In the past few days, we’ve seen that the 44 Remington Magnum has been around for seven decades. That fact alone tells us how important this fine cartridge is to the handgunning world. The sheer power of the 44 Magnum is one reason; another is its versatility. Nostalgia plays a role too. Cinema detective Harry Callahan once labeled it as the most powerful handgun in the world, and it was at that time.

My guess is that when most of us imagine the old-time gun toters of the frontier we unconsciously assume that they were packing Colt single actions. And, while that might have been true for a slim majority, the Smith & Wesson Model 3 single action was always running a close second to the venerable Colt.

If you play the handgunning game long enough, sooner or later you are bound to delve into the realm of the powerful big bore revolver. For many it’s a gun that is worked up to over time. Some shooters will go a lifetime shooting the “normal” cartridges, and that’s fine.

One of my favorite authors in Shooting Times was a Texan by the name of Charles A. “Skeeter” Skelton. He was the Handgun Editor with a monthly column, and he also did feature articles for the magazine. I went to college in 1972, studying for a degree in Criminal Justice, and as Skeeter was a lawman, his articles led me into centerfire sixguns.

It would be a disgrace to cover the subject matter of long range sixgunning without mentioning The Grand Old Man, Elmer Keith. Keith was the pioneer of the sport. Without his contributions to bullet and cartridge design, the world of sixguns would have surely progressed, but the pace and quality of said progression would have been undoubtedly crippled.

This past weekend I spent time with a great group of friends. We did some deer hunting, a lot of visiting, and some really serious gun trading. What more could you ask? So, what I’m about to tell you may sound like bragging. Okay...it is bragging. But what I will tell you later ought to make up for it just a little bit.

There are times when packing a full-size handgun just isn’t feasible. This is where the convenience of the pocket gun comes into play. A gun small enough to be carried discreetly in a pocket holster, yet large enough to shoot accurately. We’ll talk a bit about real-world accuracy with these guns in a minute.

It was a package of modifications, with the cutaway feature already being somewhat commonplace. The cutaway remains, however, the most notable and controversial of the alterations, and has inspired a safer—and surprisingly durable—version of the speed-oriented modification. It may have another name, but I’ve always called it the “Half Fitz.” 

Some years ago, Ed Martin, cow boss for the Shannon Estate Ranches, and I were taking a bit of a noon rest in the ranch’s Elk Horn pasture. My attention was drawn to a pretty good sized rock over on the side of a hill, about 175 to 200 yards away. Naturally, that got me to thinking about long-range shooting with a handgun.

I expect a lot of us can relate to starting our adult lives with meager earnings. The first year or two that my wife, Jill, and I were married we didn’t have a lot of extra money. Jill was going to college, and we had a brand-new baby girl. Her grandmother watched the baby during the day so Jill could drive seventy-four miles each way to attend the University of Texas Pharmacy School in Austin.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

In 1917, Gee McMeans was much better known than Frank Hamer. McMeans had been a Texas Ranger, the elected sheriff of Ector County, Texas...

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...

Back in 1930 this country was in one of the periodic messes that Americans like to stir up. They’d decided to hold the Great Depression...

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...

In the summer of 1954, a Swedish-born industrialist sat down with a veteran gunfighter and created revolver history. The gunfighter had...