Speaking of Handguns

[Paul Pless]

I'm quite taken by the work done by Bowen of late.
He tends to work with modern and strong actions, in heavy chamberings, but at the same time his offerings are classically styled.

http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/NEW/images/1917_r1_c1.jpg
Patterned after the U. S. martial revolvers of World War I , this Redhawk sports a S&W M&P style fixed-sight top strap and a round, unribbed barrel with a dovetail windage-adjustable front sight. A lanyard ring is fitted in keeping with the service nature of the gun.

The fluted 5-shot cylinder is chambered for the .50 Action Express cartridge, a rimless round retained, appropriately enough, in classic moon clips as were the .45 ACP cartridges used in the S&W and Colt revolvers.


http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/NEW/images/alpine_r1_c1.jpg
Fishermen, hunters and outdoorsmen wandering in the backcountry in many parts of the world require a serious sidearm. The Bowen Classic Arms “Alpine” Redhawk fills the bill perfectly. Compact and robust, the 5-shot versions are chambered for some of the most potent revolver cartridges available, including the .45 Colt, .454 Casull and the .50 Action Express.


here's one inspired by Elmer Keith
http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/NEW/images/hphphp0a.jpg

much more here: http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/default.htm

[Donn]

Interesting speed-loader clips in that first pic. You can barely see the device.

[Paul Pless]

Donn, they are 'moon clips', and they allow rimless cartridges such as the .45 acp to be chambered in a revolver's cylinder.

http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock/firearms/pics/moonclips.jpg

[geeman]

Paul,is that a 3 in barrel on that stainless?

[Paul Pless]

geeman, I'd assume a 3-7/8" barrel. That particular custom job is patterned after the old Smith&Wesson 'Mountain Gun' available from S&W's Performance Center. That's a fairly well known barrel configuration from S&W (notice the rather extreme taper for a revolver).

[Memphis Mike]

What's the lanyard on that one for. So iffin you run out of bullets you can swing it and beat em to death with it?

[paladin]

Those are the same clips I have for the colt...allows shooting .45 ACP's in the .45 long colt cylinder.....

[Norman Bernstein]

I'm curious about the lanyard, as well.

My Dad was, for a time, an Army MP stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and there was a photo of him wearing his MP uniform, including a gun with a lanyard (I believe the gun was a .45 automatic of some sort).

I recall him telling me that the purpose of the lanyard was to prevent the gun from being taken away from him in something akin to a 'barfight'.....

Not sure I see the logic in this; if some perp can grab the gun, the lanyard is long enough for him to take it, and shoot the MP with....

Can anyone enlighten me? (Sadly, my Dad passed away in 2002, so I can't ask him).

[paladin]

The lanyard serves at least a couple of purposes..
Once drawn, especially in earlier times you could drop the weapon while reaching for more ammunition..whether loose rounds or a magazine, then readily retrieve it, especially when in a vehicle or horseback when you needed one hand to support yourself......or if something forced you to drop it , the weapon could be more easily retrieved....

[Bob Cleek]

I have a 1905 Army Colt .45 that Bob Chow reworked. It's now single action with a hair trigger. Target style grips and scope. The cylinder has been bored out so that there is a lip against which the forward edge of a .45 ACP cartridge rests. No need for half moon clips. Beautifully accurate target pistol. I use it with light loads. Haven't shot it in years, though. Damn ammo has gotten to expensive for plinking and my reloading connection croaked. So it goes.

[Paul Pless]

With regards to lanyards. I think they have a fairly long history in conjuction with the military and the police, being a backup method of keeping their weapons close to them. Not just handguns have had lanyards, also previously swords did as well. Alas, I also think, the lanyard, most recently serves as a symbol or historical connection within the ranks of military police.

[Bob Cleek]

When I worked the gunrails at San Quentin years ago, we carried our long arms on a cross-chest shoulder sling with the iron hanging at our side. The '94's were saddle carbines with the ring in the receiver block. Others, M1 carbines and Thompsons, had leather cuffs on the stocks with rings attached. Same for sidearms, which had lanyards. The slings kept the long arms always at hand and ready to use and the lanyards and slings kept the firearms from ever being dropped and falling off the rail down among the convicts.

[paladin]

Youse guys carried model 94's.....Either you're WAYYYYY older than ya want us to believe.....or that prison system was living in the dark ages......I would have at least used model '92's.....in .45 long colt...:D

[Bob Cleek]

Well, the state was pretty cheap, Paladin. Back in '71 was when I started. We had mil surplus '06 Springfields for the long stuff, towers and such. We used model '94's (pre-'67's... probably pre-war for that matter!) for general purposes, .30's for outdoors and .25's for indoors. 1921 Thompsons for crowd control and special ops. Also 1.5 grenade launchers for gas and so on. Also used surplus M-1 carbines (.30 cal) with banana clips, made by some pretty strange outfits like Singer Sewing Machine Co. and typewriter companies and so on during the war. For the towers covering the gates, we used .30 heavy water cooled Brownings on trench tripods. Sidearms were Colt .38 four inch revolvers. The stuff was ancient, but well maintained. We had our own armory and gunsmith. There were still Navy Colt cap and ball pistols and the like stored in the armory when I was there. For a short while we also had Remington .308's and the matching pump shotgun with .00 buck loads for various uses. We used No. 7 birdshot for breaking up fistfights on the exercise yards.

In '76 or so, the Department decided to standardize all their weapons. I was detailed to survey what was available, which was fun because the dealers would show up at the range with a car trunk full of everything and all the ammo you wanted. We'd burn through it in an afternoon and have lots of fun. I ended up shooting damn near every full auto carbine and submachine gun on the market at the time. In the end, for considerations of price and durability, not to mention the "idiot factor" (they had to be "fubar proof" given some of the fools we were hiring), they went with the Ruger Mini 14 semi in .223 Remington. Some slick dealer came along and worked a swap: a lot of Mini 14's from a production run for the French army that they didn't accept in trade of some cash and all of our "museum pieces." Unfortunately, the idiots in the purchasing department in Sacramento had no f-ing idea what the "old junk" stamped "SQSP" was going to be sold for on the collector's market! The state took it in the shorts. I hear they are still with the Mini 14, but now have some of the three shot/ full auto selector switch models.

Oddly enough, I ended up well qualified on just about ever US military personal firearm from the turn of the century on. It was sort of a time warp out there.

[paladin]

I pulled a similar "swap" on some stuff in Peru.......traded enough barrels etc, and flats for M-11 Ingrams, and all the silencer drawings for a couple of dozen pre 1900 Colt Peacemakers and '92 Carbines....sure did help out my collection...

[jbelow]

Paul , I may not see eye to eye with your political views but your taste in revolvers is 2nd to none . WOW ! I love the engraved , ivory , bisley grip Ruger .

[Bill Mercer]

Thought that was a bad idea in revolvers? I was told to always leave an empty cylinder under the hammer, so that if I dropped it I didn't do something embarassing to somebody at the range.

[Phillip Allen]

Thought that was a bad idea in revolvers? I was told to always leave an empty cylinder under the hammer, so that if I dropped it I didn't do something embarassing to somebody at the range.

that applies to the old fixed firing pin revolvers...modern revolvers have transfer blocks which prevent the pin from striking the primer unless the trigger is fully depressed...

[paladin]

well...most of them do...anyways....:D

[Phillip Allen]

picky-picky