.......There was plenty around in those days.........and they worked well, too........

Hanging out with old Cowboys in my youth I think is what got me into revolvers. I recall being a young boy out in the badlands park, and two Cowboys grabbed each one of my hands and asked mom, "you mind if we walk with your boy" she said "sure". Times were different back then and I remember looking up to those men in their Stetson hats and the sound the Spurs would make walking on the boardwalks.

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Rather be outdoors

He did, but SAFireman's uncle inherited it. The '94 SRC was a pre-war model that traveled the world with his grandfather. Uncle also has the 1914 mfg. 1911.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

The M-1894 was a useful and effective rifle in those days, as it is now. I have one, but prefer Marlins as of the last 20 years. I have a Marlin Texan in .30-30 that is a great saddle gun, very accurate with its iron sights, and wouldn't be afraid to carry anywhere in So. Texas. On a horse, or in a pickup, one could do much worse than a lever in .30-30..........It simply works.......

Can't wait for the six guns and holsters thread...
Great photos of great family history- thanks for posting them.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

If you have more stories about Lebman please share them with the forum. Lebman has been mentioned in several books about 1930s gangsters. Specifically, he provided Lester Gillis(aka Baby-Face Nelson) with full-auto Colt 1911s. Nelson drove to Texas and directly purchased the guns from Lebman. Apparently at the time the authorities didn't prosecute Lebman...maybe nothing he did was illegal at the time.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I will have to work from memory at this point as my research material is stored somewhere in the attic, I think. Please forgive me for not remembering first names of that clan.

I wrote several magazine articles about Lebman back in the mid 1980' while his kids were still around to be interviewed and the original store/shop had not been torn down to make way for the new justice center.

The Lebman family opened a ranch supply and leather shop across the street from the Bexar County courthouse. I don't know if that was the original location or not but do know that that location existed in the early 1880's. At this time they were one of two ranch supply stores in San Antonio.

My family on my mother's side had a large ranch in San Diego, TX, from the mid 1800's on. The Brandt's did a lot of business with the Lebmans as it was the closest supply post. It was a 2 day wagon trip from San Antonio to San Diego... and there were still Mescalero Apache's roaming the area.

As the Lebman family tells it, there was a grandson who got interested in gunsmithing around 1900 or so. He started to make a little extra money for his dad's saddle making side of the business by taking in guns for repair. When Colt introduced the 1911, the younger Lebman became fascinated with the design. At some point Lebman's became a Colt dealer.

Lebman almost immediately began tinkering and improving the 1911. By 1919 he was a master of accuracy jobs. My grandfather, Richard, a third generation Texan, moved to San Antonio about 1908, after college, and renewed his friendship with the Lebmans. Lebman built Richard an accurized 1911 about 1920 which Richard claimed several national rapid fire championships over the next decade.

In 1921, Colt introduced the Thompson machine gun. This immediately caught Lebman's fancy. Through word of mouth he began selling them through the mail. According to the family but not verified by Colt, by 1933, he was the largest private distributor of Thompson's in the country. Many of these were mailed back east which was perfectly legal at the time.

At some point, seeing a mound of Thompsons on the floor of a shootout, the FBI contacted Colt to find out where all these machine guns were coming from. Colt pointed to the little saddle shop in San Antonio.

According to eye witness, the FBI launched a SWAT type raid on the building across from the courthouse. Apparently, they were expecting a firefight and defence from the back east mob. They approached the Lebman store without a shot being fired and were confronted by bags of grain, buckets, saddles, etc. In the basement they found the tiny gun repair and dealer shop.

Lebman of course was shocked as they had little first hand knowledge of their Thompson customers. And, of course, no laws had been broken. But Hoover did go to Congress and the result was the Gun Control Act of 1934, which registered and taxed machine guns and silencers.

At some point, probably in the mid 1920's, Lebman got interested in making a machine pistol out of the 1911. He had several working models. At lease 2 of the models were submitted to the department of the Army for testing. These 2 along with a 3rd model submitted by a different inventor were ultimately rejected by the Army. From the family I got the impression that they were not very controllable.

I learned to field strip the 1911 from my grandfather on the gun Lebman made. I met the by then, old man once on a trip to the store with my grandfather. I had the chance to revisit the original Lebman store a few times in 1984. By then the younger generation was running the operation, and no gunsmithing was done. But, they still made outstanding saddles. I had a custom made trail ride saddle made for my mother who was still riding competitively in her 70's. In revisiting the shop I was struck by how small it really was and how dingy the old basement gun shop had become.

Lebman was a great gunsmith in his day. It was a privilege to have met him.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Truly a very neat and interesting thread. Thanks to one and all for posting. All my best, Joe.