Rare is the revolver that doesn’t need a little tweaking to better suit our wants and needs. We’ll save the full-on customs for another day. Today, let’s talk a little about some essential work and small custom features that turn an okay gun into a mighty nice piece of artillery that hits where we’re aiming.

His name was Arvo Ojala, pronounced O-Ja-La, with a J. He was known as the fast gun coach of the stars needing help handling sixguns to realistically portray themselves as authentic gunslingers. Believe me, they all needed help. Arvo was considered an excellent teacher, stating he could teach anyone how to fast-draw and handle guns professionally within a two-week span.

John Wesley Hardin was born in Bonham, Texas, in 1853. He grew up during the War of Northern Aggression and the subsequent Reconstruction era. For whatever reason, Texas was not hit very hard by the actual war; not a single major battle was fought in the state. However, Reconstruction hit Texas with both feet...with the boots and spurs still on.

I have been extremely fortunate to have met, and continue to meet, some extraordinary and interesting characters in my life. It will come as no surprise to many of you that a lot of these folks are lawmen. One such man was Sam McKone. That name will ring a bell to devoted readers of No Second Place Winner, authored by famed Border Patrolman Bill Jordan. Pages 105 and 106 of my copy of that compact book on gunfighting tell how Sam’s cool head and expert marksmanship took out a

The ranch was alive.  A symphony of coyotes yipping and howling greeted us.  Just prior to first light the trees across from a field we were near erupted in the gobbles of numerous turkeys descending from their roosts.  Things looked promising.  By sunrise, Melanie was calling and she was getting lots of responses.  Melanie says that her two absolute favorite things to hunt are turkey and elk because you have to “talk” and interact with both of them. It was incredibly excitin

“There wasn’t no place I couldn’t go with a 22 rifle and a fishing pole.” Y’all remember that old Don Williams tune? I suspect we all look back on our younger years and remember them as a better time. Whether they always were or not doesn’t matter if we choose to remember the best of times. For most of us our youth was certainly less complicated by electronics. No cell phones.

The working gun is many different things to many different people. But amidst the sea of usin’ guns, there are a few constants that I believe all should adhere to. Reliability, accuracy, and sufficient power for the intended task. Now, before we jump in with both feet, I’ll have you know, dear reader, I am not in law enforcement nor private security and have no background in any such profession. I am a ranch cowboy. But, I am an enthusiast with a genuine need for a solid side

He had ridden southwest out of Marfa, down through Pinto Canyon. Once he hit the river, he headed upstream, through the little village of Candelaria, to a river crossing called Capote. His horse was hobbled back in the brush, and now he sat in the early morning darkness, Winchester across his lap, waiting to kill a man who had once been his best friend.

The title of the 1960s Outdoor Life magazine article was “The Art of Brush Hunting” written by John Wootters.  I started reading and quickly realized it was written about hunting near Sheridan, Texas, a small community twenty-five miles south of where I lived and where I hunted. I committed to memory everything Wootters wrote in that article. I was truly impressed that a writer, obviously from “my part of Texas” had an article in Outdoor Life and was writing about the hunting

Of course, they are also at home in the great state of Texas. Scaled quail dispersion in Texas shows them ranging from the panhandle down into the Big Bend country and following the Rio Grande. From there they seep deep into Old Mexico.

On or before October 10, 1918, the Cameron County Sheriff William T. Vann got word that Delgado was going to cross a load of mescal at Los Tomates Bend not far from Brownsville. Vann put together an arrest team made up of a couple of his deputies, two customs officers, Texas Ranger Captain W. W. Taylor, Ranger Sergeant Delbert Timberlake, and Ranger Private Frank Hamer.

Recently, there has been a lot of interest and posts on “Fitz” revolvers on social media. I simply shake my head at the level of pontification and commentary by folks who have absolutely no concept of the reason they existed and what the intent was in their creation. There is a huge disconnect, so I thought I would do a post to explain the historical significance of these guns.

Some guns need a little tweaking to make them look “right.” A slight change to the grip frame or a more graceful hammer spur added to a single action or a figured piece of walnut bolted on a plain-stocked rifle and voila, perfection! Then there are a few guns that are ideal as-is from the factory. To my eye Colt’s Single Action Army is good from the get-go. Heck, I even like the plastic grips that come on them. The same goes for a 4-inch Smith & Wesson N-frame. Everything is

Shane’s last article on choosing one handgun for personal defense got me to thinking. And I admire his honesty when, at the end of the article, he gave the nod to a good single-action revolver. It may come as a shock to some but, in this day of high-cap plastic guns, there are quite a few savvy handgunners who prefer a good single action when their life is in danger. They like single actions and shoot them well, so why not carry one for defensive purposes?

Ohio pistolsmith Andy Horvath had gotten hold of this particular Mod. 28. In addition to rechambering it to .41 Special, He did a perfect tuning job on the action and then refinished it in an attractive blue finish.

Tim Sundles and I were prowling around his beautiful Buffalo Bore Game Preserve and talking about guns and hunting and the usual stuff like-minded folks discuss when we get together. Tim posed one of the age-old questions, “if you could only have one handgun for personal defense, what would it be?” “One that does it all, hunting and personal defense?” I asked, with the wheels already turning in my head.  His reply, “Just personal defense.”

The pronghorn is America’s colloquial antelope. He’s known far and wide as the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere. They say he can run at speeds up to 60 MPH, reaching velocities that only a cheetah could surpass. This trait has earned them the name “speed goat.”

The area where this story took place is some of the most remote country in the American Southwest.  On a Texas map, find the border town of Presidio.  As you look upstream on the Rio Grande, from Presidio, you’ll notice that there’s just a whole of nothing for several hundred miles until you get almost to El Paso.

Even though I was a young city policeman, I liked to spend as much time as possible over at the sheriff’s office. The deputies, as a group, were a good bit older and had a lot more experience; I figured I just might learn something useful by hanging around them. One of my favorites was Buster Gibbs.

It’s funny how we associate certain smells or things with memories and people. Having spent a lot of time around my mother’s parents as a child growing up, it’s not surprising I have plenty of fond recollections of them. My granddad and I had a special bond, and we grandkids all called him Pawpaw.