Did you ever harpoon your white whale?

[Modified]

Years ago now I harpooned a white whale of mine, an iron frame (Serial Number B 54). For years it was out of my hands because life happened and I decided that money for the family was probably more important than owning a white whale.

So the gun went into the hands of my good friend Bruce Jordan to get a good price for. Then covid happened, then he passed, and the gun came back to me without ever really being marketed. Handling this wonderful old firearm again has me thinking a lot about white whales.

Here it is next to another white whale of mine; a good condition Registered Magnum.



My camera rig has been repurposed to taking pictures of kids, so the picture isn't up to my old quality, but I do like how it shows scale.

Now I'm up to pre-war .357 #4, and I own guns I never dreamed I could (thanks entirely to this wonderful forum showing me such wonders). My kearsarge collection is about as big as such things get, and my roper collection (which pales in comparison to many here) is very pleasing to me.

Fortunately I have come by a deep love of modified guns and custom stocks, so there is always another interesting and likely unique gun or set of carved up walnut around the corner to keep me hooked. But I have to say, had I not gone that direction a quote out of the greatest Christmas movie of all time comes to mind;

'When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.' - Hans Gruber


Anyone else manage to get your white whale?

Did it satisfy?

Here are some old and better shots of the iron frame:
















And the 4 pre-war magnums:

 

[quinn]

White whale is a minor understatement! Simply stunning... I've never even touched a Volcanic, and I, too, have 4 pre war 357's

 

[two-bit cowboy]

My white whale, using your lingo, would be one of the 19 .38 Chiefs Specials S&W shipped in 1950.

Even if I got one of them I don't think it could carry "ol' ironside's" luggage.

 

[hibbs]

Beautiful Guns!!! I had a Volcanic similar to yours back in the late '70's, not realizing what I really had. Maybe, foolishly, I traded for a 1959 Red Corvette. I thought a good trade at the time. Me and Vette had a lot of good times together and tagged a good wife for good measure.

Richard

 

[merl67]

While not as spectacular as your great white I did get a Triplelock 455 in nice original used condition. While I know these are by no means rare they do not show up at the price I felt I could pay. What is crazy is that I also stumbled upon a nice nickle 44spl, and a pretty nice 29 no dash all within a month all were at prices that were affordable to me.

 

[bigmoose]

Thar she blows!! Never did I ever expect to land this beauty… a mostly unfired (except for proofing, as best I can tell) Model 16-3 K32 Masterpiece. It has the five Ts. Target hammer, target trigger, target stocks, target front sight (red post), target rear sight (white outline). I realize those last two may not qualify for 'target' status, but they are special order.

 

[Llance]

Yes I did. My "white Whale" was a Model 1897 Winchester 12 gage, takedown shotgun. I snagged it at a local gun auction and it came with a complete extra 20" riot barrel. The only real problem is the riot barrel was not numbered to the frame. Thus it needed to be timed to the frame. A little bit of experimenting and a file, and it fits right. Right now it's sitting in my LGS waiting on it's new owner. I may have to take it back to the auction house to get my money out of it.

 

[delcrossv]

The mythical 10" Ladysmith target mentioned rather cryptically in SCSW 4. No one has seen one, including Roy, and Jim Supica won't say where he got that info from. (insert Ahab picture here)

But I'm closing in with a 3 1/2" and a 6" target. Just need a 6" plain sight to complete the set of those that are known to exist.

I've also seen a 2nd model short barrel. but it was too funky to risk the asking price. Might be another variation to chase.

Supposedly there are snubbies also, but no one has ever seen one.

 

[quinn]

Beautiful Guns!!! I had a Volcanic similar to yours back in the late '70's, not realizing what I really had. Maybe, foolishly, I traded for a 1959 Red Corvette. I thought a good trade at the time. Me and Vette had a lot of good times together and tagged a good wife for good measure.

Richard

In the early 1970's I had a '58 red Corvette which I probably would have been willing to trade for a Volcanic since I already had a wife.

 

[Salox]

Never, eeeeeeever thought I'd see the white whale in the wild and have a throw at it. But she mightily surface only for a microsecond, I blindly threw the heavy harpoon, and thar she be, in my profile pic - beautiful and stunning. Landed by the good graces of a fellow member

 

[SAFireman]

No, but I am in the boat every day looking

 

[kamloops67]

Yes and she gave me a wonderful son lol

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

No. Back when Winchester/Browning were remaking the old models I couldn't afford an 1886 or a 42. Family had to come first.........Now that I'm old, fat and have some money they are gone.

 

[dave1918a2]

Nope. But I whupped one once.

 

[lestert357]

Yes, and it was totally unexpected. Having turned my collecting interests from Colts to S&W a couple of years previous, in about 2015 I stumbled upon a Forum thread concerning a postwar .357 Magnum Transitional originally owned by Major General Julian S. Hatcher that sold for something north of $30K at auction. I had never heard of and knew absolutely nothing about .357 Magnum Transitionals until I saw that thread. Even though I figured I would never own one due to the rarity (142 estimated) and value (too rare to estimate per the SCSW) I did spend some time studying the characteristics of them. Then one night in 2017 as I was scrolling through GB auctions of S&W revolvers I happened upon an auction for a gun that was poorly described (something like "a .357 Magnum on a .44 frame with an 8.5" barrel") with a lot of rather blurry pictures and a fairly high starting and buy now price - you know, the kind of auction where you almost immediately move on. But there was something about that gun that seemed interesting so I looked a little closer. It appeared to have the Pre-War long action but seemed at first glance to be wearing Cokes. As I was studying the pictures my brain came out of the fog and said "that is a .357 Magnum Transitional!" Anyway, I took a chance and took the plunge - I hit the Buy Now button. If you are interested in further details of the gun you can read all about it in this thread: Mr. E. F. Warner's 8.5 Inch Post War .357 Magnum Transitional Revolver

It's a pretty good read (especially some of Keith Brown's comments on the grips) and a VERY interesting revolver. For this thread I will just post a couple of pictures. I kept the gun for a couple of years but now it resides in the tremendous collection of one of our favorite .357 Magnum collectors, RKmesa. All the while that I owned the gun he repeatedly reminded me that I could at anytime send the gun "to the AZ" as he says. It was hard to part with, but as the saying goes "the only thing more rare than a postwar .357 Magnum Transitional is a postwar .357 Magnum Transitional collector", so I took advantage of the opportunity and sent it to the AZ.

Here are a few pictures of it. I think you can click on them for a closer look. It is very likely a true one of a kind with an 8.5" barrel, bright blue finish, and beautiful target grips that are part Roper and part Coke - 7 years before Cokes were standard on the .44 Magnums. Oh, and I should also mention it was shipped to Mr. E. F. Warner, publisher of Field and Stream magazine at the time. If RKmesa sees this post perhaps he will add a couple of his more recent pictures of the gun.

 

[JohnRippert]

The closest thing to a white whale I have snagged is a former 2nd Marine Raider M45A1 that I got in the first round of sales for them on GB. The used versions were going for $1349 when they appeared. Very glad I got one that was in the field. It still had a lot of the almost yellow colored talcum powder "sand" in it from its time in the Middle East.

 

[SS336]

Modified, absolutely stunning. Looked at the pictures about a dozen times. The gentleman on this forum have some beautiful and noteworthy firearms.
When I was discharged from the Navy in Groton, Ct my wife and I lived in Norwich, Ct. for a while. I noticed your "white whale" was made there, small world.

 

[Modified]

The closest thing to a white whale I have snagged is a former 2nd Marine Raider M45A1 that I got in the first round of sales for them on GB. The used versions were going for $1349 when they appeared. Very glad I got one that was in the field. It still had a lot of the almost yellow colored talcum powder "sand" in it from its time in the Middle East.

Dang thats cool. I wish I had been paying attention at that time and grabbed one just like yours.

 

[SAFireman]

I think we are going to need a bigger boat

 

[TheHobbyist]

@ the OP, yes, I have, but chose discretion and don't share certain things online. It is all in good fun in our various hobbies, but I also try to keep in mind that things are just things after all.