Hy Hunter single action Western Style .22LR Revolver

V

VaTom

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 22, 2016
Messages
2,222
Reaction score
5,859
Location
SW Virginia
Last Friday my best friend and golfing buddy showed me a revolver that his elderly widow neighbor gave him for his birthday. She is in her late 90's and my buddy Mike lives nearby and mows her yard and his wife takes her dinners and checks-in on her.

The revolver needed a good cleaning but appeared mechanically OK. It had belonged to her late husband. It was a Hy Hunter Western Style Single action 22lr revolver. Never heard of them before. Had import marks and Made in West Germany stamped on it. I looked it up on line and there was some information but not a lot. Imported by an outfit in Hollywood California during the 1950's & Early 1960's and sold mostly through mail order. One on line source said they were made by Rhom.

Sorry I don't have picture. If any of you have one, give me any information that could be helpful that I can pass on to my friend.
 
Last edited:
Great Western marked were made in the USA.
Hy Hunter marked guns were imports mostly from W.Germany (Sauer)

Hy Hunter (Henry Hunter actually) worked for Great Western early on. I think he had the West Coast sales & distribution of the Great Western products.
Then later formed his own co and began the importation of the German made S/A's and some other guns.

Hollywood used the Great Westerns quite a bit.
 
I had two Sauer-made 357 when I started with SASS. Used them for a couple of years and then my wife inherited them. Parts were a little hard to find (I didn't need any but the pistols didn't match in looks, so I wanted to make them look alike. Went to a pair of Cimarron Artillery models, followed by matching SAA's.

No complaints!
 
One of my Cowboy Action 357's is a JP Sauer 5.5" The other is a 4" Cimmeron. The Sauer is matt finished and crude looking, but outshoots every single action 357 our family has ever owned (around 35).

Ivan
 
I have a Hawes .22, probably the same. Still works fine it was given to me by my uncle 40 years ago. Im not sure how old it is. Some parts are alloy
 
The Hawes and Hy Hunter centerfire single actions were made by Sauer but I don't believe the rimfires were . Perhaps Herman Schmit perhaps Rohm.
The rimfire did not age well and are made with varying amounts of ZAMAK castings . Always the frame but sometimes the barrel and cylinder are cast with liners .
Sorry but the rimfires are lower level guns that broke and went out of time easily.
They would be much akin to the Heritage Arms of today,,,, but with more alloy parts.
 
Last edited:
needsmostuff said:
The Hawes and Hy Hunter centerfire single actions were made by Sauer but I don't believe the rimfires were . Perhaps Herman Schmit perhaps Rohm.
The rimfire did not age well and are made with varying amounts of ZAMAK castings . Always the frame but sometimes the barrel and cylinder are cast with liners .
Sorry but the rimfires are lower level guns that broke and went out of time easily.
They would be much akin to the Heritage Arms of today,,,, but with more alloy parts.
Click to expand...

I didn't want to say they were ****, but you put it nicely. Mine at least has a solid steel barrel and cylinder
 
The Herman Schmit 22 SA were top of the line imports. When I first started selling guns they were 3/$100 dealer price. I sold a bunch of them. For another $5@ you could get 22mag cylinder. The Hawes 44 & 357mags were fairly nice, their main problem was cylinder axel was to soft.The recoil would start to peen hammer end. Guys that had not a modicum of sense would shoot them to point you had to take gun apart and drive them out from rear. We turned new ones out of drill rod and solved that.
 
Hy was apparently a pretty good marketer. Here’s some of a 1954 dated catalog/Gunfighter/Frontier Six Shooter history booklet he published, the cover says $1.00 ( over $26 today ) but because you’re you he’s sending it to you free. He was still selling Great Western revolvers, vetted by none other than Roy Weatherby. The main reason for my interest was on page 18-the Berns-Martin Sheriffs Model holsters. That may well be Hy himself illustrating the Famous Quick Draw, he’s a little too well fed to be Thell Reed. Note he recommends that you rub your holsters with Neats Foot oil regularly and of course it looks like he’s got his fingers on the triggers.
Note also the drawing of what appears to be an engraved Smith & Wesson revolver with Roper grips on his letterhead.
Enjoy- this is why I have boxes of catalogs and ephemera in the holster vault.
Regards,
turnerriver
E67-C02-DB-C9-BB-4008-B795-2877714400-C5.jpg

5-A4-A07-C6-EB06-41-EF-BE1-E-3100-DA98-C11-B.jpg

208-FA8-A9-06-C1-465-A-B8-FC-C702079-E3-E0-B.jpg

15-AD582-E-76-FD-4257-A7-C9-716-EAA37-F204.jpg

B7-D782-EC-7305-4-E87-B1-CC-F068-F2-E6-BC78.jpg

3-FAD559-C-D5-ED-4-DE5-8-DCC-FCB4140-EF83-A.jpg

DF2-F16-D0-D222-44-DD-B280-D94-AE8-E4-D436.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think that towards the end of Great Western they offered the guns in kit form. I learned a little from this thread. I didn’t realize that Great Westerns were so expensive. $100 was some folding money in 50s. Many didn’t clear that in week. By the time I was buying guns was about 1964 and I was only 14. I had to get dad or friend to buy handguns because of age requirement. Anyway a Ruger Blackhawk was about $80, about the same as a S&W m10. A SBH was $112 at our LGS. Point being Ruger was cheaper than Great Western less than 10yrs later. I don’t have any experience with Great Western but I started buying Ruger SAs because they were cheaper than Colts. Later I bought them because I thought them better than Colts. When Ruger went New Model I lost interest in their SAs.
 
My neighbor who lived down the street from me had one of these chambered in .357 Magnum, it was made by J.P. Sauer (& Sons?) and was an excellent quality Revolver.
 
2152hq said:
Great Western marked were made in the USA.
Hy Hunter marked guns were imports mostly from W.Germany (Sauer)

Hy Hunter (Henry Hunter actually) worked for Great Western early on. I think he had the West Coast sales & distribution of the Great Western products.
Then later formed his own co and began the importation of the German made S/A's and some other guns.

Hollywood used the Great Westerns quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I traded something to my brother for his Hy Hunter 38sp derringer. That was back in the mid 70s when after I had gotten a carry permit in upstate NY.

Interesting you said something about Hollywood. It was stamped on the gun "Hollywood CA" and I just assumed it was made there. Could it have been a prop at one time? It was surprisingly accurate for what it was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

kstaines
Need info on a .32-20 Spanish S&W clone
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
Alk8944
Alk8944
R
NYPD Model 64-1: 4-inch SB, 4-inch RB, 3-inch RB and 2-inch RB
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
RM Vivas
R
B
Introduction-LONG post warning
2
Replies
39
Views
962
Brian Parrish
Brian Parrish
M
60+ YEAR COLLECTION OF FIREARM PARTS, ACCESSORIES, MILITARIA, & ARTIFACTS
Replies
6
Views
1K
Marcus von W.
M
ddeanjohnson
WTS: list of 22 guns that remain -- MORE PRICE REDUCTIONS -- collection liquidation
2
Replies
25
Views
13K
ddeanjohnson
ddeanjohnson

Latest posts

Back
Top