Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Custom Guns, Dreams Vs. Reality


H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

Recommended Posts

They say that if you are willing to spend the money, you can get any kind of a custom made gun you want.   That may be true, but for some customizations, you probably will have to spend A LOT of money to get what you are thinking of.   So it really all does come down to what are you *willing* to spend.

 

My own recent "Big Iron" project for example, cost me several hundred dollars, and I already had the pistol that I had modified.   All of that being said, even if money is no object, or if you have a lot of of it to spend, there probably are some things that are just beyond the realm of possibility.

I have pretty much decided, that no matter what, a left handed Spencer in .38 Smith & Wesson can never become a reality.  On the other hand, a Lightning Rifle in .44 Special would probably somewhat easier to come up with.   My idea for an 86 Winchester in .30-40 Krag has too many issues to make into reality, but if I'm willing to save the pennies, a cartridge converted LeMat could be done if I can find a creative gunsmith.

So, thinking about it, what ideas have some of you all thought of for custom guns?   And do you think they could actually be created if you had enough cash, or would there be limitations that just make it beyond the realm of practical reality?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About 17 years ago our SASS club secretary commissioned a gunsmith to create a custom single action revolver based on an old model Vaquero; hexagonal buntline barrel, engraving, custom grips, to be raffled off as a fund raiser for the club. During a membership meeting he asked how many tickets I wanted to buy and he became upset when I replied “zero.”  I said it obviously took a lot of skill to make it, but I couldn’t shoot it in a match and wasn’t interested in having it because it would be difficult to sell to anyone else.  I guess others agreed silently because that the last year for a custom gun raffle.
 

Many “custom” guns just make me laugh.  Not for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have 3, all 1892 variations:

First would be to send a Rossi Mares Leg in .44 mag to Nate Kiowa Jones to have shortened so as to be a “copy” of Josh Randall’s as he has for others.

Second would also go to Nate, a Rossi again in .44 mag, with 24” octagon blued barrel, and have him get the receiver, lever and butt all plated in “brass” to look like the rifles in “The Commancheros”!

Finally, not sure who but to take my Browning 92 and have a “D” ring put on it for a Rifleman copy. There was someone who did it off an original not Japanese made Winchester. Perhaps Nate would be the one for that as well

Not much in the amount of custom work but definitely 3 I would like for my collection!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been assembling the parts for a custom gun for a couple years. It is Indiana Jones' gun from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Have the donor gun, grips and now the barrel band for the front sight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

I have been assembling the parts for a custom gun for a couple years. It is Indiana Jones' gun from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Have the donor gun, grips and now the barrel band for the front sight.

 

The Browning Hi Power or the Smith and Wesson revolver?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Nimble Fingers SASS# 25439 said:

I have 3, all 1892 variations:

First would be to send a Rossi Mares Leg in .44 mag to Nate Kiowa Jones to have shortened so as to be a “copy” of Josh Randall’s as he has for others.

Second would also go to Nate, a Rossi again in .44 mag, with 24” octagon blued barrel, and have him get the receiver, lever and butt all plated in “brass” to look like the rifles in “The Commancheros”!

Finally, not sure who but to take my Browning 92 and have a “D” ring put on it for a Rifleman copy. There was someone who did it off an original not Japanese made Winchester. Perhaps Nate would be the one for that as well

Not much in the amount of custom work but definitely 3 I would like for my collection!

 

Well, these simple customizations are usually the best kind as they can actually be done.    All sound like good ideas to me.   Although, I'd Chiappas, not Rossi's as they have no safety.   Their Mare's Leg is pretty nice, except the lever is kinda goofy looking.   I will probably customize mine by getting and putting on their "Rio Bravo" loop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

About 17 years ago our SASS club secretary commissioned a gunsmith to create a custom single action revolver based on an old model Vaquero; hexagonal buntline barrel, engraving, custom grips, to be raffled off as a fund raiser for the club. During a membership meeting he asked how many tickets I wanted to buy and he became upset when I replied “zero.”  I said it obviously took a lot of skill to make it, but I couldn’t shoot it in a match and wasn’t interested in having it because it would be difficult to sell to anyone else.  I guess others agreed silently because that the last year for a custom gun raffle.
 

Many “custom” guns just make me laugh.  Not for me.

 

I'da bought a ticket.   Not all the fond of Rugers personally, I just like the Colt and copies thereof much better.   Personal preference.   But this one sounds like a lot of fun.   It would go well with my Big Iron.   An ASM clone with a 9" barrel cut down from a Rossi 92 octagon barrel and Pieta I860 grips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But that defeats the purpose of trying to get it to look like Josh Randall’s, JW’s large loop doesn’t look like it. And Robert Mitchum’s rifle in El Dorado must have been borrowed by Johnny Crawford because that one looks just like the one in The Rifleman. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

The Browning Hi Power or the Smith and Wesson revolver?

The S&W 1917 with the barrel band front sight and lanyard loop.

p85bQ4q.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Custom anything can be a crap shoot.  The biggest issue is: did what I order match what I really want?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  You have to be super honest with yourself and do a crap ton of research.  I've had good luck with custom bicycles.  I've had good luck with my 2 Rugers.  One of these days I'm going to try a bass guitar.  Each time I've ordered something really custom, it's been super humbling.  The journey of self-discovery can be frightening.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thompson M1A1. 

Not really custom, but moving to a free state and buying a house with enough land to where I can enjoy it is gonna be super expensive. :D

 

Hey, what can I say, I grew up watching COMBAT! with all them westerns on TV when I was a kid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

If I had unlimited funds, I think Hamilton Bowen is the most likely candidate to durn near take all of it.

 

http://bowenclassicarms.com/workshop.html

Drool!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Griff,  sounds like your dream is very close to one I had just a few years ago.  I had talked with 'Happy Trails' a couple of times about actually converting my 44W Uberti Henry to a 20" barled .44 Russian.  Alas, my time seems to have now passed me by BUT my dreams of making smoke will remain with me.   I do really hate that SASS popularity is no longer capable of driving new ideas (dreams) for reproductions BUT then again my pocket book was never capable of keeping up with me BIG dreams!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Slowhand Bob, 24229 said:

... .44 Russian...

I've dropped a note in Uberti's online suggestion box several times to make a limited edition/commemorative 1860 Henry in .44 Russian. No luck so far. They already have a .44 barrel & a suitable bolt, and the carrier mod is simple enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Shooting Bull said:

I'd like to commission a pair of SASS legal pistols with no misses built in. :(

Heck, you could build me a couple of pistols with barrels long enough to tickle the targets and I would still miss. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I only shoot real cowboy calibers 44-40, 38-40 and 32-20.  No .45. Go ahead and flame, don't care :P ,,, that's me. I've got Colts in all three, but I've got OMV Rugers in just 44-40 and 38-40. I've got a spare pair in 357/38 that I'd like to have barrels and cylinders made for them in 32-20. That's doable. Ahhhh, one day ,,, maybe.

YMMV,

 Isom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Isom Dart, SASS#8096 said:

I only shoot real cowboy calibers 44-40, 38-40 and 32-20.  No .45. Go ahead and flame, don't care :P ,,, that's me. I've got Colts in all three, but I've got OMV Rugers in just 44-40 and 38-40. I've got a spare pair in 357/38 that I'd like to have barrels and cylinders made for them in 32-20. That's doable. Ahhhh, one day ,,, maybe.

YMMV,

 Isom

 

How is .45 not a real cowboy caliber?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are .45's. I had a set of .357's, but they were notably heavier, so I sold them to Korrupt Karl about ten years ago and bought the .45's. I wanted .44-40's, but have only seen one, maybe two, for sale in the ten years I've been looking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Hendo said:

Thompson M1A1. 

Not really custom, but moving to a free state and buying a house with enough land to where I can enjoy it is gonna be super expensive. :D

 

Hey, what can I say, I grew up watching COMBAT! with all them westerns on TV when I was a kid. 

That’s why I got the 1928 model, growing in Chicago and watching the “Untouchables” TV series. I did pick up a 10 inch barrel to replace the 16 inch when I get the “tag” but I would also like to modify the receiver to accept a detachable stock. I picked up an old one just so I can see what is needed. Not sure how to get that done but I will start with the barrel. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Tennessee Snuffy said:

Uriah and Three Fingers

 

Do you shoot those pistols at matches or are they safe queens?

 

I shoot them.

The Colt Buntline is a .44 Special, and I will usually pair it with a Colt Sheriff's model for contrast.   I also use it at "big" shoot that have a long range pistol side match.   I am planning to get one of the new Cimarron S&W American replicas, also in .44 Special, so I can pair it with the Buntline and go all "Wyatt Earp" if I want to.

The Big Iron is an Armi San Marco .45 that originally had a 5.5" barrel.  When I read the story of the original one that inspired the Marty Robbins song, I told myself that I wanted one of my very own.   The description online at the time said that barrel on the original was a 10" one cut down from a Marlin rifle.  I always assumed it was an octagon, but learned later that it is a round barrel.   The original is also a Great Western revolver in .44 Magnum.    I used this pistol because, well, I had it, it only cost me $250 bucks about 10 years ago, and I have plenty of other "standard" .45's and I was not gonna do this to a real Colt.   The barrel is a cut down Rossi 92, and the grips are from a Pietta 1860.   Yes, I shoot this one as well from time to time.  Most recently, I shot it with my AWA Lightning Bolt, Chiappa Mare's Leg 12 Gauge and AWA Lightning rifle to shoot a clean match.  (I used all these guns with the permission of the local MD.  The Mare's Legs types are sadly not allowed by SASS rules.)    The Big Iron is a lot of fun to shoot, and it get's a lot of interesting looks when I take it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

J-Bar would maybe like these. Ruger Old Armies with 12” barrels.

EC63D68B-8A99-447E-9DC4-1F8FFBFD5371.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.