The Ruger 38-40. My Dad had, and I now have, a Winchester Model 92 chambered in the old cowboy round 38-40. It's a necked-down round maybe 1 1/4 inches long, a decently strong round. He loved that rifle, and when a really nice buck showed up on our property some years back, the 92 was the only thing that was loaded and he dispatched the 220-pounder with it at about 40 yards. He had a shoulder mount made of it, aptly named the "backyard buck". He always told me that he wanted to find a 38-40 pistol to match it because "that's how the cowboys did it", one round for the rifle and sidearm.
About ten years ago, I started looking for the the Colt 38-40's to surprise him. Those in really crappy condition were stupid expensive, something along the lines of $3,000+, just not going to happen, so I started stalking the auction/sale sites like Guns America. In 1989, an Ohio organization, the Buckeye Sporting Club, commissioned Ruger to make 5,000 revolvers for them. One thing about Ruger is that many times they offer alternative cylinders to handle multiple rounds. My old style .22 has an extra cylinder for .22 magnums. The Buckeye model was chambered for 38-40, but it came with an extra cylinder for 10MM. About eight years ago, I found one for auction, new in box, and away we went. The 10MM has a bit of a cult following (a crazy hot round, I get it), so anything chambered for 10MM gets their attention. I ended up winning the auction, probably paying the same for the 38-40 for what I could've gotten a .44, but that wasn't the point. I then bought a nice ammo belt and holster from Ruger to fit it, and surprised the fool out of my Dad. It's one of the few times I'd really put one over on him. We put a number of rounds through it, and when I take it to CMP Talladega I still get questions about it.
[USER=12209]@TerryP[/USER] , this one has a 6 1/2 inch barrel and weighs in at 48 ounces. Great balance, I make the steel targets sing with it. Every round makes me think of my Dad.
RTR,
Tim
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