Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. ast winter at a gun show a friend came over to me toting a Colt L SAA .44-40. It was a parts gun with 1890s-vintage frame, a new cylinder, and a pre-1940 barrel with FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER logo. He said that old Colt “spoke to him” which is what somebody says when they want to buy something anyway. I don’t know what he heard but I heard it screaming, “Sucker!” That’s another story. Regardless, what he said does happen. Sometimes, some guns speak to us. I’ve heard it many times. There is an ephemeral connection that can’t be explained scientifically. No one else can hear it, but it is there. For a gun to speak to someone the listener has to be true “gun people.” People who use guns just as a tool don’t hear them speak. I’d venture most hunters don’t hear guns speak. A gun that’s stored away in a closet for all but a week or two a year doesn’t talk to its owner, nor does one that sits in a nightstand drawer for home defense purposes. Guns only speak to avid shooters. And be sure, not all good guns speak to their owners even if they get used plenty. For instance, I’ve owned my Smith & Wesson pre-Model 29 .44 Magnum since 1968. In my younger days I often rode horses around the mountains of Montana in grizzly bear Mike “Duke” Venturino Photos: Yvonne Venturino habitat so that big sixgun likewise rode hundreds of miles in a holster on my hip. It was always mute. it talks On the other hand, a military marked Colt 1911 .45 made in 1918 I’ve only owned a few months at this writing jabbers constantly. Mostly it’s saying, “Shoot me!” And I do. More rounds have been fired through it in this short time than my old .44 Magnum has had put through it in the past 20 years. But it’s also saying, “Clean me, examine me, look me over closely. I’ve seen a lot of history in 91 years.” Strangely enough for someone who has been so identified with the Colt Single Action Army revolver, few of them have ever spoken to me. However, in 1992 a fellow offered me one of the Peacemaker Centennial FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER commemoratives. One of Duke’s most vocal rifles is this Model 1903 Springfield fitted with a 3X scope by Leatherwood. It replicates such rifles used by the US Marine Corps early in World War II. Duke considers the 2nd Generation Colt Model 1861 .36 Navy one of the finest sixguns of its genre, but it doesn’t speak to him. When he had one converted to fire .38 Long Colt cartridges (bottom), it began to speak to him from day one. (That barrel logo means it’s a .44-40.) Now, I could give a flip about most commemoratives, but this one spoke to me from first glance. They are beautiful big revolvers — nickel plated with 7-1/2" barrels and marked just as an 1870s one would have been. (Except for having 1873-1973 on the barrel’s right side.) Later, shooting it with a friend who also owns one, we found it interesting that his shot way above point of aim while mine hit dead on. A look at the front sights showed the difference. Mine had a much taller one than his. A couple years later another guy offered me an identical one, tall front sight and all. Now both of them virtually sing to me in harmony and those beauties downright giggled when I had them fitted with bison bone grips. Those .44-40s and me speak the same language! change the tune A gun that speaks to you doesn’t necessarily have to be fired often. I’ve always admired the graceful looks of Colt’s Model 1861 .36 caliber cap & ball revolvers. But I don’t particularly like shooting them due to the attendant muss and fuss of percussion sixguns. So I sent one of those fine 2nd Generation specimens made in the late 1970s and WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • DECEMBER 2009