romancing the single action revolver

The Grace Kelly of revolvers: a Colt Bisley by Turnbull Restoration

So let's forget all about home defense, doomsday scenarios, zombie apocalypses, combat readiness and tactical superiority for a few minutes and take a nostalgic stroll down the path to our great nation's founding. If we put aside (momentarily, and for sake of romance) that America was built on the bones of the noble and sometimes rightfully warring Native American, then we'll happily recall the seafaring adventurers, pioneers, trappers and mountain men who forged trails across uncharted oceans and lands to settle this mighty continent. And then choose to reminisce the gunslingers immortalized by the likes of John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Yul Brynner movies of the pre hippy generation, then finally the one gun that comes floating to mind is the monumental and unequalled single action revolver. My favorite. I don't really know how to describe why I find it so deeply gratifying, but it's akin to going to a hardware store and browsing the tool department. My wife now mostly forbids me from visiting our local hardware establishment...to her it's a Bermuda triangle into which I venture and fail to emerge from! It's an addiction she rightfully protects me from enjoying because I'll fixate on a particular isle and get lost down the proverbial rabbit hole of engineering wonderment. I think this is actually why I originally became interested in firearms, not because I enjoyed shooting, but because I became obsessed with these precision mechanical implements that are often so beautiful to behold. Since youth I'd get a gun and promptly pull it apart into it's 35 or so pieces, say "Ah, I get it" then reassemble it and become obsessed with the next firearm I wanted to dissect until I'd saved enough to purchase it. The noise of discharging a weapon is rarely enjoyable to me - I know many shooters love it - but to me it's the obvious and ultimate function and therefore uninteresting beyond asserting functionality. What really blows my hair back is the innards, the guts, the meat and potatoes of how the hell someone figured out their own particular patentable lockwork system. And none evokes more butterflies than the single action revolver, it's perfection epitomized. It's art in the dealing of absolutes, it's the choice clockwork for the connoisseur, the artisan and the lothario. (And I'm enjoying an evening scotch whilst writing so forgive the platitudes.) In the end of the day the single action revolver - regardless who invented or ultimately perfected it - is the most exquisite gun of all time in that it reflects mechanical purity and the ultimate exemplification of utilitarianism in our Nation's most valuable metal: steel. If you're a doubter then hold a Colt Peacemaker close to your ear and slowly cock the hammer, or a Ruger Vaquero in blued steel, or any revolver for that matter because the sound alone will make you a convert not only to the legitimacy of gun ownership (should you be a heathen) but to the format. You'll even subscribe to AMC and watch all those old westerns of yesteryear, revolver in hand, and pew pew at the baddies! And one things for damned sure, I reckon you'll find a way to justify ownership of one or multiple revolvers even if you have to use the words "tactical", "home defense" and "combat readiness" to convince domestic partners of your expenditure. Love is a curious thing, and this week we'll be covering the single action variety. GOM