I’ve been in kind of a dry spell for vintage gun books. But that broke this week: I have four on the way from Callahan and Company (and I ordered them before Thanksgiving, so I can get away with this), and will be blogging those when they arrive.
In the meantime, though, I’m not working on Black Friday. I did swing by Half-Price Books and picked up two more Gun Digests I didn’t have: 1969, with an article by James E. Serven about “Captain Samuel H. Walker”, and 2022, with an article by Terry Wieland about “The Colt Walker”. I’ll tie this back at the end.
Let us get started…
John Connor’s Odd Angry Shot, John Connor.
I’m starting off with this one because it is a new book, available from FMG Publications (or Amazon, if you swing that way, and there is a Kindle edition), and because I can cover it pretty quickly. I wrote about “John Connor” in the previous entry in this series, and this is a collection of his “Odd Angry Shot” columns for Guns magazine. I don’t regularly read Guns, but I think I’ve read a lot of these on the FMG mailing list. (There’s a corresponding collection, The Guncrank Diaries, of his columns from American Handgunner, which I enthusiastically recommend, and which FMG Publications says is their “best-selling book of all time”.)
As a side note, Guns did a short podcast recently, “The Odd Angry Shot” (#259) about Connor, which fills in a little more background on the man and the myth.
Lucian Cary on Guns, Lucian Cary. Fawcett Publications, Greenwich, CT, 1954.
This is another collection of Cary’s writings for True magazine, but more general than his Colt collection. I wrote about Cary in that previous entry, so I’ll refer you there if you want background on the man and his importance.
“World’s Best Pistol Shot” was Joe Benner. And I think I need to find a copy of The Pistol Shooters Book.
$10 (plus tax) from Half-Price Books. This is a little ratty, but it is also a 70 year old periodical made to be sold on news stands, not to last.
(Great Western had a relatively short run, 1954 to 1964. Many contemporary writers I’ve read thought highly of their guns, but they just weren’t able to compete in the market.)
Inside the Winchester 1873, 1892, and 1894 (1876, 1886, and 1895) Rifles and Carbines, Don Hardcastle, Ph. D. Winchester Restoration Products, Waco, TX, 2021.
I bought this directly from the author at last year’s Texas Gun Collectors Association show in Waco. I know the cover lists three volumes, but all three are contained in this book. I feel like if you’re a serious collector of these guns, especially the older ones, you have to have this book. There’s short histories of the guns (and their variants), serial number listings, configurations, parts data (so if you ever need a replacement “center lever spring screw”, you’ll know it is a 6-48), “refinishing and restoring old gun stocks”, disassembly and assembly (with diagrams and pictures)…this is darned comprehensive.
I don’t remember how much I paid for this, but I believe you can reach out to Dr. Hardcastle at TexasBear10 (at) aim.com and contact him directly if you want one. Or you might be able to show up at the next TGCA show (April 25, 26, and 27 in Denton) and get one there. Older editions also show up online, but this one is the 7th and most recent, as far as I know.
Firearms of the Texas Rangers: From the Frontier Era to the Modern Age, Doug Dukes. University of North Texas Press, Denton, TX, 2020.
Also bought directly from the author at the TGCA show last year. I believe I paid $35 for a signed copy. You can get it from the ‘Zon, at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, from your favorite bookstore (they may have to special-order it), or from UNT Press.
Pretty much what it says: a history of the firearms used by the Rangers, starting with the various flintlock rifles and pistols used by the Rangers of the 1820s (2023 was the “bicentennial” of the Rangers, as many people consider them to have been founded by Stephen F. Austin in 1823) through to the Walker Colt:
(Walker Colt! Theme of the evening! As we like to say around here.)
and going up to the guns of the modern Rangers. (“About 80 percent of today’s Rangers carry the locked and cocked 1911 as a handgun, usually in .45 or .38 Super. The remainder carry their DPS issued Sig-Sauer P226 DAO (double-action only) in the .357 SIG cartridge. However as of this writing, they will be switching to the SIG 320 in the 9mm department-wide, also for the Rangers as issued pistols.” I haven’t found anything suggesting they switched away from the 320.)
Yes, there are plenty of photos. (I love the caption on one: “If you look up the term ‘Bar-B-Que’ gun, you should find this picture.”) There’s a section on the guns used by significant Rangers, such as Ranger Stan Guffey and Frank Hamer.
(There’s an interesting photo of a Colt used by Ranger Robert Goss. It is chambered in .38 Super, heavily engraved by the old Wolf and Klar Company, has a King “mirrored ramp front sight”, and the front of the trigger guard is cut away like a Fitz Special. Cool gun.)
If you have someone in your life that is into Texas, Texas history, the Texas Rangers and Ranger history, or guns in general, I think this would be a nice Christmas gift.
Next time…there’s still more in the backlog, plus the new old books coming. I’m sure I can find something.