Off Brand S.A.A. - Great Western Arms Co.

Yippie yi yo ki yay!

When I headed out to a small gun show last Thursday, the thought of returning home with a broken Great Western Arms S.A. Frontier chambered in .22 L.R. never crossed my mind. After looking over the gun, I guessed correctly that the problem was a broken hand spring (cylinder wouldn’t index when pointed up), showed the problem to the owner, offered $150 and filled out the paperwork. Sometimes, you gotta stick your neck out.

I knew almost nothing about GWA and what I thought I knew was wrong. They were actually made in or near Los Angeles California (not Germany) between 1953 and 1964, with about 22,000 produced. This one dates to 1958 and it’s nicely made, although I find it odd that the cylinder doesn’t have recessed chambers. The price written on the label is $91.50 and that was big money in 1958. Published weight is 40oz and I believe it. It’s all steel and the various parts are numbered just like the later first generation Colts. It seems John Wayne used one in The Shootist and graced the back cover of the GWA catalog. Audie Murphy was also a spokesman for the company and notables like President Eisenhower, Avro Ojala and Mel Torme all received engraved examples. A.A. White and Cole Agee did some of the engraving. The more I got into it, the more I liked it.

After cleaning the gun, I went to work on the box. Boxes are very similar to pre-war Colt boxes and this one has a nice numbered label. The whole thing was covered with tape, six of the corners were split and the hinge was only attached to the body. I got out the heat lamp and carefully removed the tape. Goo-Gone tested OK in a hidden area, so I gently cleaned off as much adhesive as I could. I glued and clamped the corners and reattached the hinge. I’m happy with the way it turned out.

No screws were damaged in the disassembly of the gun! Proper fitting screwdrivers are a must and I let penetrating oil work for a few days before I even tried to turn them. All but the mainspring screw came out like butter. I’m waiting for VTI Gun Parts to open so I can phone in my $3 order for a replacement hand spring (part #UB:400018). I could just get a new hand assembly for around $30 and try to fit it, but I’d like to keep the original hand and I’m cheap! I can’t wait to get it back together and take it to the range.












The culprit, removed from the hand (below)

Not a pencil barrel.

We have something very similar called a "Hy Hunter".

I've heard good things about Great Western.

Did you know Matt Dillon used a GW in Gunsmoke?

I have never heard that John Wayne used one in The Shootist............

When I was perusing my Elmer Keith book (Sixguns) Great Westerns are all over it. Apparently mr Keith liked'em too.

Roger

BarbC said:

We have something very similar called a "Hy Hunter".

Click to expand...

Same guy (there can’t be two)! Hy was the “Arms Dealer to the Stars” and was located in beautiful downtown Burbank. I want to thank you for mentioning that, you jogged my memory and I dug this out of a box in the basement. Half the catalog is antique firearms and the other half is GWA! I forgot all about it.

handejector said:

Did you know Matt Dillon used a GW in Gunsmoke?

I have never heard that John Wayne used one in The Shootist............

Click to expand...

I didn’t know that, but I like it!
The 29th edition of the Blue Book has a good bit of info on GWA, including serial numbers by year. It says John Wayne had a “brace” of GWA’s that he used in the movie. Probably not .22’s…

BarbC said:

We have something very similar called a "Hy Hunter".

Click to expand...

Hy Hunter! A name from the past! In addition to his entrepreneurial streak in rebranding imports with his own name and authoring inexpensive softcover gun books, Hunter ran a huge Los Angeles gun store with something like 3,000 firearms attached to the ceiling. I was there once as a 10-year old. There was an associated fee-entry museum in the back room with lots of rare and interesting specimens. The counter guy let me duck under the turnstile to go in and look around while my parents (who were not gun people) waited patiently in the main room.

Then we left, and I never got back. Where was that exactly? San Fernando Valley? I don't think it was downtown.

Chad, that's the book! I had a copy, too, but I bet my parents threw it out after I left home.

Burbank! That's right.

How did you like that picture of Hy's target shooting style? One arm out straight, the other in his front jeans pocket "for stability" or whatever the phrase was.

A trip down memory lane, to be sure.

EDITED TO ADD: And I don't want to neglect the original post. That's a handsome .22, and just looking at all the pieces in it I can easily believe its reported weight.

I think I wanted one of those, but the Hi-Standard Double-Nine was cheaper. I got that one, and then let it get away years ago. Sigh.

DCWilson said:

How did you like that picture of Hy's target shooting style? One arm out straight, the other in his front jeans pocket "for stability" or whatever the phrase was.

A trip down memory lane, to be sure.

Click to expand...

It is a blast from the past. I couldn’t find his offhand photo, but I found these amusing. Mr Medley “famous holster maker” scares me a little. The picture of Carbine Williams and Hy Hunter should be captioned, “Couple of crook”! Hy made it sound like GWA was his, when he was never a principal in the corporation. I read that GWA actually set the record straight in their later catalog.

That's a sweet old revolver. It looks to be in excellent condition as well.

S&WChad, thanks for sharing the story and photo of your GW. I well remember those ads that were in the gun magazines in the 50's and early 60's. How about a range report when you get a chance to shoot it!

People think they're German because they have floating firing pins like the Hawes guns. John Wayne had the optional Colt style firing pins on the hammers. These two belonged to my dad since around 1960. A chromed .22 and a .44 Special I had reblued with our name on the backstrap. Both have goofed actions but the .44 is very accurate. You got a deal on that four ton .22. I never notices the exposed caseheads on mine. Your gun looks in fine shape with the original grips.

Had one when I was a kid, some 50+ years ago. This one was in .22 Rimfire.

That HEAVY cylinder, soon wallowed out the stop notches on the cylinder, until the cylinder play must have been 1/8 inch, or more. Still had a lot of fun with it.

Bob Horton said:

I remember reading that the revolvers used by John Wayne in The Shootist were a set he received as a gift from Great Western Savings when he signed to do a series of commercials for them. I don't remember if these guns were Great Western Arms or not. I do remember being somewhat surprised at the time that they weren't Colts.

Regards,
Bob

Click to expand...

In Sixguns By Keith there's a pic. of John Wayne holding a presentation case with his 5 1/2" barreld engraved Great Western guns. In the Shootist his guns have 4 3/4" barrels. Did he have two sets? I always wondered about that.

That's a cool old gun. Here's an article about GWs -

Great Western Single Actions - The first modern replica

John Wayne's presentation GWs:

I had one like that: 5 1/2" with plastic stag grips. Only mine was .45 Colt.

Neat gun, and nice to also have the box. I remember looking at one like it in a "Rinks" department store near where I grew up, probably late 60s which means I could only have looked through the glass as I would have been ten or twelve at the time. I found these two ads in a bunch I scanned and saved for reference.



Thanks for showing and enjoy shooting it.

Keith

Why did you have to post that ad-those prices make me wince!

I knew Hy Hunter quite well in those days. Bought , sold and traded guns with him many times. I still have a GW .45 Colt SAA he gave me. All his guns were made in LA and he had a lot of good advice on gun making from Carbine Williams , who helped him design and make these GW SAs. Carbine was a good friend of a friend of mine, Blaine Hutchinson, a gun dealer in San Diego area. Carbine had just finished consulting on the movie" Carbine Willaims" , starring Jimmy Stewart. Jimmie & Carbine ( we called him "Marsh") became good friends and Jimmie gave Marsh his S&W Registered Magnum, as a remembrance of the movie and their friendship. Later Blaine acquiried the RM from Marsh and when Blaine died in the 80s, I got the RM from his estate. I had earlier bought Gary Cooper's Registered Magnum from his widow after Gary died, and she told me that Gary had bought his RM after seeing the one that Jimmie had, as they were both good friends and gun collectors, and Gary wanted one also. Gary's RM is in the Ray Cheely collection now, but I still have the Stewart/Williams RM. Some of you may have seen it at the S&WCA "show & tell" at Tulsa last Oct. Ed.

i have a great western arms company also i am going to be listing for sale soon in the classifieds section. mine is the 22 caliber model in hard to find 22 magnum. from what i understand, these actually werent publically offered in 22 mag, but they could be sent back to great western and a 22 magnum cylinder fit to the gun (as im sure this one was as it does have the proper serial number reference on the cylinder and is also marked WMR or WRM right on the cylinder end with the serial reference , id have to look at it again to see if its WRM or WMR). i believe if my research was correct, a bunch of the parts for these things were actually procured from colt, but its a little hard to get the straight skinny as they havent been in business for years and years.i got i from my mom, it belonged to her dads brother who was a firearms dealer years and years ago in the los angeles area of california. heres a couple of pictures of mine. it has the original era franzite grips on it also. it is a gorgeous gun.i dont think it had 50 rounds put thru it over the years. after i got it, i took it out and shot it to try it out, and it is a tack driver at 35-40 yards with CCI vmax 22 mags. still looks damn near new. havent a clue what these things are worth. i do know that from what history research ive done, they seem to have been either superb or **** in quality. this one is outstanding..bluings in the 98%+ range with just a little wear on the muzzle (looks like muzzle holster wear, but i didnt get a holster with it) everything else looks brand new damn near........





if anyone can give me a definitive idea on value let me know.