Westerns

I share John the Methodist's love of the Western. I've read a few Louis L'amour books, but really it's all about John Wayne movies on AMC. I watched a lot of Gunsmoke and Maverick on TV Land when I was out of work after I finished Grad School. I have half a mind to put a few disks of Have Gun-Will Travel on my Netflix queue.

I almost bought myself a cowboy pistol this weekend. When I stopped by Millers Gun Center in Newcastle, they had an Uberti Cattleman Hombre chambered in .38/.357 for $300. I don't love the guns matte finish, but the price is right and with .38 specials I could actually afford to shoot the darn thing. In the end I passed on it, mostly because I don't actually like Colt Peacemakers very much. My hand doesn't fit on the grip quite right so the recoil bugs me. I might not have that problem with a .38, but why risk it? Besides I have more important things to spend $300 on right now.

UPDATE: Reminder to self, Numrich Gun Parts carries a variety of .45 ACP cylinders for the Uberti Single Action Armies. They even have them in the rough but cheap matte "millenium" finish. For about ~$110 you can turn a .45 colt SAA into a .45 ACP SAA. This is important because a .45 colt gun costs almost twice as much to feed as a .45 ACP gun and, since my 1911 is also .45 ACP, I already have the ammo lying around. The cost of the new cylinder would probably pay for itself within 500 rounds.

UPDATE2: John waxes poetic about the Winchester rifle, but he wants a Marlin. I guess Winchester's marketing department isn't what it used to be. I wouldn't mind trading my M1 carbine for a good lever gun myself.

UPDATE3: Turns out the .45 ACP guns are generally more accurate than the .45 colts. .45 colt has a huge amount of case volume compared to more modern cartridges. The amount of modern powder required to achieve it's pressure spec is just tiny. You can do the same thing with a .45 ACP case and have much less wasted space, which makes for a more accurate round.