Let's Have a Great Western Arms Thread!...I'll Start

[bill-in-texas]

I've only known about Great Western Arms Co. for about 8 or 9 years following my first GWACo. find, a 4 3/4" Frontier model in .38 Special from 1957.

I recently acquired two more Frontier models. This time, they have 5 1/2" bbls. and are roll-marked .38 Special (ca. 1960 DIY Kit Gun) and .357 Magnum, (circa 1961) although both will chamber the .357 Magnum round. This has been encountered a number of times with Great Westerns bearing the .38 Special roll-mark.

All three are in very nice condition, with similar finish and grips.

Now, let's see yours!

-Bill

 

[CH4]

Edit:
Never heard of “Great” Western Arms. Thought this was going to be a thread about single action guns of the west. Guess I won’t post pics of my Ruger BH in 45 Colt.

Nice looking pieces, however.

 

[Alpo]

Not Western, Great Western. When all the western movies and TV shows were around in the 50s, people wanted Single Action Armies. But Colt had discontinued them. Here comes Great Western making guns that looks like Colt Single Action Armies.


All through Gunsmoke, Marshall Matt Dillon carried a Great Western. John Wayne's last movie - The Shootist - Books carried Great Westerns.

 

[bill-in-texas]

Not Western, Great Western...

Great Western Arms Company, formerly of Los Angeles, CA.
Not to be confused with Great Western II, from W. Germany, IIRC. (None of those, please.)

They are stout, beautiful, well-made single action revolvers. As mentioned above, many of Hollywood's biggest stars used Great Westerns in television and movies of the 1950s and '60s.

-Bill

 

[turnerriver]

From a 1954 Hy Hunter catalog which stated “ At the present time the Great Western Arms Co. is producing these beautiful Frontier Revolvers for me exclusively.”
The second page explains my interest in the catalog- the Berns-Martin holster connection .

Regards,

 

[DWalt]

The first edition of Guns magazine (1/1955) had a cased pair of GW revolvers as its cover picture. https://gunsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/G0155.pdf
They were used as props in many western movies and TV shows. I have seen only a very few of them over the years, none recently.

 

[Papa Lee]

Great Western Arms

I have a couple of old GW in .22 Caliber. Makes for a real heavy gun. The plastic stag grips that came on them broke too easily and so I fitted a set of faux ivory Ruger BH grips to them.

 

[6string]

Great Western filled an important role in making a SAA when Colt was no longer interested. But, keep in mind Great Western turned out a lot of lemons. Also, they sold unfinished kits that were often badly completed by various amateurs.

Elmer Keith was one of the first to write about Great Western. On the first ones, he reported they were "very poorly timed, fitted, and showed a total lack of final inspection. The hand was a trifle short, the bolt spring did not have enough bend to lock the bolt with any certainty, the mainspring was twice as strong as necessary and the trigger pull about three times as heavy as needed."

Later, after more communications with the factory:
"We are happy to report that Great Western has really gotten on the ball and is now cooking on all four burners. They overhauled their design and inspection departments, put in some gunsmiths who knew the score and are now turning out first-class single action copies. We have one in 4 3/4” .44 Special and it is a very fine single action in every way, perfectly timed, sighted, and very accurate. It has performed perfectly with factory loads and our heavy handloads and is very accurate at extreme ranges, the real test of any sixgun."

Also, the brand name "Great Western" was revived a few years ago, for use on an imported SAA clone, just to make things a bit more confusing.

In any case, caveat emptor!

PS: If you watch 1950s westerns (TV shows or films) you can spot a Great Western SAA by it's lack of a firing pin on the hammer, as would be found on a genuine Colt.

 

[bill-in-texas]

Great Western filled an important role in making a SAA when Colt was no longer interested…

PS: If you watch 1950s westerns (TV shows or films) you can spot a Great Western SAA by it's lack of a firing pin on the hammer, as would be found on a genuine Colt.

Great Western Arms occupies a pretty narrow collecting niche. John Wayne in “The Shootist” used a Great Western. James Arness, as Matt Dillon, carried a 7 1/2” model. The man Dillon guns down in the intro to Gunsmoke was the famous gun leather designer and quick draw artist Arvo Ojala (pronounced o-YA-la). He was originally from Finland, by the way. Not only were movie and TV Westerns the rage back in the ‘50s, ‘60s, & ‘70s, so was quick draw shooting and six gun tricks.
Have you ever seen footage of Sammy Davis Jr. handling a six gun? Amazing! Of course, Sammy carried a Colt.
It was in this environment that William Willis (Bill) Wilson saw an opportunity and started Great Western Arms -before Colt got back into the game, with only 8 Colt Gen IIs produced in 1955.

For me, it’s about the hunt. About a quarter produced were .22s, yet I’ve never seen one. All three that I have seen, I have bought, and all three are Frontiers. The one pictured in the center below, is a DIY Kit Gun, and may be exceptional in that it is a well-made example, as are my other two Frontiers.

-Bill

 

[s&wchad]

GW produced some really nice single actions. The OP's guns are lovely!

I had one of their .22's, but sold it about 10 years ago.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firear...-western-arms-co.html?highlight=Great+western

 

[mauser9]

Great thread! Love those Colt SAA and the other copies. Big fan of Guns Of The Old West magazine recently. Interesting reviews and articles from the guns of that era.

 

[Dave686]

I had never heard of Great Western until I was trying to find an American Made 1873 other than a Colt.

I don’t usually buy foreign made guns, but when I wanted a couple of 1873’s, I couldn’t justify the cost of Colts. I own a Uberti and a Pietta. I sure wish an American Company besides Colt made these.

Those are beautiful revolvers Bill.

 

[Ruger 13]

My dad used buy the unglued/unfinished kits back in the early 60’s…….i wish I still had a few of them!

 

[Ruger 13]

Sorry……unblued not unglued!

 

[Goony]

Not only were movie and TV Westerns the rage back in the ‘50s, ‘60s, & ‘70s, so was quick draw shooting and six gun tricks. Have you ever seen footage of Sammy Davis Jr. handling a six gun? Amazing! Of course, Sammy carried a Colt.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej4TgNXr2_A[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-FPbz3DI50[/ame]

For other Hollywood stars adept at gun handling, see: https://truewestmagazine.com/article/who-was-the-fastest-gun-in-hollywood/

 

[Capt. F.]

Ok, I’ll play.
Here’s my GW 4 3/4” barrel in that coveted caliber - .44 Special.
Picked it up from an ad in a local swap rag. $300.
Mechanically perfect but very little case color left and no bluing except the hammer, trigger and ejector rod housing. Those look like new (obviously replacements?).
Good shooter though.

 

[bill-in-texas]

Sorry……unblued not unglued!

I don't know if all the kits came without the bluing, I think not, but the kit gun (seen at the top) has bluing loss on the ERH.
Possibly, because the bluing was poorly applied.

-Bill

Woo hoo!... Finding Two at a Time!

 

[Gamecock]

.357 Atomic (!)

Anybody have load data for it? Anybody ever heard of it?

 

[bill-in-texas]

Ok, I’ll play.
Here’s my GW 4 3/4” barrel in that coveted caliber - .44 Special.
Picked it up from an ad in a local swap rag. $300.
Mechanically perfect but very little case color left and no bluing except the hammer, trigger and ejector rod housing. Those look like new (obviously replacements?).
Good shooter though.

That’s a great score! I can imagine that .44 Special may have been one of the very few, or only one, in Maine!

-Bill

 

[Valmet]

IIRC some of the old-time Western actors had stock/invested in Great Western. Never owned one but would love to someday.