Favors the Colt .45 S. A. 



Editor Recreation: 



I have watched the articles in your magazine, 

 relating to the improvement of the six-shooter, 

 with some interest. And it seems to me that a 

 great deal of the argument advanced has no 

 bearing on the case. It seems to me that they are 

 asking an impossibility when they expect a gun 

 to combine all the good features of a double 

 action, single action, pocket and holster gun in 

 one. And they do not seem to be able to tell just 

 what purpose they expect to use it for. Now, the 

 chances of a man ever needing more shots than 

 is contained in Colt's .45 S. A. without reloading 

 is about one in a hundred thousand, providing he 

 can use those to advantage and put them where 

 he wants them or where they will do the most 

 good. If he can not do this with the first six, how 

 does he expect to with the next six or the next ? 

 If he expects any such emergency to arise, he had 

 better get a sawed-off, or at least another gun (a 

 six-shooter). How many of these men who are 

 asking for a new model could, if the right hand 

 became disabled, use their six-shooter in the left 

 with any accuracy ? 



The six-shooter, for an arm of defense, is as 

 much different from a target gun as a Pope target 

 rifle is from a hunting rifle. Although a good shot 

 can use either one, one man's complaint of the old 

 model S. A. .45 was the click of the safety and half 

 cock notches, which seemed to nearly cause him 

 nervous prostration, which shows that a man of 

 his nervous temperament should not have a gun 

 of any kind. And another one complained of the 

 hammer having too long a sweep, as it penetrated 

 the primer, and caused his gun to stick. Now, 

 does he not know that easing up the main spring 

 or filing of the firing pin (which is not intended 

 to be long enough to penetrate the primer, and is 

 not made so usually) would have regulated that 

 trouble. 



Target sights on a belt gun are simply out of place, 

 as they do not let a gun come out free as they 

 should and in case of defense one's assailant is 

 not liable to allow one time to draw a fine bead 

 on him. And still another complains of the weight 

 of the Colt's S. A. guns. Still they never complain 

 of the weight of the ammunition, and they all 

 carry as much as they can put in their belt, usually 

 forty or fifty rounds, which weighs as much or 

 more than the gun. The double-action man 

 seems to care only to be able to rip off six shots 

 in as many seconds or less, regardless of where they 

 hit. And no man can hit anything using a gun 

 that way. 



The old Colt's .45 S. A. is the height of perfec- 



tion and can not be improved upon. Captain 

 Wallace, in his engagement with the Indians on 

 the battlefield of Wounded Knee, where he used 

 his Colt's .45 S. A. with such telling effect, would 

 not have wished for a new model side ejector but 

 for another one like he had. The rapidity with 

 which he could have reloaded a new model gun 

 would have been of no account to a man in his 

 position. 



The new model side ejector would be a modern 

 arm. But I think that is about all that could be 

 said of it. When you take the extractor off the 

 barrel you destroy the balance of the arm and 

 balance amounts to a great deal in a gun. The 

 break in the frame (and no one can deny it) is a 

 weak point in the gun. And any of them, so far 

 produced, will show it after they have been fired 

 a few hundred shots. The only improvement that 

 can be made in the old .45, and I think it is a 

 practical, one too, would be to make it out of nickel 

 steel and load with H. P. smokeless powder, 

 although I have used it in the old ones, and came 

 to no harm by so doing, but I suppose there is 

 some danger attached to the experiment. The 

 firearms as made to-day have reached a higher 

 state of perfection than the men who use them. 

 And as to a belt and holster gun, a great deal de- 

 pends on the belt and holster. 



A holster should be made of leather that is heavy 

 enough to retain its shape after it has been thor- 

 oughly dampened in lukewarm water, then wrap 

 the gun in a fold or bit of paper, force it into 

 holster and leave until dry. And your gun will 

 then come out of holster without lifting same with 

 it. The holsters put on the market by the Eastern 

 people at 75 cents to a dollar are of no account at 

 all as they collapse as soon as the gun is removed 

 and pull up with it when you attempt to draw the 

 gun. For the benefit of the gentleman from In- 

 diana who inquired for a belt and holster, I would 

 recommend him to write to Mr. Jake Haffer, 

 Mont Rose, Colo., or H. H. Heizer, Denver, who 

 will furnish him an outfit that will please him. 

 Describe the gun for which holster is wanted. A 

 plain one will cost $1.50. Fancy stamped will cost 

 $3.00. They are cut on a pattern that cannot be 

 beat. A belt made of fine calfskin, combined 

 money and cartridge belt, all hand-sewed, and 

 leather-covered buckle, $3.00 and up. But there 

 is nothing finer. Initials stamped on billet free of 

 charge, making an outfit cost from $4.50 to 

 $5.50. 



I have not meant to offend the advocates of the 

 new model single action gun. But I am so thor- 

 oughly convinced that the old model cannot be 

 worked over, and still come up to its old standard, 



