Did TV westerns have any effect on.....

[Xfuzz]

Us baby-boomers ?
Always been hooked on these even if they
don't make much sense.
My latest and one on the way...

[Chuck24]

TV westerns are the primary reason second generation Colts exist . Colt had no intention of going back into production of SAAs, and they began to be produced by Grear Western, these are in fact what many of the TV shows used. When the popularity of these shows became apparent and consumer demand ramped up, Colt reversed its decision and went back into production on the old machinery which they thankfully still had.

[tayninh69]

Oh yeah, you know they did. I still like old or new Western movies. Oddly enough I was just thinking yesterday that I'd like to have a Colt SA in 44 Spl. Only SA I own is a Ruger BH in 45 Colt.

[BigBill]

Yes my Ruger vaquero in 45 long colt.

[fyimo]

I loved the Westerns as a kid but their revolvers never drew me in. I think the first movie to make me want a revolver was Dirty Harry and I was hooked after that and I owned many S&W revolvers including many Model 29-2's including one with a 6.5 inch barrel.

[Welder1]

I'm certainly not a baby boomer (32) but my Pop is. Grew up watching The Rifleman, Bonanza every John Wayne and Clint Eastwood western multiple times. This created an ever lasting soft spot for lever guns and single actions. Just went through a single action faze that scored me my first Colt SAA and a pair of matched engraved early 3 screw Blackhawks. My collecting interests have took many changes but I always find it difficult to pass an older single action or lever gun. Something that I'll always thank my Pop for.

[slipnotz]

Gunsmoke, Paladin, Rifleman, Rawhide all led me to Cowboy Action Shooting. It's a fun way to relive those days. Lot's of shooting with single actions, lever actions, and side by sides. But still like my Smiths.

[max]

Of course, but it was late in life that I got an Uberti. I also have a Win 94 and a Hartford copy of the 92. I concentrated on the modern stuff for self defense and got the cowboy stuff later on. I did have a Ruger 45 Blackhawk years ago, but didn't keep it long.

[LEO918]

I'm still hooked. I think I'm down to 23 pre-war Colt SAAs right now.

[Mike, SC Hunter]

With my "Fanner Fifty" with leather gun belt/stick on caps & plastic bullets......I could hang with the best of "em"...............Still love & use lever guns & single actions......Only real ones now.

[colt_saa]

I'm not sure

YouTube

It is possible

[Ron M.]

Bat Masterson (Gene Barry) carried a cane and a derringer...don't think either of those caught on as much. Been watching the classic Western channel...amazing how many famous actors got their start in them!

[model70hunter]

The great horse opera's impacted me, my Dad and my bro. Dad's give to the cowboy gun was not SAA Colts was a 59 or 60 Ruger Single six 4 5'8".

Practical you know. I still have it. Learned on it, had 4 or 5 2nd gen Colt SAA's but always had other interests, 1911's, S&W Double actions, rifles and shotguns.

When I was 20 I traded for a new SAA Colt in 38 special. It had sit on an LGS bottom shelf and was buried for years, everyone wanted a 357 Mag. I had shot dad's gun a lot, I went thru HS buying 22 ammo with my lunch money.

Once a carload, 4, guys chased a "lady" up our farm road, the sight of the big Colt opened their eyes. Called the police, it was a long story but came out well for all except a city Marshall who came out, the lady was drunk and when he roused her she by accident pushed him in the hog pond, backwards. If you've never seen someone trying to keep their balance as they run backwards in a pond that gets deeper with each step trust me they will fall. model 19, uniform, Sam Brown Belt and all went under. All were concerned and no one laughed. Except maybe a Hpyo and a few deputies and since the 4 guys were Military some MP's showed up. They may have snickered a tad. I didn't, I had to drive thru his town to get anywhere.

One spring evening after work I came home, it was raining like crazy. I popped over the last hill and saw Dad sitting on top of his pickup roof with his Stevens M-311 double in his lap. He was coat and hat less and drenched. Mom was sitting in the passenger side. Never saw nothing like this before.

As I pulled up by the truck a big hound came around the truck biting every thing. I cracked the window, Dad said don't get out he has rabies, he is foaming at the mouth and biting anything in his path. For some reason Dad stopped 15 to 20 yards from the house. He got out and beat the dog to the door. Dad came back out with his shotgun, Dad doesn't miss birds. He has 2 shots with his 16 gauge. Dad walked towards the truck, the dog came around the back, Dad shot twice and missed, he threw the gun in the bed and followed it to the bed. He did not bring any extra shells. The man who told me he carried all the ammo he could during WW II, and plenty in both pockets when we hunted did not bring any more.

When I was 12 Dad's bird Dog contracted rabies, we knew the symptoms. Dad chose to have us quarantined for a week rather than take the shots. Heck I was the one who fed her, not he, he was gambling on me not biting his cheap hide if I foamed out.

I grabbed my Colt SAA, and came back out, high noon time, Dad said shoot from the door. I wanted the confrontation. I said Dog today one of us dies, literally said that but added some colorful descriptors that Mom ignored.

I'm not sure if he saw me, he may have mistaken Dad's prayers and not realizing I was calling him out. The gate to the barn yard was open, the rain had slacked off to a light drizzle, as the dog circled on the passenger side and I was sure I wouldn't hit Mom I let a round go. I saw a big splash in a rain puddle behind him and thought I shot under him.

He did not circle the truck. He headed into the barnyard and straight up tour lane that split the gardens, orchards and went into the northern part of the farm.

Dad got out pulled up and dried off. Mom, bless her heart never learned to drive a standard. So she sat watching.

Dad loaded up a gun and took the tractor up the lane the next morning. He found the hound dead with a hole right behind his shoulder. He looped a piece of binder twine on the leg and dragged him off. He threw some brush on him, put some old oil and gas on him and lit it up.

I had shot many, many squirrels and rabbits with Dad's Ruger whjile they were running. All that practice worked out well that day.

Lest you think I'm touched, I was 3 or 4 short steps from our front door if needed. But if he came straight at me I had planned a brain shot.

Did all the westerns impact me? Yep, it shore did partner.

An FYI on bullet performance , I had factory RN 158 grain bullets in the Colt. The big dog ran 50 yards. Some years later I shot a big cur dog that was killing our chickens, I stepped out on the porch, the dog had started running full speed towards our front gate, I hit him behind the front shoulder with Rem Factory 240 GR 44 Mag. He ran about 40-50 yards. I always wondered why..... Isn't one a world class stomper?

[Targets Guy]

I continue to look for the guns the TV guys had that never had to be reloaded. Those things were neat.

[CajunBass]

Like most my age, I grew up on TV Westerns. I didn't really have a favorite that I remember.

But yes. They probably influenced me.

Ruger Single-Six, 50th anniversary 22 LR/22 Magnum. My wife's first gun. She wanted it because it was a "cowboy gun."



A brace of Uberti 1871/72 Colt Open Top copies in 44 Special.



Uberti Colt 1873 copy in 22 LR.



And a Heritage Rough Rider in 22 LR.



I knew I forgot one.

Uramax/Colt SAA, C02 BB gun.

[KSDeputy]

Like Mike, I had twin Mattel Fanner 50's with greenie stickum caps. I did not own a real pistol until I entered law enforcement. Dad always told us that pistols and revolvers were for the military and law enforcement, that was his belief. We had plenty of rifles and shotguns and hunted and fished together. He taught all three of his boys gun safety, and marksmanship.

[Rick Bowles]

The Colt Single Action Army is one of the most iconic and recognizable revolvers on the planet!

[ACP230]

I used to watch TV westerns with my grandpa when I was a kid.
This was before many of the ones listed above were made.

I have Ruger single actions, a couple of lever rifles and one .22
caliber Colt New Frontier.
I had a over and under cap firing shotgun as a kid. I think it came from a show called "Shotgun Slade." Have always liked OUs for grouse hunting.
Early TV may have had something to do with that.

Grandpa had a 12 gauge single barrel and a .38 Special that was, most
likely, a Spanish copy of a U.S. made gun. He didn't hunt but spent
a lot of his time fishing for trout. I hunted with the 12 gauge for
several years as a teenager but never got my hands on the .38.
Wish I had.

[jimmyj]

Originally Posted by Ron M.

Bat Masterson (Gene Barry) carried a cane and a derringer...don't think either of those caught on as much. Been watching the classic Western channel...amazing how many famous actors got their start in them!

Gene Barry (Bat Masterson) carried a cane and a nickeled Colt Store Keepers Model SA with pearl grips.

[bigwheelzip]

Mom, Apple Pie, SAA's, Lever Action rifles, and John Wayne.

“I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

[Rick Bowles]

Originally Posted by jimmyj

Gene Barry (Bat Masterson) carried a cane and a nickeled Colt Store Keepers Model SA with pearl grips.

OK... not to put too fine a point on it but Gene Barry carried a nickel 4" (not 4-3/4") single action and not a Storekeeper's or Sheriff's model. The stocks were genuine imitation Stag and not pearl. The real Bat Masterson's order to Colt in 1885 is below.


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ps9y1tx1ri.jpg




July, 1885
Gents,
Please send Me one of your nickel plated short .45 calibre revolvers. It is for my own use and for that reason I would like to have a little Extra pains taken with it. I am willing to pay Extra for Extra work. Make it very Easy on the trigger and have the front Sight a little higher and thicker than the ordinary pistol of this Kind. Put on a gutta percha handle and send it as soon as possible, have the barrel about the same length that the ejector rod is.

Truly Yours
W B Masterson
P.S. Duplicate the above order by sending 2

[Targets Guy]

Loved my Fanner50. Ran the squirrels out of the block.

[smitholdtimer]

As a boy I had a pair of exact copies of the Colt single action revolvers, loved them too. As an adult I bought a couple single action Colts in .22LR or as the convertible with the .22 Magnum. I never had the natural ability to shoot the single action very well as opposed to the double action Smiths so got rid of the single actions although I really like the look.
Back in the day all my heroes were mostly western stars because they all preached doing the right thing and their movies continued that theme.

[arjay]

Ive owned a few ruger single actions and a colt saa,but I've not been as accurate with them as I am with double actions or a 1911.Since the 1911 was just a natural for me,I've shot them a lot and have ended up with more than a few

[Old cop]

I still watch Wyatt Earp and others on cable TV. Guess I never grew up but these shows did have an impact on the little ones. When I was about twelve I was babysitting for two little boys who were our down stairs neighbors. Before I realized what was happening one of them, hiding behind a chair, popped out and cracked his brother on the noggin w/his cap pistol (a move he no doubt learned on these westerns). No real damage but a lot of hollering and crying before I could restore order.

[Targets Guy]

My only cowboy gun.

A Uberti .45LC

[Camster]

Grew up with the Lone Ranger and the rest of them.In fact,still catch the Lone Ranger on early morning shows at my ripe old age of 63.Kills me each time he has to drop a SAA.His clothes never lose the clean press.Amazing.
Roy Rogers Show? Is that lame or what? Roy on horseback,the cook in a Jeep,some folks have cars,and the stage coach is either a real old stage coach or an old bus.
In the early sixties,I had a Mattel .38 snubnose,the one with the plastic spring loaded bullets.In an effort for more accuracy,I took a piece of Lionel train "pipe",and taped it on as a barrel extension.
In one old cowboy movie or show,they used something like a Marlin 336 as their lever action gun.
Hopalong Cassidy would sometimes add a little segment to the end of his program.Loved the one where he told kids to "be careful with your guns.They could hurt someone"Times have certainly changed.

[model70hunter]

My first gun fight.

I was 5, we were living in town before Dad rented a little farm. The lady next to us had a 6 or 7 year old Grandson who spent the summer. I remember he was slightly smaller than me and did not play well with others.

I had a western holster double gun set up. He was bad to sucker punch me and run home. I had enough of this and one day he ended up punching me in the face and ran for home, this time I the one man posse ran after him. He was a tad faster and almost was to his grannys porch. I pulled one of my Colts and let fly while on the dead run. Being blessed with a strong arm The Colt hit him in back of the head and rolled him. I ran home telling my personal Sheriff, Mom, what happened.

The kid never came back to my yard. Later we found my Colt in our yard, his Granny had painted part of the handle with red fingernail polish to represent blood. I did not remove it, it to a 5 year old was like a notch.

I wore them out snapping caps. My next set was an official Lone Ranger set with silver bullets in the belt. I wore them out too, but my lil Bro was big enough to use one for our Cowboy time and he wore one of them out.

The next time I saw a posse I was 13 and was riding in front of it on a fast horse. The old man was shooting a pump shotgun out his window at us as we rode for our life. Our cousin was a City boy but his step Dad and Uncle were horse guys from OK. His step Dad went down in OK and came back with a high dollar barrel racing mare. They kept her in a small lot on the edge of town during racing season and on our farm in the winter. Dad forbid us to ride her unless cuz was there.

Cuz walked out to the farm one spring day. We saddled her and my bro's shetland pony. He suggested I ride the big mare with my Bro behind me and he'd ride the shetland so I could go. Dad had not yet bought horses to the new big farm. A friend I was in school with told me we could cut across his Grandpa's farm and we would be a few miles from our Grandpa's farm. There was a 160 Acre farm north between us, both farms did not have folks living there. He said go out your east gate cross the 1st farm and you will hit our gate. Follow the farm lane to the gate at he road. And I knew how to get to Grandpa's from there.

Great plan. Except for one thing. He gave me the wrong direction. The gate was really on the north end of our farm. We already had permission to hunt there but the name of the owner had not been used in my east gate trip info.

When going out the east gate to the next farm one went onto land owned by a widower who was touched, severly touched. Trespassing to him was a shooting offense.

All went well until we came to a gate that fronted the county gravel road. We saw an elderly gent checking fence or counting cows and rode over to inquire about our error. He saw us, pulled out an old 12 gauge pump and fired in our direction.

I had seen many chase scenes in movies, until that moment I never understood the urgency a person might feel with an armed posse on their heels. We rode like the devil was on our tail. The farm lane wound around ridge ends and dipped through dry creeks, this saved us for a while. We were bent over hoping we were a smaller target. I did not have to urge the big fast quarter mare and the shetland was keeping up, I think the bird shot was smacking them in the rear and no extra motivation was required.

I told my Bro to bail the second we did the pulled up sliding to a stop, open the gate, I yelled at Cuz to stick to our tail.

The gate came into view at full gallop. The old one man posse was now gaining on us. The Shetland panicked and ran into a 90 degree corner and refused to move, I yelled at Cuz to climb the fence and run. We really thought we would die if caught. He sat on the Shetland and kept kicking to no avail. I pulled thru the gate and my Bro yelled he was not losing his pony and ran for Cuz.

The old man pulled up and ran Bro into the corner with Cuz and the pony clutching and waving his shotgun as he ranted and raved.

One thinks very fast during stressful or life threatening times. I'm thinking Mom and Dad get home from work and ask about Bro and Cuz, telling them they are laying by the fence full of holes would not go well.

I dropped the reins and walked over to the killing zone. I looked into the business end of a bbl of a 12 gauge shotgun. I learned a lot in the next few minutes, how to talk to someone holding a gun, how to talk to a deranged person, how to hold my breath for minutes at a time.

He finally calmed to the point of asking who in the hello were and why in the hello were we trespassing. I told him Dad just bought the farm and my buddy told me how to cut through the Degraffinreid farm to his Grandpas farm so we could ride over to our Grandpas up the road from him, whoever he was. He knew my Grandpa, a big redheaded Irish man who could stomp anything that moved, this may have been the calming force. He also knew the Johnsons. He told us we came through the wrong gate, I apologized and he told us to git home and he'd shoot us if we ever trespassed on him again.

And we never ride horses on him again. A couple of years after that he gave the farm to his nephew and lived in town with him. We skirted the valleys and hunted the heck out of the ridges on the old Son of a guns farm then. Of course we never told Mom and Dad.

The nephew allowed us to hunt and ride across him after we got to know him. He is one farmer we bucked bales for. He also is the farmer I mentioned in our sidekick rodents haying adventure.

Sometimes things only gets better after the posse runs out of ammo or goes to the retirement home.

[Drm50]

I got a Marlin 1897 carbine for my 5th birthday, direct result of
Cowboy shows. I was given my choice of three rifles,my old man
was trying to get me hooked on a Win 62, but let me pick the
Marlin. It was a while but finally got a SA, Ruger Single-Six. I had all my buddies outgunned, with their B/A single shots and their
dads H&R revolver. When I was 14 got k22 on a deal, I didn't
like DA revolvers, so I had It a good while NIB, didn't want to
shoot it and lessen the value for future trade. Got heckled into
shooting it and been K22 guy ever since. Still have the 1897
Marlin & Ruger S-6 & the 1964/ m17.

[Qball]

Westerns influenced my life?

Naaa Dont think so...

[jimmyj]

Did TV westerns affect my life ?
Not really unless ordering folks out of town by high noon counts

[lrrifleman]

Definitely!

I much prefer having watched the TV Westerns, and the military shows (Combat and Rat Patrol), as they helped to mold my character. My first real gun was an Ithaca Model 49. I now have numerous handguns, but I still have to acquire a SAA. Being on fixed income, chances are that mine will be a Vaquero, and not a Colt.

The nice thing about the older programs, was that they had a story line and helped to teach values. I am very glad that my children will sit down with me and watch them with interest.

[Vulcan Bob]

Only one, I was a big fan of James Arness in Gunsmoke. He was against the grain in using a 7 1/2" SA, a Great Westren I think. So when I bought myself a retirement present it was A 7 1/2" Colt SAA in Blue/case colored in .45 Colt. Haven't got around to getting the "jigged bone" stocks yet.

[Grayfox]

I also grew up on westerns and loved the guns.
I've had a love affair with lever action rifles since I was a kid. My first centerfire rifle was a Winchester 94 in .30-30. I've since added several more in various calibers ranging from .22 to .45-70.
I have a particular fondness for the short trapper models. I think these are about the handiest totin' around rifles ever made.

While I have a great admiration for single action revolvers, for some reason the plowhandle grip and I just don't get along. Never could shoot one worth a darn. Over the years I've owned a half dozen or more. The bug will bite and I think I'll try a SA just one more time. But I always end up selling them.
I just recently fell under the spell again. This time it was a Old Model Blackhawk that I stumbled across at a decent price. Only this time it wasn't the gun but the caliber that caught my attention. Its in .30 Carbine. Since I have no desire to keep the cowboy look on this one, I'm currently looking for some oversized grips to give me proper control no matter how weird or ugly they look.

[lowriderfxr]

Nick Barkley on The Big Valley made a big impression on me. I even named my first born after his character.

However , Inspector Harry Callahan made a much larger impression. Maybe that's why I'm willing to trade a SAA for a nice N frame.

[rogerwnuss]

Query: Didn't Colt have to retool for the second Generation guns, because they had sold their old equipment to Uberti?

[Camster]

Even though I'm a rimfire guy,a Colt New Frontier 45lc did reside in my collection for a few years.Just had to own a Colt .45 at some point..There are pics around here of myself in the mid 1950s,as a real youngin,wearing the full cowboy outfit with holster and toy SA.

[lrb1200]

Yeah, I'm a Baby Boomer to the OP.

Lots of amazing SA cowboy guns in this thread, and a real pleasure to see.

Where we come from is they are a huge part of the guns that inspired us as children to step on this road of a lifetime.

I personally don't own a real SA cowboy gun in my collection.

But miraculously I preserved the original inspiration's from childhood on my lifelong appreciation of firearms.

I guess I started building and preserving a collection at about 9 years old.

A Matell Fanner 50, and a Hubley 45.

[Muley Gil]

Originally Posted by rogerwnuss

Query: Didn't Colt have to retool for the second Generation guns, because they had sold their old equipment to Uberti?

It's my understanding that when WW II started, Colt put the SAA machinery out in the parking lot in order to concentrate on 1911 production.

[JaPes]

I don't think it's just the baby boomers. I was born in 1974. I remember watching The Lone Ranger, catching re-runs of The Rifleman (favorite). Before my parents had me, they used to go to the range for target practice. After I was born, their time went elsewhere. My mom chose this Ruger Super Single Six (.22lr / .22 WMR). She's passed it onto me. I've fired recent manufactured Single Six's. It might be in my head, but I swear this one from 1971 is a better made firearm.



I'm of the generation that still remembers police officers carrying revolvers. I remember watching TV & movies where there were double action revolver gunfights. When I think of a gun, the first that comes to mind is a revolver not a semi-auto.

[jimmyj]

Confession Time:
In the early 1960s (1963 ?) I carried a Colt SAA .45 blued 5.5" barrel with pearl grips as a service revolver. First I was "Dancing" with a suspect and we both took a tumble down a embankment thus breaking one of the pearl grips. Next not being able to find a duty holster for the Colt I used a western style with the hammer throng instead of a safety strap. Once again "Dancing" with a knife armed suspect and attempting to slip the hammer throng off the Colt with one hand where I could draw the Colt I discovered why the movie cowboys slipped the hammer throng off before facing the "Bad Guy". I soon returned to a Jordan style duty holster and a double action revolver.

[Rock185]

I guess I watched most of the Westerns back in those days. I thoroughly enjoyed them but don't think they had much influence on my choice of firearms. I did have cap guns, but the first real gun I can recall buying was an old Luger from a pawnshop. I soon traded it for a much nicer 1911A1. When I was about 10 or 12 I did tell my favorite uncle that I wanted one of those "Cowboy" guns, meaning a lever action. He came to visit one time and had bought me a Winchester 94 made sometime in the mid '40s. I have owned my share of SA Rugers and one Freedom Arms revolver, so maybe a little of the TV Western influence survives

[model70hunter]

Originally Posted by jimmyj

Confession Time:
In the early 1960s (1963 ?) I carried a Colt SAA .45 blued 5.5" barrel with pearl grips as a service revolver. First I was "Dancing" with a suspect and we both took a tumble down a embankment thus breaking one of the pearl grips. Next not being able to find a duty holster for the Colt I used a western style with the hammer throng instead of a safety strap. Once again "Dancing" with a knife armed suspect and attempting to slip the hammer throng off the Colt with one hand where I could draw the Colt I discovered why the movie cowboys slipped the hammer throng off before facing the "Bad Guy". I soon returned to a Jordan style duty holster and a double action revolver.

Jimmy no confession needed Sir. You were man enough to try it.

The problem was Matt Dillon made pulling the hog leg and whacking a person, that had just signed up for whacking "101", look so easy.

I'll start a new thread to tell about whacking, old style. Hope you enjoy it.

[Ranger514]

My dad took a photo of me on my rocking horse pointing my toy Peacemaker when I was about five years old. Just for kicks, I've thought about having my wife take a current pic of me astride my motorcycle, pointing my New Vaquero Montado in a similar pose. Yeah, ya might say classic Westerns influenced me just a little. I usually start out my day watching Palladin or Wanted Dead or Alive with my morning coffee.