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Smith could not keep up with the demand Colt sales had plummeted. When production ceased in 1940, the selling price had been around $40 at a time when the Smith & Wesson.
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SECOND GENERATION COLT SINGLE ACTION TV
TV had a great influence on shooters and the shooting public wanted the authentic Colt Single Action Army. Perhaps the Ruger Single-Six was the inspiration for Great Western to bring back a full-sized Single Action Army one year later. The sixgun itself was slightly scaled down in size from a Colt Single Action but the grip frame was a deadringer for the old Colt Model P. Tim McCoy, Buck Jones, Bob Steele, the Durango Kid, and Wild Bill Elliott and many more were, as Gene Autry’s theme song said, Back In The Saddle Again and Great Western and GUNS were off and running.Įven before the Great Western arrived, a young Bill Ruger saw the possibility of a modern single action with virtually unbreakable springs and brought forth the. Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers found their careers totally revived. The Single Action was back as the arrival of TV resulted in a whole new generation discovering B Western movies and the Single Action Army. The first issue of GUNS magazine arrived in January 1955 with a pair of Colt Single Actions on the front cover of that premiere issue. A brand new company, Great Western, had started making a replica Single Action Army in California with their Frontier Model in. The path began to deviate in the early 1950s for one reason, television. However, history rarely ever follows a straight path, but rather travels twists and turns and switchbacks. The West had been at least officially tamed. There were no more Indian Wars, cattle drives, gunfighters…. The Single Action was considered totally obsolete, a relic of the Frontier. By 1941 the Colt Single Action Army was dead and buried and never to be seen again, or so both Colt and just about everyone else thought. 357 Magnum and even switch from revolvers to the semi-automatic 1911. Machinery was wearing out, sales were down, and those having money during the Depression years were more apt to turn to the relatively new Smith & Wesson. In all probability Colt was more than ready to cease production of both the New Service double action revolver and the Single Action Army. There was a final surge in 1940 of 859 units with more than 500 of these going to help defend the British homeland in World War II. They went up to 700 in ’37, back down to 500 in ’38 and 400 in the year I arrived upon this planet, 1939. The Depression kicked in and by 19 production figures equaled 100 each. That was the last year for production figures to reach five digits, and 1929 saw the last four-digit number with 1,400. More than a third of a million Colt Single Actions had been produced from 1873 to 1940 with the top year number wise being 1902 with 18,000 being manufactured followed by 1907 with 16,000 coming out of Hartford. Production of the Colt Single Action Army ceased with the start of World War II with no plans to resume production.
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However, more importantly for Single Action sixgunners something major was about to happen. 357 Magnum, followed up by the Python in 1955 and also offered the first compact 1911, the Colt Commander.
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Great Western also entered upon the sixgunnin’ stage in 1954 with the first replica of the Colt Single Action Army. 22 pistol and then followed with great single actions, the. 44 Magnum Ruger arrived in 1949 with their semi-automatic. 45 ACP, as well as fixed sighted versions of both the Highway Patrolman. From Smith & Wesson came the 1950 Target in. Just in handguns alone, the 1950s brought us some of the best sixguns ever produced. The 1950s were also the greatest decade of the 20th Century for firearms development. Wedged in between the end of the Korean War and the psychedelic ‘60s and then Vietnam, the 1950s allowed kids to be kids, music was still music, and the gathering place was the local drive-in with real french fries hand cut from real potatoes not dropped out of a sack, great burgers that came from corn fed beef, and chocolate shakes as thick as fresh concrete. I have often mentioned the 1950s as being such a wonderful time and actually much like those acted out on the TV show Happy Days before it ran out of ideas and went silly. My life has been blessed in many ways not the least of which is found in the time frame for growing up, the Fabulous Fifties.