Perfect 10s: Other Single-Actions
Who’s Your Huckleberry?
John’s pair of .45 Colt 10" Flat-Tops (top) compared to the
12" Colt and Great Western Buntline Specials (bottom).
In 1992, my two sons-in-law contacted me to say they wanted to take me to see a new Western movie. It was called Tombstone. “Who is in it?” They told me Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were being played by Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. “You gotta be kidding! No thanks.”
“Oh come on. You will probably enjoy it.” So, reluctantly I agreed to let them take me to the movies, something I rarely do. The Dr. Pepper was good, the popcorn was very good and the movie was absolutely excellent. I was thankful I had allowed this to happen.
The rear sight of the Uberti Flat-Top frame shown raised out of its mortise.
Back to O.K.
Russell and Kilmer are just about the best I’ve ever seen at playing Earp and Holliday. They were also supported by a great cast including Sam Elliott, David Biehn and Powers Boothe. Whoever was the prop master also made sure they had the best leather and sixguns. I particularly appreciated the use of the proper sixguns — the real star of the revolvers was the Buntline Special used by Kurt Russell.
Sixty-plus years earlier than this movie, the original, real Wyatt Earp claimed the 12″ Buntline Special — presented to him by C.Z. Judson, a.k.a. Ned Buntline — never slowed down his draw. When one looks at the holsters, which were then available, the term “grain of salt” immediately comes to mind.
Two changes were made in the movie. Instead of a 12″ barrel, the movie Buntline Special had a 10″ barrel. It was manufactured by Uberti and supplied by Cimarron Firearms. Instead of a straight-drop Mexican-style holster, Russell carried the Buntline in a cross-draw holster. When Russell as Wyatt removes his special Colt from its presentation box, we see the medallion inlaid in the right hand stock. This is also carried out in Cimarron’s version as the badge-shaped shield contains the inscription, “WYATT EARP PEACEMAKER, From the Grateful People of Dodge City, Apr 8th 1878.” Notice there is no mention of Ned Buntline.
Balance-wise, the 12″ sixguns can sometimes seem a little muzzle heavy. However, I find this feeling lacking with 2″ less barrel. It just seems to hang on target.
It is not easy to find holsters for 10″ barreled sixguns. I don’t believe any of the old-line holster makers catalog leather for
Buntline Specials. However, a call to Rob Leahy at Simply Rugged took care of the problem immediately. Rob crafted a pair of beautiful Buntline Special holsters, which ride high on the belt either straight-draw or reverse-draw, and embellished it in a frontier period-style of carving. He is a master at the three-legged stool of making holsters, namely quality design, quality craftsmanship and quality material.
Simply Rugged fashioned these holsters for carrying the pair of 10" .45 Colt Flat-Top sixguns.
USPFA/USFA
United States Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company (USPFA), which would eventually become United States Fire Arms (USFA), supplied some of the most beautiful Colt-style single-action sixguns. Unfortunately, they shut down production. As with most situations when factories close, there were many parts still available to be made into completed sixguns. One of these parts was the frame.
These were not standard single-action frames but rather frames styled after the real Buntline Specials. That is, the top of the frame was milled out to hold a long-range rear sight, which could be raised out of its mortise, and then the sight raised up and down on a ladder for shooting at various long-range distances. When the sight was all the way down in its mortise, a standard rear sight at the rear of the long-range sight provided for normal shooting.
After USFA closed, I found my friend Brian Pearce had a good supply of USFA parts received in payment for work he had done. Included in these parts were the special Flat-Top Uberti frames with the lift-up rear sight. Using three of these frames, I had 10″ Buntline Specials made up. One is a .44 Special with an auxiliary cylinder chambered in .44-40, while the other two are a matched pair in .45 Colt.
This .44 and the pair of .45s have been made into long-range sixguns with a taller than normal front sight to compensate for the taller rear sight assembly. Brian talked me into going with the easier handling 10″ instead of the traditional 12″ length. These sixguns are finished in deep blue, lockup is exceptionally tight, fitting has been carried out to perfection with properly sized chambers and stocks of one-piece walnut.
This 10″ USFA Buntline single-action performs exceptionally well, greatly aided by the long-sight radius. I’ve been practicing long-range shooting for nearly 65 years at distances from 100 yards out to where you can hardly see. Most of this has been done by raising the front sight while still keeping it lined up in the rear sight and placing the target on top. Long-range shooting becomes much simpler with the USFA Buntline Special as the rear sight itself is just raised on the elevated special sight. Once the proper setting is found for any distance, it is then just a matter of keeping the proper sight picture.
Seville
In 1985, Elgin Gates sent me his personal sixgun, a brand-new offering. It was a stainless steel Seville from United Sporting Arms with a 10 ½” barrel and chambered in .375 Super Mag. The action was very smooth feeling like some of my Colt Single Actions, which have been tuned by experts. The trigger was also just about perfect for a single-action with just the slightest amount of creep. Someone who knew single actions put this Seville together. It was set up really tight with virtually no cylinder/barrel gap as it would not accept a 0.002″ feeler gauge. Sights were excellent for competition with the front being an undercut post of 0.125″ in width with a matching rear sight in flat black, giving an excellent sight picture.
Before my experience with this .375 Super Mag Seville, I had been using silhouette loads in the .44 Magnum with the Hornady 240 JTC at 1300 fps, and the .375 Maximum with a 180 JTC at 1400 fps. With the .375 Super Mag in the Seville, I used the now-long-gone Winchester 680 powder under the Hornady 220-grain JFP at 1,700 fps. This was a fast, extremely accurate shooting load. When shooting the above-mentioned .44 Magnum and .357 Maximum loads at rams, there was an instant between the firing of the gun and the clank of steel followed by the toppling of the target. With the .375 Super Magnum load in the Seville at 1,700 fps, all of this seemed to happen at once. When I hit the first ram, he was down before I could see him go.
The Seville proved not to be a Johnny-one-note as it also worked well with cast bullets. I used a 233-grain hard-cast gas-checked bullet originally designed for the .38-55 Winchester. With #2400 at 1,650 fps and IMR4227 at 1,700 fps, the cast bullet equaled the jacketed bullet loads for accuracy. Unfortunately United Sporting Arms, like USFA, is long gone.
