Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Found these for sale on Etsy the other day


They fit a Ruger Bisley.  Well, about the first revolver I ever bought is a Ruger Bisley in .45 Colt.

I still have it, and I've hoofed into some unusual placed carrying it over the years.

Usually for protection against two legged varmints, but I've only had to unholster it once.  I was down in a lonely, deep canyon prospecting a likely spot, and there came to my ears the sound of something coming down the gulch behind me that seemed large and heavy.  In addition, it seems to be coming fast, as if chased.  I imagined a deer followed by a mountain lion.

I ended up climbing up the side of the gulch to get out of the way, and pulled that old wheel gun out just in case.

Whatever it was smelled me just before making an appearance and stopped, then went back up the canyon.  It was probably a raccoon or an opossum.  

It is surprisingly accurate if you hold steady and slowly squeeze off a shot.  Another time a buddy and I were standing on the Ward's Ferry Bridge, which is, shall we say, way back in there, and high above the Tuolumne River.  There happened to be something floating down the river that was white, and we both unholstered and took shots at it.  My then not so old Ruger plugged that slowly moving object first shot, impressing us both.

So, I'm going to upgrade the grips with these.  Some new clothes for an old friend.

9 comments:

  1. The .45LC is a much-maligned and neglected caliber. I own a Sauer & Sohn .45LC SAA pattern revolver that I purchased in a pawn shop in the late 1980s. It is an excellent firearm, despite some light abuse by a previous owner, and one of the most accurate wheelguns I've ever fired. I consider the modern .45LC of the finest "man-stopper" rounds ever created. It hits like a truck without the nasty over-penetration tendencies of magnums. In the "velocity vs mass" debate, I will go for mass every time -- at least in handgun calibers.

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    1. Those big slugs look like municipal buses sitting in the cylinder. Big, heavy and hard hitting. Love the caliber.

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  2. If anyone besides me is interested in where the Ward's ferry bridge is...
    https://goo.gl/maps/74DfxY1ieCxPmDwU8

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    1. Nicely done, Rob, that is in fact the place. Many an adventure in that neighborhood over the decades. When it rains real hard, all those little gulches course with water and a thousand little waterfalls.
      Here's a challenge: find the Russell Telegraph Mine upstream.

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  3. Some fine grips for an old friend. They are purty!

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  4. I took a look on Street View, and I don't think I've ever seen more graffiti. Kinda sad to see that.

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    1. It's super remote, and in the years before the bridge when there was a ferry, it was very dangerous place to work. Several ferrymen were shot and the tolls stolen over those years, and the trail from there up to Groveland was notorious as a haunt of highwaymen. No one was safe taking that road alone. I guess all the graffiti is somewhat of an improvement.

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  5. Very nice looking grips!

    I shot my nephew's Ruger Vaquero in .45 Colt this past Thanksgiving. It had belonged to a SASS guy and was all slicked up and had the free spinning pawl. It was a pleasure to shoot.

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  6. "It is surprisingly accurate if you hold steady and slowly squeeze off a shot."

    Pretty much goes for any firearm.

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