A Dear Old Friend

They say every gun has a story. A reader submission series from American Handgunner, Wheelgun Diaries seeks to tell some of those stories through the words of revolver owners.

The following stories were shared by email with permission to publish.

A Dear Old Friend

Many years ago, as I was getting into handguns, I decided I wanted a house gun — something more than my .22 LR at the time but also something my wife could handle. A buddy of mine had this old Taurus .38 Special revolver that fit the bill and the price was right, so I bought it. It lived in the closet for a while, out of sight, but always available.

Time passed, as newer, sexier handguns followed me home. In a stable of firearms from Ruger, Charter Arms and GLOCK, the old Taurus was somewhat forgotten. I toyed with the idea of trading or selling it but figured no one would give me much for it. I even thought about turning it into a Fitz Special, but never acted on it either. Then one day, my buddy who had sold me the revolver passed and suddenly no amount of money could buy it from me.

Today, that old Taurus .38 Special still lives in the bedroom closet. It goes along for rides in the truck and on the tractor from time to time but serves as a constant reminder of a dear old friend who left us much too soon.

Jeff Moyer
West Virginia

A Colt And A Case

I picked up this used Colt Anaconda about 20 years ago in a small gun shop. It was my first big bore pistol, as I had previously only bought rimfires for varmint hunting. It has a very light single action trigger and a good double-action. I changed the grips, had it Mag-na-ported and mounted a red dot on top for a while that allowed me to easily hit any target out to 100 yards.

In my younger days of reloading, I made up heavy reloads for 325 grain lead gas-checked bullets. Even heavily crimped, the recoil would separate bullet from the case before the fourth round could line up behind the barrel. Rightfully, I got scared of this load and still have the rest of the bullets in the same box in the back of my reloading stuff.

My son presented me with a Smith & Wesson 686 6-shot a few years ago that become my go-to gun, and I often use it for Speed Steel. With a red dot on top, it puts me in the open revolver classification at our small local club. I usually win my class, but that’s not because of my fine shooting, but because most other shooters buy pistols, not revolvers, and no one else mounts a red dot on top. For whatever reason, winning is better than not.

I used to shoot late afternoons and once asked Hodgdon how to reduce muzzle flash. Their answer was: “With magnum guns and magnum powder you get magnum flash.” I’ve never gotten a better answer than that.

Oh, and behind the revolver is a Case stiletto knife with I found at a gun show commemorating the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. I tried to find more information about it but was unable.

David
Oregon

Editors Note: We did some research and found the Case & Sons knife was released in 2001 and features authentic steel from production in WWII. Apparently, the blades were found in a warehouse and turned into commemoratives. The design is a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife pattern, similar to that used by British and U.S. forces during the war.

Submit Your Wheelgun Diary

Do you have a wheelgun story to tell? Send us a photo and your story by email and you could see it published here and featured in our weekly Wheelgun Wednesday newsletter.

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