Anyone carry a SA in lieu of a Mountain Gun?

[Watchdog]

I'm doing some thinking about SAs and whether one might make a good alternate carry gun out yonder. Any SA pistoleros feel like chiming in, feel free to offer up insights, experiences, and advice.

Well, I'm no pistolero, that's for sure, but I do love my single actions. And when I'm "out yonder" (usually the lesser traveled areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina), I do carry a single action revolver. And it's usually an Old Model Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum with a 4.75-inch barrel. It's been sort of semi-customized with the cut down barrel. It was in kinda bad shape when I found it, so I had the barrel shortened, recrowned properly, and a new factory front sight put on.

I'm now carrying it in an El Paso Saddlery rig...a Threepersons model 1920 crossdraw on EPS's Garrison Belt. The belt is 1.75-inches wide and fits through the loops on my jeans, so I don't have to worry about a regular gunbelt sliding down. The gun's usually loaded with factory ammo...240-grain JSPs. I may decide to get a strongside Threepersons holster for it as well. I prefer hammer thongs to retention straps for single actions. They don't make that snapping sound when you need to bring the gun out, and you don't have to tug on them to free the gun.

Don't get me wrong...I love my Smiths, too. But there's just something about tramping through the woods with a big bore single action that feels traditional (for lack of a better word). Maybe "old school" is a good way to describe it, too...and I'm definitely old enough to be considered old school.

 

[Kinman]

I carried a Ruger Superblackhawk .44 mag for years and never shot anything besides groundsquirrels or grouse with it, I found it awkward to pack around. A good friend of mine has always carried an old Ruger Old Army .44 while out grouse hunting in the fall which also coincides with bear season, he has managed to kill two bears with his Old Army and only one of them required a second shot to settle his hash. I acquired this first run 629 Mountain Revolver a couple of years ago from a family member and asked John if he could make a set of square frame scales to fit a round butt frame he not only said he could but also told me of a pair of honey bastogne colored walnut he felt would be stunners, I jumped. I then sent it off to Mag-na-port for a quad job and although it is incredibly loud it is the sweetest shooting .44 magnum handgun I have ever fired. My favorite nephew has told me that if it falls into anyone else's hands they will promptly be kneecapped and dumped in a hole with a bag a lime.
With all due respect to the SA crowd I find this to be my all time favorite "goin in the woods" partner and have also found it serves very well loaded with snakecharmers while flyfishing in the rattlesnake country when they don't back down and go way.

 

[Watchdog]

Ok all you gun heathens, I'm not invoking the name of Randolph Scott, I'm doin' you one better. There was this old Texan who carried a gun or two in his time...I believe his name was Skeeter Skelton. Maybe y'all have heard of him a time or two...His quote was "funny, I never felt under gunned with a SAA". Enough for me.

As a young single action handgunner back in the seventies, I read every word by Skeeter Skelton that I could find. Far as I was concerned, his writings alone made Shooting Times worth the cover price. Shoot, I wanted to be Skeeter Skelton.

There are some men who exert a powerful influence on you, although you'll never meet them in this lifetime. These are one-of-a-kind men. Skeeter Skelton was one of those men for me. I was devastated when he passed away at such a young age.

 

[Watchdog]

I've posted this picture many times before, so at the risk of sounding like the "Department of Redundancy Department," here it is again. This Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt has been my companion for around 30 years at least...as near as I can figure.

I love that belt and holster! Have you had that as long as you've had the gun? Who made it, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[Mule Packer]

Watchdog:

Yep, I've had the holster almost as long as I've had the gun. It was made by Dave Clowes of Dave's Saddlery in Ferndale, California. Fifteen years ago or so, Dave sold out and moved up to Bonanza, Oregon, just outside of Klamath Falls. His shop is now called Dave's Saddle and Tack.

He does good work. He made my saddle for me over twenty years ago. Just recently, I had him rework a pair of shotgun chaps that were starting to get a little snug due to my eating habits. I guess the buckaroos up there in Oregon like him because he's kept pretty busy.

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[safearm]

As the warmer weather arrives, I'm usually carrying a Colt Cowboy loaded with 3 rounds of Speer .45 Colt shot and 3 rounds of 250 grain LFP. Since the Cowboy has a transfer bar, it's safe to carry 6 rounds.

 

[smokey04]

The year was 1974[spring] Gad, I hope the statues of limitation have expired!] Place was around Salida Co. My 1st SGT. and I decided to go for spring bear. At the time big game hunting in Co. with a handgun was "verbotten" so, I carried a Marlin 45-70[ you won't believe the 3 digit serial # ] and an O.M. Customized Super Black Hawk .44 Mag. I worked a long time working up a "bear killing" load and I won't give the data other than to say, it was a .429,250 grain linotype Keith SWC, loaded with in "specs" but not at the bottom end of the scale. Long story short, black bear came boiling out of an alder thicket above me. I planted the Marlins stock in the snow , put the Rugers sight on the bears nose and squeezed one off. The bullet took an entire vertibra out of his neck severing his spinal chord and ending the hunt.Beautiful 350 lb. bear , dressed out. I gave the skin to my 1SGT and he made a beautiful rug for his sunken den. Several months later, unbeknownst to me, he had the meat BBQ'ed for my Change Of Command Party.
A fine Bear, a Great 1st SGT, terrific troops . One of the best experiences in my 23 year career in the Army. Brought tears to my eyes then, and still does when I dwell on it. Nick

 

[Kilibreaux]

A single action 1873 in .45 Colt is a SUPERB alternative!
Even the 1873 frame in modern steel can handle hotter loads than the original, and such should be what is carried in the field.
Aside from the need to load one at a time and eject one at a time, the single action is FAR MORE RELIABLE than any double-action design!
The reason is because a SA has ZERO internal interference that could....WILL (almost certainly) cause a stoppage under stress-fire consideration.
What this means is that for those willing to understand, carrying and shooting a S&W double-action in SINGLE ACTION only is the RIGHT answer, but having the ability to eject and load all six shots via an "en block" format.