Cimarron

For handgun hunting the 10mm rocks. It is much more manageable than a .44 Mag, and it shoots flatter at longer distances, so the required holdover is less as targets get further away.

“I’m your Huckleberry!” The phrase conjures up scenes of Doc Holliday facing down bad guys, eyes gleaming and fingers gently toying with the curvaceous grips of an unusual-looking revolver. And yup! This is the gun.

Colt made a black powder pistol for the Texas Rangers in 1847 and it was called the Walker. Only 1,100 were made, and only 168 of those still around, today. Well, now you can get your own Walker because Cimarron Fire Arms Company is producing a replica of this classic cowboy pistol.

Opening a newly arrived box at my local FFL dealership inspired a couple “Wow!” responses – one of them my own. The 1860 Richards Transition Model Type II nestling therein sports eight glorious inches of gleaming blued steel barrel, a beautifully figured walnut grip, and a very nice color-casehardened frame.

A great mystery in the world of classic revolvers is the story of the 1860 Army cartridge conversions. Were they made by Colt’s, or were they merely the creations of gunsmiths addressing a demand from consumers? Read on to find out the story behind these and how you can buy one for yourself.

There is something to say about the fancy pants custom and semi-custom steel frames. But there is also something to say about the other end of the spectrum, the el cheapo 1911s. Love or hate the John Browning design, you can not dismiss its history and longevity. Ones that are made right just flat out work and you don’t have to spend $2,000 plus to get one that is made right.

Cimarron is a well respected name among those who know their 19 century replicas. The company is very innovative. They understand the market well enough to provide guns for those who want historical accuracy, shooters who want speed, and they still manage to put out great guns for the rest of us, too–the ones who prefer a bit more Hollywood in our six-guns. Here’s two new guns for 2015.

We are often so focused on the black guns these days that sometimes you miss what is going on in other parts of the shooting and hunting world. A lot of it is deeper and a more enjoyable than all of the tactical stuff combined. Cimmaron Firearms specializes in cowboy era firearms, from the percussion age of the 1830s through 1873, and the cartridge guns from Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Sharps, and others through the turn of the century. The dawn of the repeating firearm is not only a lot of fun historically, you can actually live it and breath it through a very popular shooting organization called the Single Action Shooting Society, or SASS. Cowboy Action Shooting is a lot of fun, and if you are of the competitive bent, at the regional and national level the competition is fierce.

This “Evil Roy” model of the 1873 single action Colt Peacemaker is engineered to meet the needs of the discriminating SASS competitor. More than 90% of the people who shoot Cowboy Action are not competitive and have no interest in winning anything, but we all like to shoot good. And for that small percentage of serious competitors, they are really serious and like to shoot perfect, not just well, and win the prized trophy SASS belt buckles. All of the SASS shooting is on metal plates, not paper, and the plates are set as close to the shooter as is safe for splatter. This makes Cowboy Action really easy to shoot well, so the competition really boils down to speed. Hit the metal plates, every time, as fast as you can.