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.

Why would you even think such a thing?  Don’t you know that plastic pistols and high-capacity magazines revolutionized the world?  Where have you been?  Are you some sort of Daniel Boone throwback?  Well, I can share my thinking on the subject with you although I have to tell you right up front that I’m not an operator...don’t have any tattoos...don’t even have any tactical underwear or other super-hero outfits.

I’m not a gun collector. Oh, I’m sure 'nuff a firearms enthusiast, but I don’t collect in the sense of obtaining an organized representation of specific makes or models of guns. Some folks collect Colt Single Action Army’s, maybe only 1st Generations, maybe all. One guy I know collects old Winchester lever actions and further specializes in the Trapper Models.

The story goes that author Ned Buntline (real name Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr.) wanted to express his thanks to some of the Kansas lawmen who had been the inspiration for some of the books that he wrote.

This Colt 1851 Navy, serial number 1388131E, is one of a pair carried by James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1837-1876).  During his lifetime, Hickok was a Union Army scout, a deputy U.S. Marshal, the sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas, and the city marshal of Abilene, Kansas.

The idea of a .41 caliber revolver cartridge has been around longer than a lot of folks expect. Probably the most popular was the .41 Long Colt which was designed for the Colt 1877 Double Action revolver that is best known by its nickname, the Colt Thunderer.

As a life-long western historian...with amateur status...I’ve always loved to look at the old frontier photos. But one thing that will kind of ruin your appreciation of cowboy movies and TV shows is the lack of guns showing on regular citizens. Of course, with pictures of frontier lawmen you saw all kinds of sixguns...

Nothing makes me shudder and cringe like being introduced as a firearms expert.  To tell you the truth, I’ve met very few real experts in the firearms industry.  Ken...

Robust. Strong. Sturdy. Sound. All these words are fit for describing Colt’s New Service double-action revolver. The New Service was an evolution of sorts of Colt’s first revolver with a swing-out cylinder...

The .44 Magnum is one of my all-time favorite cartridges. But it hasn’t always been that way. We didn’t really get together until I got some firearms education and got enough nerve to do some experimentation...

You just never know what you’ll see at a small-town gun show. A few years ago, I walked into our show that’s held each Labor Day weekend at Sul Ross State University in Alpine and sauntered up...

Dan Westbrook had been a veteran of World War I. When he got home from that little fuss he went to work as a theft investigator for one...

Smith & Wesson introduced the .44 Special cartridge in 1907, in that classic revolver that is called the Triple Lock.  Although the...

Perched in an old quad-pod near a windmill in remote Pecos County, Texas is one of my favorite places to be each fall. For reasons...

At the end of World War II, with their government contracts filled, the firearms companies got back to making guns for the civilian...

John Taffin passed away on March 10, 2025. He was 85 years old. John invited me to the Shootist Holiday in the early 1990s...It must have..

There was a time when every detective worth his salt carried some sort of snub-nosed revolver. And, naturally, a lot of citizens who felt...

If we could anticipate, or predict, when we would be the target of a violent attack we wouldn’t carry a handgun at all. A shotgun or...

Well friends, once again the SHOT Show has flown by! What starts out as “an entire week” is gone in the blink of an eye. The best part is...