Dress It Up

Inspired by a review of what appeared to be a genuinely well-designed, dandy-looking revolver, it occurred to me that not everyone has the financial resources to be tripping down to the local gun store to order every new cover photo handgun that comes along.

It’s no reason to sit in the corner and pout. Indeed, if you’re a handgunner with even a few pieces in your safe, you just might set yourself — and your sidearm — apart with a few minor upgrades so nobody but you has what you’ve got.

Let’s start with some of the basics.

I looked over my trusty Ruger New Vaquero in .45 Colt, a “standard” issue model which arrived from the factory a few years ago with a blue finish, thin black checkered plastic grip panels and fixed sights. It’s been a straight-shooting specimen with handloads using a max-recommended 6.9 grains of Hodgdon’s HP-38 under a 255-grain Hornady lead flatpoint bullet producing right around the manual-listed 850 fps (and sometimes a little better) muzzle velocity out of my 7 ½-inch New Vaquero, and about 800 fps out of the 4 5/8-inch gun, which is the subject of this essay.

The first things to go were the grip panels. In my experience, thin grips do not make for comfort when firing full-house loads, so I advanced to various options, finally settling on a set of “aged ivory” Magna Tusk grips from Arizona Custom Grips — a tough-as-nails material — and genuine elk antler panels from Eagle Grips.

I next looked over the barrel and cylinder for holster wear, and after being carried in the High Lonesome off and on over the course of several years, the wear was there! Off came the steel ejector rod housing and out came the Birchwood Casey Perma Blue, a cold blue compound that performs pretty well when one follows the instructions.

I first buffed off the spots where the worst wear appeared, using 1000-grit paper, followed by some gentle rubbing with fine steel wool. Then came the degreasing, followed by a wash of cold water. Only then did I apply a uniform coat of the cold blue, waited one full minute for the formula to work, followed by another cold-water rinse and a light buffing with the steel wool. Repeating the degreasing and blue application process deepened the blue. I applied blue four or five times to really get a good “set” and then applied a thin coat of oil.

In the process, I cleaned out the interior channel of the ejector rod housing, gave it a fresh lightoil application and put it back together. I treated the left front of the barrel in the same way, with careful buffing, bluing and finishing.

Other Tricks

Sometime ago, I obtained a couple of spare cylinder pins from Ruger, one in blue and the other in stainless. Both are superb, and I installed the stainless one which added a nice, unique touch.

The hammer on a single-action sixgun can be a crud magnet, so I applied some Hoppe’s No. 9solvent and gently cleaned the sides of the hammer with the fine steel wool. Shines like new!

Also check the cylinder for any wear in the cylinder bolt notches and around the front where blue is known to wear off with repeated drawing and re-holstering. Follow the directions for touching up with cold blue. After you’re finished, be absolutely certain to wipe the gun down all over with a soft cloth and give it a wipe with an oily cloth, followed by a wipe with a dry one.

Don’t forget the front sight blade. When I first obtained this sixgun, it became necessary to gently file the front sight just a hair, to bring my point of impact at 25 yards up a bit, as the revolver straight out of the box shot a tad low, while windage seems spot-on. I used a fine file for a couple of strokes and finished off with a small diamond stone. Naturally, I wanted to restore the blue finish, so I did all the prep work, soaked a Q-Tip in the bluing compound and applied it carefully.

What else? Maybe you can add a new holster or just refinish one you’ve got with a fresh dye job, buff and application of oil or some other treatment to restore the leather and protect it. A slicked-up handgun in a snazzy-looking holster can be pure eye candy.

Needs to Shoot

I’m not a fan of “safe queen” handguns. Every sidearm in my safe, including the vintage Colt Python, gets a workout now and then. It’s relaxing, sometimes challenging and can provide hours of quality time which, if you are so inclined, could result in a cooler filled with game meat.

My aforementioned load using lead flat point bullets has proven over the years to be accurate out of both of my New Vaqueros. Recoil is moderate and at 25 yards, that gun and load combination has been known to keep a tin can rolling around. I have a simple principle: If you can hit a pop can at 25 yards, you can hit something much bigger when the chips are down.

HP-38 is a consistent propellant I’ve used for many years, and it has proven its versatility more times than I can count. I’ve used it in .32 H&R Magnum, 9mm, .38 Special, .45 ACP and now, the.45 Colt.

I was reading my Hodgdon’s Annual Manual and spotted a load suggestion for 9.2 grains of CFE Pistol powder behind a 250-grain LRNFP bullet in the .45 Colt for an advertised velocity of 1,014 fps. By the time you read this, I plan to have tried that combination just to see if it stacks up to what the book says. Even if it loses some muzzle velocity in actual use, a big piece of lead moving along at maybe 850-900 fps is going to get the attention of whatever it hits, and in my neighborhood that could be a bear, mountain lion or something else with teeth.

Be nice to your sixguns and they will be nice to you. And never feel bad about not being able to afford the next centerfold hardware you see, even though we all admit the urge to just wrap our hands around a nice new sidearm, maybe just to say we did. Feel good about being able consistently hit that at which you are shooting. A new gun doesn’t automatically make you a better shot.

You Be the Judge

Well, maybe in this case, you’ll be better off without the black robe and gavel, considering what one must do to meet what are called “sentencing guidelines.”

In January 2020 in downtown Seattle, at the height of rush hour, three guys who wouldn’t exactly be called model citizens drew illegally-carried guns and opened fire at one another. We know the guns were illegally carried because all of these guys had criminal backgrounds. Between two of the gents involved, there were at least 65 arrests, according to KING News, the local NBC affiliate. That’s got to be some kind of record.

Last month, one of the three men — William Tolliver, believed by some to have instigated the confrontation — pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault, plus second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A 50-year-old female bystander was killed, and a 9-year-old boy was so seriously wounded in the upper leg that he is, according to one report, still doing rehabilitation.

And the sentence? Mr. Tolliver will be imprisoned for 48 months. Who wants to bet some time comes off for good behavior? And this after one woman died and several other people, including the youngster, were wounded. The whole thing lasted an estimated six seconds and 24 shots were fired.

Seattle is one of those big cities with a mayor and city council decidedly left of center, and they all support restrictive gun control laws. In such cities, one often finds sentiments going in favor of leniency for people convicted of crimes. Not so much for law-abiding citizens who own guns and merely wish to be left alone.