Leo H. Rice’s 1st Year 4.5” Consecutive Reg# RM Matched Pair

[bower]

I can't say much more than what's been previously said.
I find it particularly interesting that a person would order 2 identical guns at the same time. I guess he subscribed to the theory that" two are better than one."
Outstanding post!

 

[Old Corp]

Excellent!
I'm thinking the original owner, Mr. Rice must've had a rocking-successful skating rink business for the time. Can't imagine at that time in America that many people had matching pairs of RM's!
Thank you for a great post....

 

[RKmesa]

... Production figures show that the most common 3.5", 4", 5", 6", 6.5" and 8.5" or later 8 3/8" guns met the needs of the majority of buyers.

I too have often wondered why people chose certain barrel lengths. As to the long ones (which have always been some of my favorites) I think you probably mean 8 3/4" not 8.5", as the records I've seen show only an estimated 10 shipping with 8.5" barrels. And in the Registered gun era, there were only an estimated 38 shipped with 8 3/8" barrels. The most common long ones were 8 3/4" (estimated at 735 of them). Since Terry posted those beautiful 4.5"s, for reference, Mr. Jinks estimates that there were 108 shipped with 4.5" barrels.

What a great thread and wonderful posts...

 

[29aholic]

Great pair. The last RM I had was a 4.5" barrel, but someone made it that way.

 

[Marshal Tom]

I am in love!

 

[krsmith58]

amazing . thanks for sharing .

 

[paplinker]

Wonderful set of guns!!

What a great piece of history to use, and share with the future.

Because of the great documentation Ira's name lives on for generations to come.

Now I am not much of a holster guy so this question might seem odd. Looking at the holster wear on each gun does it appear he had a two gun holster and wore both?

Or is it likely he had the second made for his son or wife to holster the other RM right handed?

Thanks for sharing

 

[mtgianni]

What a beautiful pair of revolvers.
I see he worked a 72 hour week. Good to know that back then as well as now, farmers took the morning off on Sundays.

 

[lestert357]

Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback. To address a few of the comments and questions..............

Where are the grip adapters? There is a chance that the seller will find them. He told me that he has a lot of Leo’s things to go through and that if he finds any missing items (boxes/mailing tubes/adapters) associated with these guns he will send them to me.

A 50th Anniversary Symposium Display in the making! No, but perhaps a Journal article.

Looking at the holster wear on each gun does it appear he had a two gun holster and wore both? Yes, that is exactly what he had. In fact I also got the 2 gun holster rig which has S. D. Myres holsters on an unmarked belt. The rig is not fancy at all with no lining, lacing, or carving. The real problem was that it was fragile and basically falling apart. The old threads were breaking at the tongue, buckle, and cartridge loops, and the cartridge loops themselves were so fragile that they would not hold cartridges without breaking. I had the rig repaired and reconditioned, but I was not at all happy with the results, and chose not to mention it in this post. These guns deserve much better and my plan is to find a 2 gun rig (either S. D. Myres or H. H. Heiser) worthy of holstering these guns.

I also got some stories about Leo from from the nephew that I bought the guns from. (For example, he told me that Leo used to throw walnuts up in the air and shoot and hit them with these guns!) But for the post I decided to stick with facts that I could document and thus did not include some items that are probably more entertaining. He wasn’t a lawman or a working cowboy. My sense is he was just a guy that knew and liked guns a lot, and was able to pull off getting two of the best when many people in this country weren’t sure where their next meal was coming from.

 

[ancient-one]

One of the most interesting posts that I have ever read. To also see the pictures and all of the documentation really puts it over the top. I thank you very much for doing it.
Most of us will never see a RM let alone a pair like yours.

 

[1blindref]

One of the best threads I've seen in a very long time. What a great pair of RM's you have there. Congratulations on the acquisition of these fine guns, and thank you for sharing them here.

 

[Valmet]

Thanks for posting this OP. I love learning this kind of history (the RMs aren’t too shabby either).

 

[Walter Rego]

I too have often wondered why people chose certain barrel lengths. As to the long ones (which have always been some of my favorites) I think you probably mean 8 3/4" not 8.5", as the records I've seen show only an estimated 10 shipping with 8.5" barrels. And in the Registered gun era, there were only an estimated 38 shipped with 8 3/8" barrels. The most common long ones were 8 3/4" (estimated at 735 of them). Since Terry posted those beautiful 4.5"s, for reference, Mr. Jinks estimates that there were 108 shipped with 4.5" barrels.

What a great thread and wonderful posts...

Thanks, I guess I was thinking of whatever the maximum barrel length available was and prior to the introduction of the 8 3/8" barrels which were necessary to meet some competition rules regarding the distance between the front & rear sights.

I seem to recall also that all the barrel forgings started out as 8 3/4" as that was the maximum that would fit in their tooling, and then the barrels were cut to the requested lengths and then crowned and the rib would be milled for the sight base and blade of choice.

 

[Thinnes]

Just incredible, Terry. Enjoyed reading about Leo. Quite an interesting man. And two RMs for $77 bucks. Makes me laugh. Thanks for your great work. Dave

 

[mk70ss]

Wow. Great post, great history, and great guns. Thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[Troystat]

Those pre-war 357's are some of the most awesome revolvers ever. Thanks for showing us.

 

[lestert357]

Three pictures/documents added to post 1 above - the picture on the back of an Edwards and Walker Company business envelope, and the 2 pages of Leo Rice’s Application to State of Iowa for World War II Service Compensation. Why a resident of Iowa placed an order for a pair or RMs with a wholesaler in Maine remains a mystery.

 

[lestert357]

........where are the grip adapters? The letter says they were attached (I think).

Just for you Vette [emoji1].........now with original Wesson grip adapters attached - just as shipped from the factory.

 

[lestert357]

One final update - as I mentioned in post# 29 above, one thing I got with the RMs was an old two gun holster rig with S. D. Myres jock strap style holsters attached buscadero style to an unmarked cartridge belt featuring a double row of cartridge loops. Unfortunately the rig was in very poor and unserviceable condition. However, using it as the basic pattern, I had the William Brown Holster Company in Tombstone, Arizona make a new two gun holster rig for the matched RMs. Bill Brown has been creating fine handmade and hand carved leather holsters for nearly 35 years using the same tools and same late 1800’s sewing machines to produce gun leather that his ancestors used. The new rig which I just received is brown in color, carved in an oak leaf and acorn pattern, lined, laced in black, with a western style engraved 4 piece sterling silver and gold buckle set, and much more befitting a Registered Magnum matched pair! To complement the rig I had some .357 Magnum cartridges loaded using lead bullets and nickel plated shells similar to the original 1935 style Winchester cartridges. Below is the finished product.

 

[ameridaddy]

Lestert, you're ready for a barbecue at the White House!