Remembering Eddie Janis

“Hi, John. It’s Eddie!”

The best thing about my many years as a gun writer is not all the guns I get to shoot, but all the really fine people I meet. Whenever I answered the phone and heard this greeting I knew it was one of the really nicest men I have ever met and a friend for many decades.

Eddie Janis of Peacemaker Specialists was long well known for producing exquisitely tuned in-time Colt Single Actions as well as beautiful restorations. Eddie specialized in Colt Peacemakers to the extent he would not work on any other revolvers — no Rugers, no Great Westerns, no USFAs, no replicas of any make, shape or form. He was a purist in the strictest sense of the word.

His sixgun mission in life was to take over where the manufacturer of Colt Single Actions leaves off and proceed to perfection.

Pre-War Colts in their original form are beautiful sixguns, however, many were used hard over the course of their shooting life or even abused. This is where Peacemaker Specialists came on stage. The early 2nd Generation Colts were also fine sixguns but lacked perfection, often being found with oversize chambers and as machinery began to wear, the later sixguns slipped in quality. Many 3rd Generation revolvers also need help, the kind of help Eddie Janis could supply.

Janis describe what he was known for thusly — “Our priority in doing an action job is not to make the gun feel smooth and light. Our priority is to build a gun that is totally reliable by eliminating wear and parts breakage. By accomplishing this goal, the byproduct is a pistol that feels like it’s running on ball bearings but locks up like a bank vault.” Janis has worked on several of my Colt Single Actions and I can testify to the fact everything he has said is absolutely true. The sixguns are virtually unbreakable, which is quite a bit to say about a sixgun operating with flat springs and yet feels so smooth.

A Prime Example

Many years ago I had Eddie perform his action job on a Third Generation Colt Single Action chambered in .44-40. He not only smoothed out the 4-3/4″ Colt considerably, he also tweaked the barrel to line up the sights to allow the Colt to shoot point of aim. When I came into possession of a poorly re-blued First Generation .32-20 that had indeed “been ridden hard and put up wet” as the saying goes, I immediately thought of Peacemaker Specialists. This Colt had originally departed from the factory in 1907 and was in need of a major overhaul. It was sent to Eddie to bring it back into first-class shooting shape. Several new parts were required, including a new cylinder pin and bushing, a new mainspring, new screws and an ejector rod and spring. I sent along a new Second Generation .44 Special Barrel from my parts box and Eddie had a .44 Special cylinder on hand.

The new cylinder and barrel were installed with minimum barrel/cylinder gap and the forcing cone was cut to 11 degrees. An oversized locking bolt removed all play in the cylinder. Over nearly a century of use, both the trigger and hammer notches had been worn considerably and these were both welded up and re-cut. The action was tuned, the trigger pull set at 3 lbs. and all internal parts totally smoothed and de-burred. Pre-war rear sight notches, being of the very narrow “V” shape do not meet up well with the thicker front sights on Second Generation barrels so Eddie corrected this by opening up the rear sight to give a clear, square sight picture.

When the work was all finished, the original plan called for Peacemaker Specialists to return the .44 for test-firing before refinishing. The frame and hammer would be case-colored with the rest of the sixgun blued. However, when the 7-1/2″ .44 Special arrived back home, I was more than pleasantly surprised with its look. The new barrel and cylinder match very well with the old re-blued frame, giving it a certain amount of character. Someday I planned to return it to Eddie, however I have enjoyed it all these years as just a good lookin’, good shootin’ .44 Special Colt.

The Secret Is Shared

I mentioned earlier the fact Eddie was a purist who would only work on Colts, however, he made one single exception and I have it. Starting with a Ruger Old Model .45 Blackhawk about 30 years ago, Eddie set out to make it a Ruger New Frontier. Perhaps, he just wanted to see what he could do with a Ruger. The result is absolutely stunning to say the least. Barrel length is 4-3/4″ and set up with a front sight as normally found on a Colt New Frontier. The hammer and frame are case-colored, the balance is beautifully blued and grips are from the thigh bone of a bison. It is altogether one of the most beautiful sixguns in existence. I was sworn to secrecy to not tell anyone who had done the work on this exceptional sixgun, however, with his passing I feel released from the promise and would like everyone to see what a talented custom sixgunsmith Eddie Janis was.

Eddie is genuinely missed, however he was a man of faith, which he strongly expressed to me as we talked just shortly before his passing. He was teaching his wife the parts business so if anyone needs genuine Colt Single Action Army parts, Peacemaker Specialists is still the place to go.
“Eddie — keep the campfire burning, the beans bubbling and the bacon sizzling. See you when I cross over the River.”

PeacemakerSpecialists.com

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