My daughter buys books for me, and she has a knack for finding great ones she knows I will enjoy. The latest in a long line of successes is Jim Rasenberger’s Revolver
Samuel Colt was anything but an overnight success, but successful he sure was. He was one of the key figures in our Industrial Revolution, and he made the concept of interchangeable parts and mass production work well before Henry Ford came along. Colt started out as sailor on a merchant vessel, he became a huckster selling laughing gas exhibitions, he failed at his first attempt to build a firearms manufacturing business, and then he succeeded wildly when he worked with Samuel Walker, the Texas Ranger who guided Colt’s design of the famous Colt Walker. Revolver delves deeply into all this, including the Colt Walker story, and a grand story it is.
On that topic of the Colt Walker: The Walker was the .44 Magnum of its day, a gun so over-the-top in size and power that as Colonel Colt observed, “it would take a Texan to fire it.” I always thought it would be cool to own a Walker, but Colt only made 1,100 of them, and originals don’t come up for sale too often. The last one that did went for over a million dollars. The blogging business is good, folks, but it ain’t that good.
Uberti, a company in Italy, manufactures a replica of the original Colt Walker, and reading Revolver
If you’re looking for a good read, pick up a copy of Revolver
More Tales of the Gun are here, and more product, book, and movie reviews are here.
I had a Uberti 1860 Colt Army .44 replica for a number of years. It was a lot of fun to shoot with all the smoke & fire. One friend said it was like holding a dragon by the tail while shooting fire out its mouth.
I get it, Larry. I’m excited about the Walker and I’m looking forward to its arrival. The distributor doesn’t have them in stock, and they don’t know when they’ll be here (Italy was hit hard by Covid). In all my years of shooting, I’ve never fired a blackpowder firearm.
You’ll love making smoke! I’d share a photo or two but don’t know how to do that here.
Yeah, they don’t make it easy. Email them to us (info@exhaustnote.us) and I’ll get them posted.
Are they legal in Commiefornia? I don’t think they are on the roster so is there some sort of exemption?
Here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, black powder guns are legal with no restrictions on purchasing. You can order them and they are delivered to your doorstep as if you were ordering toilet paper from Amazon. In NJ and one or two other states, blackpowder firearms are treated as regular firearms, and when purchasing them you have to jump through all the hoops the Second Amendment was intended to prevent. But for now, here in the Golden State, it’s still the Good Old Days.
Lonesome Dove was incredibly good!
I’ve watched maybe a dozen times now, and I still enjoy it.
Very good Joe, I have a Uberti Remington steel frame in 44 cal. They are Fun to shoot.
A word of caution since this is your first rodeo with black powder. Be sure of what your loading for powder and proper amounts.
We just had a local very experienced civil war reenactor blow his arm off from the elbow down with a musket. Apparently he bought some open box black powder at a local auction that he wasn’t familiar with and it must of been very hot????? or had regular pistol powder mixed in with it??? or who knows ????
I heard the blast from my house and it was about a mile away. Sounded like a canon was going off.
So they are very fun , just be sure of your loads which I’m sure with your experience in reloading you will be impeccably careful of.
Also he shared with me about one shot igniting the rest of the 5 cylinders if its not packed right. He said he used grits I think to pack over the powder before seating the bullet over the grits.
I use the preformed powder pellet just cause it was easier for as little as I play with it. Been awhile since I’ve shot mine.
Lots of you tube vids on it that helped me and your friends that shoot BP will fill you in also, Enjoy.
All good inputs, Rob. Thanks very much!