Sow’s Ear
Becomes A Silk Purse!
By John Taffin
Even outside of Disneyland the world is a magical place. King Midas had the
golden touch and Merlin mystified the court of King Arthur with his magical
feats; the Starship Enterprise routinely beamed crewmembers up and down; and
the magicians of Pharaoh’s court could turn water into blood and conjure up
plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, and boils. Midas and Merlin are only legends,
I've never been able to say “Beam me up Scotty” with any result, and it has
been thousands of years since the time of the pharaohs. However, magic still
exists and Alan Harton of Single Action Service has
literally transformed a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Alan Harton is my latest sixgunsmith
"discovery" thanks to friends Bob Baer of the Houston area and
Sergeant Fermi Garza of the Corpus Christi Police Department. Both found Alan,
looked at the genius entailed in his work, and contacted me immediately. Now
there are many sixgunsmiths out there; in fact the
greatest sixgunsmiths who ever lived are with us now.
I have had custom single action sixgun built on .357
Three-Screw Rugers by Bob Baer, Hamilton Bowen, Brian
Cosby, David Clements, Ben Forkin, John Gallagher,
Bill Grover, Andy Horvath, and Jim Stroh. All are perfect examples of what sixgunsmithing and should be.
To these men I sent a fairly good specimen to use as a basis for building a
custom sixgun; Alan Harton
was not treated so kindly. In fact I sent him a real dog of a sixgun. We often use the term “ridden hard and put up wet”;
this one looked like it was never put up, it was just left out in the wet. Just
as with the other sixgunsmiths we started with a
Three-Screw Ruger .357 Blackhawk. Today to get a
decent specimen a Flat-Top from 1955 to 1962 will run $600 or more, while Old
Models originally offered from 1963 to 1972 command prices in excess of $400.
The 4-5/8” Old
Model sent to Harton cost me $100. It was originally
purchased as a beater sixgun, that is, one to be used
without any fear of harming the finish no matter what task it was put to. The
action was loose and the finish was basically gone; actually the finish could
be called early pitting. Except for the pitting the rest of the condition did
not make any difference as Alan would basically discard everything except the
frame and the cylinder. Even so, it would be a challenge. Alan was up to the
challenge in spades and the result is one of most beautiful sixguns
I now own. If you're a regular reader you don't have to guess at the caliber;
it is a .44 Special, inspired and loosely based on Elmer Keith's #5SAA which he
had built up in the 1920s. No, it is not a copy of Elmer's #5, not even close.
However it is a .44 Special just as his was, and also has a 5-1/2” barrel,
adjustable sights, #5-styled grip frame, a #5 locking base pin, case colored
frame and hammer, and ivory stocks.
Let's see how the
work progressed from start to finish, and in this case the pictures will do a
better job than I can in explaining just what is entailed in building a custom sixgun. The pictures will also explain why custom sixguns are expensive. Many sixgunners,
in fact most sixgunners, are perfectly happy with a
factory Ruger single action. Rugers
are exceptionally strong sixguns and well worth the
price. Anyone can buy a Ruger, load it up, strap it
on with a good holster and belt, and unless it is thoroughly abused it can be
passed on to future generations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this
thinking. However, some of us are a little more creative and always looking for
more than just the ordinary sixgun; what we really
desire is a sixgun which is truly a piece of artwork.
Custom sixguns are highly subjective, and chances are
pretty good one will spend more carrying out personal wishes and desires than
will be realized if they are ever sold. There are, of course, exceptions. I
can't imagine what Elmer Keith's #5SAA, which now resides in the Elmer Keith
Museum, would sell for but I would expect it would be in the high five figures
and more likely command a six-figure price.
Starting with the
sow’s ear/beater Ruger Old Model .357 Blackhawk, Harton completely stripped the sixgun
to its component parts, and, as mentioned, for this project basically discarded
everything except the cylinder and mainframe; everything else would be replaced
or greatly altered. The original cylinder was re-chambered to .44 Special and
re-fitted to the frame with absolutely no play either front to back or side to
side. The octagon barrel was meticulously machined with an integral front sight
base and then fitted to the frame so the barrel/cylinder gap is barely
discernible; in fact a .002” gauge will not enter the gap. This 5-1/2”
octagonal barrel sets this particular .44 aside as one very special Special. To come up with the barrel, Harton started with a Douglas barrel blank and machined it
to shape himself. The left side is marked “.44 SPECIAL” and top is inscribed
“SINGLE ACTION SERVICE”. Harton learned his
craft by spending 34 years as a machinst before
switching to custom gunsmithing; his background has
been proper training for him to be a true artist working in steel.
Since this .44
Special was inspired by Keith's #5SAA it has been fitted with a #5 base pin,
consisting of a head with smaller and smaller concentric circles meeting in the
middle, and then the base pin latch designed by Elmer Keith and Harold Croft
was re-created. Instead of the traditional spring-loaded cross latch, Keith’s
design is a solid vertical lever in the front of the frame which makes it impossible
for the cylinder pin to move forward under recoil and yet can easily be rotated
90° to remove the base pin. This is such a great idea one would think the
design would have been picked up by major manufacturers of single action sixguns a long time ago. The now long gone Texas Longhorn
Arms was the only company to ever use it.
Keith said of this
ingenious device in the April 1929 Rifleman article The Last Word which was
about his #5SAA: “The new type based pin has a large head that is easily
grasped to remove the pin, instead of the regular head that one usually had to
use the head of a shell on to pull it out. Unless the regular S.A. is
fitted with an extra strong spraying in the base-pin catch, the recoil will
drive the pin forward, and in some cases tie up the gun. This new catch
is the lever that swings into a square cut in the base pin, and no amount of
firing can loosen the pin. At the same time it is very easy to remove the
pin for cleaning. A spring plunger locks the lever.” When this lever is
unlocked hand moved 90 degrees the base pin can be removed; a most ingenious
solution to a common problem.
The grip frame, hammer and trigger have all been replaced with Bisley-style parts with the trigger coming from Dave
Clements. The original hammer was used however it was greatly altered. The
standard hammer spur was removed and a Bisley style
spur expertly welded into place and polished; Keith said of the Bisley hammer: “All 6-gun cranks that have ever use day Bisley-topped hammer on their S.A.s
prefer it to the regular hammer.” The back of the hammer was also built up to
match the opening in the Bisley Model grip frame. The
Bisley trigger from Dave Clements has been fitted and
set at a very smooth two pounds. The grip frame was then trued up to be
perfectly square before fitting beautifully creamy milky grips of elephant
ivory which fit my hand perfectly.
Keith’s #5SAA grip frame was arrived at by cutting and welding the backstrap of a Colt Bisley Model
with the trigger guard of a Colt Single Action. The original Bisley grip frame was designed for target shooting and
comes up high in the back as well as behind the trigger guard so the grip frame
nestles securely in the hand. Keith’s rendition works best for those with small
hands as he had. When Ruger came up with the Bisley Model in the 1980s they wisely made it longer than
the #5SAA grip frame. For me it is absolutely essential for heavy loads and
handles .44 Special loads exceptionally well and makes for extremely comfortable
shooting. This grip frame matched up with the beautifully fitted, smooth ivory
stocks which Alan Harton shaped to perfection removes
all “hotspots”; that is, even when shooting 250-260 grain.44 Special and .45
Colt loads at 900-1100 fps using the standard Colt Single Action grip frame my
hand will fatigue after 300 or so are loads. This grip frame solves that minor
problem.
The factory rear sight was replaced by a Bowen adjustable rear sight, a special
fixture was used to grind the cylinder perfectly round using finer and finer
grinding wheels, the frame, loading gate, and hammer were all case hardened by
Doug Turnbull, and the balance of the sixgun has been
blued. It has taken a lot of time, however the
"sows ear" has now literally been transformed into a "silk
purse". It didn't take magic but rather a lot of skill and knowledge on
the part of a true artist carrying out a masterpiece working with steel and
ivory.
The .44 Special #5SAA was Elmer Keith's every day working gun from around 1928
until he moved from the homestead on the Salmon River into the town of Salmon
Idaho in the early 1950s. It was then replaced by a much easier to carry and
conceal 4” Smith & Wesson 1950 Target. He may have changed the style of the
sixgun he was carrying from a single action to a
double action, however he stayed with the .44 Special until 1956 when the
ivory-stocked 1950 Target was replaced as his everyday carrying gun by a 4” .44
Magnum in the same configuration.
Keith not only worked with the top gunsmiths of the time in the 1920s to come
up with the #5SAA, he also designed what is now universally known as the .44
Keith bullet. Ideal, now Lyman,
offered the bullet mold as #429421 and it is still available almost the same as
it was designed by Keith. (The same cannot be said for his #454424 as it has
been changed dramatically and offered today as #452424!). I have shot thousands
of the Lyman .44s and also the .44 Keith bullet from
molds by Hensley & Gibbs, RCBS and NEI. I prefer the latter as it is nearly
identical to Keith's original design and I also have a very easy to use
four-cavity mold for casting.
I started out shooting the Harton .44 by using
jacketed bullet loads to smooth out the barrel; it wasn't necessary. The first
five shots with Sierra’s 240 grain JHPs over 17.0
grains of IMR4227 resulted in a five-shot, one-inch group. My standard cast
bullet load for the .44 Special using the 260 grain Keith bullet over 7.5
grains of Unique performs the same. This is in my hands and
with my eyes and believe me I am nowhere near as steady as I was in days
past. This sixgun is definitely a shooter!
Not only did Elmer
Keith design the #5SAA and the #429421 bullet, he also designed the George
Lawrence #120 holster to carry his .44 Special. The George Lawrence Co. is long
gone, however the #120 holster has been beautifully
re-created by Mike Barranti of Barranti
Leatherworks. Just as with Elmer's #120 holster this
one is floral carved and whip stitched with contrasting lacing along the edge.
My Alan Harton .44 Special will mostly be used with
Keith bullets and carried in this new version of Keith's #120 holster. I am not a betting man nor do I like to play the
“What would Keith think?” game. But I would be willing to bet the Old Master
would like this sixgun and compare it very favorably
to his #5SAA.
Test-Fire Single Action Service Custom Ruger
.44 Special x 5-1/2”
.44 Special Handloaded Ammo Performance
Bullet
Powder Charge
Velocity
Group Size
NEI
#260.429KT
Unique
7.5 gr.
1,011
fps 1-1/8”
NEI #260.429KT
Power
Pistol 8.0 gr.
1,010
fps 1-3/8”
RCBS #44-250KT
Universal 7.5 gr.
1,038
fps 1-3/8”
Lyman #431244GC
Unique
7.5 gr.
1,024
fps 1-3/8”
Lyman #431244GC
H4227
17.5 gr.
1,199 fps 1-1/4”
Lyman #429215GC
Unique
8.5 gr.
1,125
fps 1-3/8”
Lyman #429215GC
HP
Unique
9.0 gr.
1,199 fps 1”
LBT 260KT
H4227 17.5
gr. 1,169
fps 1-3/8”
Speer 240
JHP
H4227
17.0 gr.
960 fps
1-3/8”
Speer 225
JHP
#2400
15.0 gr.
1,075 fps 1-1/8”
Notes: Groups product of 5 shots at 20 yards. Chronograph screens set at
10’ from muzzle. CCI #300 primers in Starline
brass.