The Sixguns Of Brian Cosby

One summer when several people complained on Web sites they simply could not find any old Ruger Blackhawk .357s for conversions, I checked two local gun shops and found each one had two Old Model .357 Blackhawks. They were in excellent condition, with all of them in the $325-$375 price range. I posted the phone numbers of both shops on the forum so all those who complained could make contact.

After two weeks I not only found all four Blackhawks still residing in the gun shops, neither shop had received a single phone call. So much for the complainers. They had their chance and now it was my turn. I did something I rarely do, which was trade guns; some cash was added and I acquired all four of them.

The reason was simple. I had four Colt New Frontier 3rd Generation barrels whose threads just happen to match up nicely with the threads in the Blackhawk frames. Four sixgunsmiths were each chosen to receive one barrel and one Blackhawk. Two of the barrels were 51⁄2″ .44 Specials, one was a 71⁄2″ .45 Colt, and the other, a 71⁄2″ .44-40. The idea was a resurrection of sorts of the long gone Colt New Frontier. All of these were sent out in the first week of August; the first one was back in October while the last one showed up the following March. Average wait time was six months.

Classic Custom .44-40

The 71⁄2″ .44-40 barrel, Colt SAA ejector rod and tube, and accompanying Old Model Three-Screw .357 Ruger Blackhawk went to Brian Cosby of Cosby Custom Guns. As I do with most sixgunsmiths, I told Brian what I basically wanted and turned him loose to do his magic. Brian re-chambered the factory cylinder to .44-40, installed the 71⁄2″ Colt .44-40 barrel, set the barrel/cylinder gap at .004″, smoothed and tuned the action, set the trigger pull at three pounds, and installed a Belt Mountain #5 locking base pin.

Except for the grip frame, which has been brightly polished, the entire sixgun is finished in bright blue. Several special touches include “44-40” on a banner inscribed on the left side of the frame, “Cosby Custom” on the bottom of the frame in front of the trigger guard, and my name written in large script on the backstrap, all resulting in a sixgun fully as goodlooking, and with a much stronger action, than an original Colt New Frontier. Currently this Cosby Custom .44- 40 wears a nice pair of black eagle Ruger Walnut grips.

Standard Loads

When the Ruger .44-40 arrived I pulled out a box of factory .44-40s, loaded one round and found the cylinder would not rotate; the headspace
was too tight. Or so I thought. The next 49 rounds functioned perfectly so I had found one oversize round in a box of 50 on the first try. All subsequent factory loads and handloads also functioned perfectly.

The .44-40 is one of the true classic rounds, having started life in the Winchester Model 1873 and shortly thereafter in the Colt Single Action Army. Both of these traditional firearm platforms are for standard loads only. The same is true of this custom .44-40, as chambering the .357 Magnum cylinder to .44-40 results in standard thickness chamber walls although the Ruger cylinder bolt notches are slightly offset.

The .44-40 round itself may be loaded heavier than the original black powder round in such firearms as the Model 1892 Winchester, the Seville and El Dorado sixguns from United Sporting Arms (now long gone), Ruger Super Blackhawks with .44-40 cylinders and .44-40 Vaqueros. The whole idea of this custom project was to come up with a standard .44-40 for pleasant relaxing shooting of 200 to 225 grain bullets under 1,000 fps.

Less Punishment

Black Hills 200 grain Cowboy RNFP factory loads clock out at a pleasant 881 fps, with five shots going into a most satisfying 11⁄8″ at 20 yards. Most of my .44-40 handloads are assembled on an RCBS Model 2000 Progress Press and I’ve found the same loads and also the same shell plate works for the three main Colt Single Action Army cartridges of the Frontier Era, namely .45 Colt, .38-40 and .44-40. It only takes a matter of seconds to change the die plate and I can switch cartridges. My most used bullets for the three cartridges are the Oregon Trail 250 and 180 for the first two cartridges and either the 200 or 225 grain .44-40 bullets.Oregon Trail offers the .44 bullets in both .427″ and .429″ diameters so a little experimenting soon reveals the best size for each particular sixgun.

Oregon Trail’s 225 over 8.0 grains of Universal gives a muzzle velocity of 962 fps with five shots in 11⁄4″ at 20 yards using the .429″ bullet. Loaded over 8.0 grains of Unique the Oregon Trail 225 grain .427″ diameter bullet gives 905 fps and five shots in 13⁄8″ while the slightly larger .429” bullet ups the muzzle velocity to 949 fps and shrinks the group size to 11⁄8″. The same bullet over 5.0 grains of Bullseye results in the same group size with a muzzle velocity of 859 fps. I spent much of my sixgun shooting life getting pounded by heavy-duty loads; now in the twilight I definitely enjoy going back to the basics with such cartridges as the .45 Colt, .44 Special, .38-40 and the .44-40 all loaded to standard specs.

Correcting Colt’s Mistake

From the very first part of my sixgunning life I fell in love with single actions in general, and Colt Single Actions in particular. Shooting two early Ruger Flat- Tops in .357 and .44 Magnum, as well as several Colt SAAs, both 1st and 2nd Generation Models, in the late 1950s I
soon realized the Colts were great classic sixguns but the Rugers always worked and never busted a spring. Both the hand springs and bolt springs where especially susceptible to breakage unless the Colt had been master tuned and I dreamed of a Colt SAA with Ruger lockwork.

The advent of the Ruger Vaquero came close to fulfilling my dream but not quite, the Vaquero is bigger (the New Vaquero is right-sized), is of the New Model action definitely not like a Colt SAA, and in general is a grand single action but not quite a “Colt.” Cosby Custom Gunsmithing offers the closest sixgun we will ever see to a Colt Single Action with Ruger lockwork.

Starting with a Ruger Flat-Top or Old Model Ruger, the frame is modified and welded to remove the adjustable rear sight and then re-shaped to the Colt SAA contour with the traditional hog wallow rear sight and a Colt style front blade. This is a sixgun Colt could have built in the 1930s but chose not to. Cosby offer a whole line of single action sixguns with tuned actions, custom barrels and cylinders, round-butted grip frames, and such pleasant little caliber conversions as .32 Magnum and .32-20.

Shooting The Old Guns

Cosby Custom also offers a unique service in the rebuilding and restoring of early Colt Single Actions. If you should happen upon an old Colt at a very reasonable price because the barrel is shot out and/or the finish is long gone, don’t pass it up! Cosby can resurrect it and make it look better than when it was new complete with case colored frame and hammer. Old barrels are very hard to find but Cosby can reline the original barrel and bring it back to what it was 100 or more years ago.

I spent yesterday shooting one of Brian’s latest custom sixguns, a Remington, actually a pair of Remington 1858s, which has been tuned and fitted with Kirst Cartridge Konverter fiveshot .45 Colt cylinders. These cylinders basically replace the original percussion cylinder so there is no loading gate nor ejector rod. The Kirst cylinder consists of two pieces, cylinder proper and a back plate. To load, the back plate is removed, five cartridges are inserted, the back plate replaced, and then the cylinder returned to the Remington. The base pin put into place, the original bullet seating rammer is swung back up and locked, and the .45 Remington is ready for shooting.

Cowboy Conversions

These conversions are legal for CAS shooting as although they only hold five rounds there is a slotted blank spot on the cylinder to accept the firing pin when the hammer is down and locks the cylinder safely in place. Once the Remington has been fired, the bullet seater is unlatched, the base pin is pulled forward, and the cylinder can be removed for loading and unloading. When using the standard velocity loads for which this conversion is intended, fired cartridges fall out easy.

Three factory loads intended for CAS competition were used in these Remingtons. Black Hills 250 Cowboy RNFP clocks out at 758 fps with four
shots going into 13⁄8″; Hornady’s 255 Cowboy RNFP, 788 fps and 11⁄2″; and Winchester’s 250 Cowboy RNFP clocking out at 722 fps and grouping in
11⁄2″. Federal’s 225 LSWC HP was also tried with the PACT chronograph registering 853 fps with four shots in 15⁄8″. The PACT is especially handy to use as the digital screen not only gives the muzzle velocity of the current shot but also the average of all shots is displayed each time.

Several years ago Brian Cosby rebuilt an original 1873 Winchester for me and relined the .44-40 barrel. It is time to mate that old Winchester with the Cosby .44-40 Ruger/Colt New Frontier and relax.

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