Blondie and his gun

[cigar joe]

I'm sure some gunsmith probably figured out how to go about it, making it a bit more managelable, its not rocket science, but until a conversion turns up in somebody's attic with that type of modification on it we can only speculate. If you look at the Smith & Wesson Model 2 you'll see the different type of ejector rod they fitted to their guns Its just a rod under the barrel that looks nothing like the Colt SAA Peacemaker ejector rod.

http://www.model2project.com/examples.html

It would be mighty hard to twirl one of those Smith & Wessons though. 

[El Incompetente]

its not rocket science

No, after having checked out these two colts a bit closer i realise that.

http://www.armchairgunshow.com/ot57-pix/ac-2671.jpg

http://www.armchairgunshow.com/ot55-pix/ax-dvk.jpg

That kind of ejector rod should have been high up on the gunmen´s wish-list considering the
time it saves.
And i have to add that those two guns look really cool, the first one has an almost
sloppy character with that cylinder and protruding rod,
and the second one raw, stripped and scruffy, and both of them beautiful, evil and deadly.

[O'Cangaceiro]

... and both of them beautiful, evil and deadly.

Yup, I bet those guns weren't designed to kill flies.....

[cigar joe]

NICE finds, 

[El Incompetente]

I bet those guns weren't designed to kill flies

But they can be used to capture them with.

[O'Cangaceiro]

But they can be used to capture them with.

Yeah, but not in this movie: you have to go to OUATITW for that. 

[manuel]

I've always loved Blondie's gun. With it's fancy snake engraving.

[Harmonica]

Here are some prime examples of a couple of pre-factory cartridge conversions crafted by talented gunsmiths that still retain the loading lever and plunger for "swapping out" between cartridge and cap and ball.  The first being an example that would fire Henry flat nosed rimfire metallic cartridges.  The .44 is thought to have been converted in the mid 60’s and the .32 somewhere from mid to late 60’s.  As I have stressed before all that was needed were the tools and the cartridges...



#1



“Charles D. Leet of Springfield was one of the pioneer cartridge manufacturers.  Springfield directories indicate that Leet, in association with various others, engaged in the manufacture of cartridges in 1861 and continued for about fifteen years thereafter.  Leet cartridges were used at the government trials of the Colt Single action Army revolver in 1872.” #2  

#1 Page 133-134 of A History of The Colt Revolver by Charles T Haven and Frank A. Belden 1940 Bonanza Books New York
#2 Page 161 of Civil War Pistols-A Survey of the Handguns of the Civil War by John D. McAulay 1992 Andrew Mowbray Inc. Publishers  Lincoln, Rhode Island

[Harmonica]

In the fictional GBU universe Blondies gunsmith could infact have been Thomas Cofer, a Confederate gunsmith, who filed for a patent in Richmond as soon as the south succeeded for a revolver using a bore though cylinder with special metallic cartridges.  Cofer produced revolvers from 1861 to 1862 and is suspected to be the gunsmith responsible for one existing example from that time period converting a .36 cap and ball Manhattan to a .38 rimfire. #1 Blonide’s gun!  And I’m not kidding you when I say that Sergio Leone could have quite possibly read this!

Thomas Cofers story is an interesting one and it’s been a real treat digging up history on this guy.



Cofer's Confederate patent for a revolver with bore through cylinder and metallic cartridges dated 1861.

Cofer's first cylinder model.

#1- Page 140-144 of Confederate Handguns by William A. Albaugh, III Hugh Benet, Jr. Edward N. Simmons.  1963 Riling and Lentz, Philadelphia

[cigar joe]

Great find and a great addition to the thread .

Now all we have to find is an example of the earliest gun belt with cartridge loops. ;-)

[marmota-b]

It's really a great find ; I only wish I undestood it better, rocket science or not.

[Dust Devil]

I only wish I undestood it better, rocket science or not.

Glad to see I'm in good company, I thought I was the only Western aficionado that doesn't know jack about guns...

[marmota-b]

Glad to see I'm in good company, I thought I was the only Western aficionado that doesn't know jack about guns...

 
It's what a friend said to me few days ago... you choose an interest you pursue and you never get to really pursue the others. So I chose languages over science and technology; and I'll probably never understand guns now.
Neither will I understand trains. And that pains me just as much, if not more.
But I'm able to express that in English, and that's a good thing. (I'm Czech.)

[Dust Devil]

Well, another thing with these old guns is that you can't just start to ''study'' them. I mean, if you're interested in let's say botany, you can start practically anywhere you want. Same thing with sports or languages. But with (old) guns you can't just wake up one morning go in the local shop and ''buy some''. Which, if you think better, isn't necessarily a bad thing. If at all.

Still, I must say, it is a little frustrating for someone that has seen x Westerns to know nothing (or very little) about the subject. Especially if that fan is a ''he''.

[marmota-b]

Which, if you think better, isn't necessarily a bad thing. If at all.

I'm certainly glad to live in a country where you have to have a licence for holding a gun.

And yes, it is quite frustrating. Even if that fan is a she. I actually think it might be even more frustrating in my case, because I do not think it has anything to do with my gender, that I could know just as much as anyone if I really tried to; but it must seem that it has to do with it... and I'm not going to really try to, not anytime soon anyway.
And these two handicaps of mine, the guns and the trains, were really frustrating when I was writing my paper on OUATITW back in grammar school. Although, come to think of it, had I known more, and known where to look for more, I'd probably never have started writing the paper - even as it were, I had trouble stopping myself from looking for more sources and really write something!