Double action PPP?

Big Bore Belly Guns Part III
Campfire Tales by John Taffin
Double Action Big Bore Belly Guns Today
As mentioned Smith & Wesson was the first manufacturer to offer .357 Magnum double action Big Bore Belly Guns with the original 3-1/2” .357 Magnum in 1935 as well as the 2-1/2” Combat Magnum 30 years later. One of my bedside sixguns is the 3”, fixed-sight, heavy-barrel Model 65 .357 Magnum fitted with Herrett’s Detective stocks. S&W has offered the Model 627, an eight-shot .357 Magnum with a snub of a barrel, as well as a 3” Heavy Barreled Model 629 stainless .44 Magnum and the same basic gun in the blued Model 29 version. I found the latter, or I should say Diamond Dot found ours at a local gun shop.
Local gun shops are great places to find BBBGs and two worth looking for are out of production Smith & Wesson L-frame .44 Specials. The Model 696 is an all-steel, 5-shot, heavy-barreled .44 Special and this one is also equipped with Herrett’s Detective stocks while its companion Model 396 Mountain Lite is the lightweight version. Due to its much lighter weight this one is equipped with finger-grooved rubber grips for controllability. Both are fed diets of factory loads or handloads using the Speer 200 grain Gold Dot JHP.
Taurus also offers or has offered several versions of BBBGs with my most used being the 3” stainless steel Model 441. This five-shot .44 Special has been tuned to perfection by Bill Oglesby and also fitted with high visibility sights consisting of a V-notch rear sight paired up with a large bead front sight. This is my office gun always in easy reach while I am working at the computer. It is loaded with the same ammunition used in the Bulldogs and Smith & Wesson .44 Specials.
Most of the belly guns described thus far are mainly for every day carry, however there are some that are exceptionally comforting when traveling off the beaten path sagebrush, foothills, forests and mountains. Ruger offers what is probably the most powerful factory produced double action BBBG that being the Alaskan Model with a 2-3/4” barrel and chambered in .454 Casull. It is definitely a handful and the finger grooved rubber grips are highly appreciated. If one does not need the extreme power of the .454 it is also offered in .44 Magnum. Ruger just recently began offering two new .357 Magnum Big Bore Belly Guns in the 3” GP-100, and the smaller sized 2-1/4” five-shot SP101. The latter is a handful especially, however if ever needed in a serious situation the recoil will not be noticed. A third BBBG is their high-cap belly gun, the eight-shot, 2-3/4” .357 Magnum Redhawk,
My friend the late Larry Kelly of Mag-na-port, who originated the porting process, was also a pioneer in offering Big Bore Belly Guns. In the early 1980s he began offering Combat Mini-Magnum Conversions on Smith & Wesson double action sixguns such as the Model 29/629.44 Magnums, Model 25 in .45 Colt, the .41 Magnum Model 57, in fact any N-frames. Barrels were cut from the frame end as well as the muzzle end resulting in a 2-1/2” to 3” barrel length. After the barrel was cut it was given a special deep dish crown, fitted with a new Baughman-style front sight, and mag-na-ported. For easier handling, the grip frame was round butted and fitted with Pachmayr Compac grips. This conversion is still offered by Larry’s son Kenny who is now quite successfully heading up Mag-na-port and he also offers this conversion on the Colt Anaconda.
Gary Reeder offers a full line of double action BBBGs such as the Alaskan Survivalist chambered in .44 Magnum or .45 Colt, the aptly named Urban Survivalist in .44 Special, and Da Brute which offers the largest calibers in any BBBG, namely .475 and .500 Linebaugh, as well as Reeder’s original cartridges, the .500GNR and .510 GNR. Gary is willing to make any double action BBBG based on a Ruger Redhawk or Super Redhawk in any chambering which is safe. He starts with the basic Redhawk or Super Redhawk, however the original cylinder is replaced by a brand-new custom five-shot cylinder.
Single Action Big Bore Belly Guns Today
As mentioned earlier Colt has offered the Sheriffs Model sans ejector rod in all three generations, however it is no longer cataloged. USFA also offered an excellent nickel-plated Sheriffs Model but this is also a dead end as they have closed their doors and are now officially out of business. However, all is not lost as a custom sixgunsmith can turn a standard model into a Sheriffs Model by shortening the barrel, removing the ejector rod housing, and also cleaning up the side of the frame which has the receptacle for the ejector rod. EMF offers their Great Western II in a 3” Sheriff’s Model chambered in .45 Colt or .357 Magnum. Cimarron Firearms offers their 3-1/2” Thunderer complete with the ejector rod and offered in .45 Colt, .44-40, .44 Special, and .357 Magnum. Taylor’s & Co. version is the Runnin’ Iron which is also offered in stainless and in .357 Magnum and .45 Colt.
Freedom Arms offers the finest factory produced single action sixguns ever and their Model 83 was at one time offered with a 3” barrel without an ejector rod in .454 and they currently offer the Model 97 in .45 Colt or .44 Special with a 3” barrel, ejector rod and round butt. Buffalo Bore offers standard pressure Heavy Loads for both cartridges with 240-255 grain Keith-style bullets at 1,000 fps. A short-barreled Model 97 in either chambering with Buffalo Bore loads will handle most situations which ever arise this side of Alaska.
Gary Reeder also offers custom single action BBBGs such as the Backpacker in .45 Colt or .44 Magnum and the Ultimate Back-Up in .41GNR. Just as with his double action offerings Gary can make anything which is safe using a five-shot cylinder on a Ruger Blackhawk platform. Gary turned Diamond Dot’s 7” Schofield Model .45 into a 3” Border Special complete with engraving and mastodon grips. Ruger from time to time has offered shorter-barreled sixguns mostly through selected distributors, however I have had a couple Vaqueros, both .45 Colt and .44-40, converted into BBBGs by shortening the barrel and fitting them with Birdshead grip frames. Two other favorite single action BBBGs are a Ruger Blackhawk converted to .44 Special with a 3” barrel and a .44-40 Italian replica single action given the same treatment, except in .44-40 by Milt Morrison. Both are very easy packing little big .44s.
That brings us down to the task of actually choosing a Big Bore Belly Gun from all the many options which have been mentioned. I could certainly get by with any of the single action or double action sixguns discussed. However, what would be my best choices? Actually, as mentioned, we have two categories to consider. One is that of a sixgun which would be used primarily for self-defense while traveling in civilization while the other would be for utilization far from the beaten path where it might be needed against tough, nasty four-legged critters which bite, scratch, gore, or stomp. For the first category from the used gun list I would go with a .357 Magnum 2-1/2” Smith & Wesson Model 19/66. It is easy to conceal, very portable, sufficiently powerful with a large list of ammunition options. Looking at the new gun market my choice would be the relatively new 3” version of the Ruger .357 Magnum GP100. The Ruger GP has been offered for several decades in 4” and 6” versions and has proven itself to be utterly reliable and virtually indestructible.
For traveling foothills, forests, and mountains I would go with something larger depending upon just where my feet would take me. There are larger cartridges offered than the .454, however in my Golden Years this is the upper end of my ability to handle a sixgun well. That leaves me with the choice of the Ruger Alaskan 2-3/4” chambered in .454 and fitted with rubber finger grooved grips which I find absolutely necessary for handling the power of the cartridge in this relatively small sixgun. This same gun has also been offered in the easier handling ,44 Magnum
Life is full of trade-offs. For me at least the longer barrels are much easier to shoot, however the shorter barrels are much easier to pack and definitely quicker into action. As in so many cases we pay our money and we take our choice. That choice is highly subjective

Big Bore Belly Guns Part II
Campfire Tales by John Taffin
A Big Bore Belly Gun I yearned after for a long time was a Fitz Special. The last time I saw the late Col. Rex Applegate I was accorded the rare privilege of a personally guided tour through his private museum. Actually there were three of us being hosted by the Colonel as I had traveled to the Oregon Coast with fellow writer Pat Cascio and we stopped on the way to pick up another friend and fellow writer, the late Chuck Karwan. All of us were personally acquainted with Col. Applegate and I had presented him with the coveted bronze as Outstanding American Handgunner in 1996. I knew his private museum held sixguns, which had formerly belonged to special friends such as Col. Doug Wesson, Col. Charles Askins, Elmer Keith, and Bill Jordan. There in front of me were the first two Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums, one a 6-1/2” and the other an 8-3/4”, which had been used by Col. Wesson to promote the first Magnum as a hunting handgun; Keith’s custom heavy barreled 4” .44 Magnum; two of Askins’ target pistols, and the three 8-3/8” Smith & Wesson Magnums that had been especially engraved to commemorate Bill Jordan’s varied career.
All of these handguns were special and a treat to see and hold, however the Colonel’s favorite possession as far as firearms go was found immediately inside the door of the museum and the first item viewed. Actually it was one of two first items as this sixgun was resting upon the base of the Outstanding American Handgunner Awards Foundation bronze. The highly modified revolver may have started life as a standard Colt New Service .45 Colt but considering Col. Applegate's many contacts, and his friendship with Colt’s John Henry FitzGerald this revolver was probably one of the very few specially manufactured as it now appeared. On the side plate were the words “To Rex From Fitz.”
Col. Rex Applegate was one of the original members of the O.S.S. during World War II. After I got to know him he sent me taped copies of the original footage of the training the men went through, the same training advocating a style of self-defense shooting known as point shooting. Until the day he died he stayed with his original theory of point shooting which was definitely not hip shooting but rather employed with the handgun brought up, arm straight, and the handgun "pointed" at the target. Applegate was an expert on riot control, and a colonel in the United States Army, however, he also held the rank of general in the Mexican Army spending much of his time south of the border. It was during one of these excursions after World War II when his old S&W "Lemon Squeezer" chambered in .38 Smith & Wesson, which he always carried in a shoulder holster, nearly failed him requiring all five shots to stop his attacker. After this experience he was highly responsible for the advent of five-shot Smith & Wessons chambered in .38 Special, especially the hammerless versions.
John Henry FitzGerald was Mr. Colt between the two World Wars traveling to all the large pistol matches, shooting and fixing Colts, and being a genuinely good ambassador for Colt. Fitz was considered a firearms expert, and spent much time lecturing and instructing both target and defensive shooting. Before Clint Smith; before Mas Ayoob; before Jeff Cooper; even before Col. Applegate there was FitzGerald teaching principles and practices of quick shooting with a revolver. Not only was he a top shooter, he was also the designer of the Fitz Special.
I first encountered the Fitz Special as a teenager in Col. Askins book printed in 1939 (No I was not old enough to read it at that time!) Askins said, "The grandest defense gun I have ever had was a Colt New Service with the barrel cut down to two inches…. The hammer had been dehorned… the trigger guard was cut entirely away in the front… the grip was shortened… it was a whiz for the purpose intended." Actually the Fitz Special started nearly 40 years earlier as Fitz started experimenting with the then new Colt New Service. It was common knowledge among his contemporaries Fitz always carried a pair of .45 Colt Fitz Specials in his two front pockets. He definitely knew how to use them.
I've wanted to have a Fitz Special ever since I was the kid learning to shoot big bore sixguns of the 1950s. There was very little hope of ever having an original, which would be very rare and very expensive, and definitely a collectors’ item. I would be happy simply to have a top gunsmith build one for me on a Colt New Service. I earlier found what I thought would be the perfect candidate for a Fitz Special, a 5-1/2” Late Model New Service in .45 Colt. Although having considerable pitting on the right side of the barrel and part of the cylinder, it was mechanically perfect and the interiors of both barrel and cylinder were like new. There was one major problem-- it shot much too well to touch. A .45 Colt that places five shots, fired double action standing at 50 feet, in less than 1-1/2” is not to be messed with! I am a firm believer in "Don't fix what ain't broke.”
When a second Late Model New Service surface chambered in .44 Special I had learned my lesson very well not shooting this New Service first but instead sent it off to one of the premier gunsmiths in the country, Andy Horvath. Horvath has built more than a half-dozen single action sixguns for me, and he turned this New Service .44 in to a Fitz Special and that is why my Fitz Special is a .44 instead a of a .45 as Col. Applegate's and also the most used chambering by John Henry himself. FitzGerald had several factory produced Fitz Specials for individuals with more surfacing all the time. Charles Lindbergh had a Fitz and Hopalong Cassidy author, Clarence Mulford, also had a Fitz Special, however his was not a .45 but started life as a .38-40 and was later changed to .44 Special.
In the early 1970s it was virtually impossible to find a factory .44 Special and Charter Arms came to the rescue increasing the size of their Undercover .38 resulting in a new five-shot Bulldog .44 Special. The result was one of the best BBBGs ever offered and new .44 was an immediate success due to the fact it was not only chambered in .44 Specials but also for the first time in many years shooters had a big bore pocket revolver. It probably got its name from the old English 19th-century pocket pistols which are also known as Bulldogs
When our kids were growing up we had very little expendable money so we did things that cost very little such as camping and fishing. This was at a time when gas was just about $.40 a gallon. Finally when all three kids were in high school we decided we better take a real family vacation while we could still all be together so we rented a motorhome and the five of us plus the .44 Special Bulldog took our one and only full-fledged family vacation. A second Bulldog, this time in stainless steel was added to our family. The Bulldogs have logged many miles, seen many camping trips, been carried in boot tops, pockets, and fanny packs and even today are still serving our family. They have even gone swimming when my wife fell in not once, but several times while fly-fishing. That’s why I bought the stainless steel version. They never complained. Three times in my life I needed a gun for protection; two of those times the family was along and in both of those situations it was the Bulldog .44 that was there when needed.
The kids are grown up with grown families of their own now so we don’t do camping and fishing trips anymore, however .44 Bulldogs are still on duty. My original blued 3”Bulldog now rest in my desk drawer. This little gun carries what is probably the best designed wooden wrap around grips to ever come forth from factory for a small defensive revolver. It’s stainless-steel brother, equipped with compact Pachmayrs grips, is in the drawer of the bathroom cabinet off my gun room. The latest Bulldog .44 Special is the Bulldog Pug, stainless steel and with a 2-1/2” barrel. It is in the medicine cabinet in the main bathroom. Why are these two stainless steel .44 BBBGs on duty in our bathrooms? The reason for the stainless steel should be obvious. If you happen to keep a gun for home protection, where is it? Can you get to it easily when trouble starts? And what if you are in the shower when a problem arises? Is there any place in the house we are more vulnerable than the bathroom? No matter where I am in the house a firearm is easily accessible to either myself or Diamond Dot and this definitely includes the stainless steel Bathroom Bulldogs. (To be continued.)

BIG BORE BELLY GUNS PART I
Campfire Tales by John Taffin
Today they are most often known as pocket revolvers or sometimes snub-guns. However, way back, several eons ago, in the pre-politically correct days when I was a teenager, they were known as belly guns. This has several meanings such as easy to conceal, used at very close distances, and even shot from the hip or at “belly” level. At mid-century mostly belly guns were thought to be 2” .38 Specials such as the Colt Detective Special or Smith & Wesson Chiefs Special. These were guns of choice as backup for peace officers and quite often the main armament of detectives. They also fit well in pocket, purse, backpack, kit bag, and hunters often carried them should the chance of a grouse present itself. I have found the Chiefs Special to be invaluable for carrying in situations where it was absolutely imperative that it not be known I was armed.
In the early-1970s Charter Arms gave new meaning to the idea of a belly gun by coming out with their larger caliber .44 Special Bulldog. This small frame five-shooter won immediate acceptance among shooters and I often carried one in the top of my boot. It became the sixgun of choice to accompany the family on camping and fishing outings as well as the very infrequent vacation trips. However, long before the modern .38 Special or .44 Special pocket pistols shooters often made their own Big Bore Belly Guns and companies like Colt and Merwin, Hulbert offered special pocket pistols. For our purposes here we will define BBBG (Big Bore Belly Gun) as a single or double action sixgun with a barrel shorter than 4” and chambered in a cartridge more powerful, and normally with a larger bullet diameter than the age old .38 Special. The first successful revolver was Sam Colt’s Paterson of 1836. This smallish, five-shot .36 sixgun was very low powered, however it was a great improvement over the single-shot capabilities of the time. In 1847 Colt went the complete opposite direction with a 4-1/2 pound .44 Walker which was followed up by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Model Dragoons also in .44 caliber and weighing approximately 4 pounds. Every Western movie whether “B” or “TV” gives the impression every Western town was filled with men openly carrying firearms. Actually, the opposite was true as many towns had ordinances against the carrying of firearms so quite often sixguns were carried quite discreetly and out of sight. Walker/Dragoons and the follow-up Colt 1860 Army were not that easy to conceal so gunfighters especially corrected that situation.
The Mormon gunfighter and peace officer, Porter Rockwell, may have been one of the early proponents of Big Bore Belly Guns as he often cut back the barrels of Dragoons and 1860 Army .44s to make them easy to conceal and faster into action. El Paso Marshall Dallas Stoudenmire also favored an 1860 Army with the barrel cut way back to 2-7/8” and converted to fire .44 cartridges. James Hume of Wells Fargo, who captured Black Bart also carried a cut-down Colt 1860 .44, as a hideout gun.
When Colt brought out the Single Action Army in 1873 it had a 7-1/2” barrel. Most sixgunners were satisfied with the power afforded even if the Colt was quite large. However, some enterprising shooters on both sides of the law decided they could make improvements. Many examples have been found with the barrels cut back as far as 2” and some even went so far as to remove the barrel altogether. These sixguns were for very close up and personal situations. It did not take Colt long to start offering Sheriff’s or Storekeeper’s Models without ejector rod housings and very short barrels. This would continue into the 2nd Generation with 3” Sheriff’s Model .45s and then as the 3rd Generation came along both .45 and .44 examples were offered.
In 1877 Colt brought out their first double action sixguns with the .38 Long Colt Lightning and .41 Long Colt Thunderer. These were also soon offered without ejector rods and short barrels for easy concealment. The Model of 1878 was basically the Colt Single Action with a double action feature offered and these were soon sought after with short barrels and no ejector rods especially in .45 Colt and .44-40. Meanwhile Merwin, Hulbert & Co. offered their superbly engineered Pocket Army in .44-40 and in both single action and double action versions. In the 1880s the British top-break .455 Webleys arrived and just like the other big bore sixguns, examples of these also had the barrel shortened. In the late 1880s Colt brought out their first swing-out cylindered double action Army and Navy Models in .38 Long Colt and .41 Long Colt. These were also shortened for easy concealment.
The Texas Rangers in the first half of the century were often quite flamboyant. They definitely dressed the part with brush jacket, fancy boots, a white Stetson and especially took great care in selecting their sidearms. Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas was such a Ranger and he had several sets, pairs of sidearms along with suitable holsters. At times he carried a pair of Smith & Wesson .44 Specials, a pair of .45 ACP 1911s with the front of the trigger guard cutaway and also a pair of Colt Single Actions with the front of the trigger guard removed. He also went for Big Bore Belly Guns in a big way. A pair of 2” barreled Colt Single Actions were covered with Indian signs and fitted with grips having inlaid semi-precious stones. He also used a highly customized Colt 1917 .45 ACP with a shortened butt, 2” barrel with ramp front sight, and the front of the trigger guard cutaway. He always made the most impressive sight.
Smith & Wesson changed the face of sixgunning forever in 1935 with the introduction of that first Magnum, the original .357 Magnum. The first .357s produced had 8-3/4” barrels and examples were sent to Elmer Keith and J Edgar Hoover of the FBI. Keith wrote his up in the American Rifleman and had the barrel cut back to 6-1/2” for easier handling. It was just about this time that the FBI officially began to be armed and the .357 Magnum had the barrel cut back even with the ejector rod to 3-1/2”. To my sixgunning eyes this is the most serious looking revolver ever produced. The FBI also went for it in a big way with agents such as Hank Sloan and Jelly Bryce soon carrying 3-1/2” Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums. Hank Sloan designed a special screw tension holster which Elmer Keith especially liked and is still produced by Milt Sparks. Jelly Bryce received a lot of attention for his fast draw exploits with the new short-barrel .357 Magnum and was featured drawing and shooting in Life magazine in 1945. Many police departments followed suit with Smith & Wesson providing hundreds of 3-1/2” .357 Magnums to departments around the country.
Roy Rogers, who always shot a lot of blanks in Colt Single Actions in the movies, carried a nickel-plated 3-1/2” Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum during his safari to Africa. Perhaps the most famous 3-1/2” Magnum was purchased in 1935 by an active-duty lieutenant in Hawaii. Six years later we were at war and the lieutenant was soon to be a general and was easily spotted by his troops as his symbol of leadership was a pair of ivory-stocked sixguns. One was a blued 3-1/2” Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum while the other was a fully-engraved, nickel-plated Colt Single Action he had purchased in El Paso in 1916 before accompanying Black Jack Pershing into Mexico after Pancho Villa. Patton called the .357 Magnum his “killing gun”, however there is no record of him ever using it in such a way, however he did take out two of Villa’s officers with his .45 Colt in 1916. Today 3-1/2” .357 Magnums are highly desired by both shooters and collectors. There are three basic categories, namely the original Registered Magnums, the Pre-Model 27 versions, and the Model 27s. I have the last two however, the first version has escaped me and is definitely now too valuable and at too high a price for me to search out.
Chief Border Inspector Bill Jordan began lobbying Smith & Wesson for a lighter .357 Magnum. He felt, correctly, metallurgy had improved to the point where they could make a smaller .357 Magnum. He suggested the Military & Police as the basic platform. Smith & Wesson responded using special heat-treated M&P frames with full-length cylinders to fill out the frame window and a heavy 4” barrel. Bill Jordan called the new Combat Magnum the answer to a Peace Officers Dream.
However, just as with the original long-barreled .357 Magnum, there were shooters wanting the Combat Magnum made easier to conceal. Once again, Smith & Wesson listened cutting the original barrel length of the Combat Magnum from 4” to 2-1/2” and round-butting the grip frame. The result in the 1960s was the smallest BBBG available. For carrying all day the 4” Combat Magnum cuts about one-half pound off of the weight of the original .357 Magnum and this makes a huge difference at the end of the day. The 2-1/2” version is even better at this. In fact some peace officers began to carry the 2-1/2” Model 19/66 as their backup gun. (To be continued.)

41 mags in four inch: Taurus Tracker- S&W 58- S&W 657- S&W PD357- Rehawk. They are all good packin revolvers and each has its good points. The Redhawk is a brute of a handgun

the GP100 in 44 special. Both easy to carry and have plenty of punch for 99% of anything I would run into.

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I have a model 69 inbound and was wondering what holsters those that mentioned them in this post were using.

thanks!!

and I see several trade in M64 S&W on the market for a good price. Should handle +P loads fine.

The .44 is a bit more difficult on a budget. The Key-lock S&W are less expensive than previous models, which bring a premium. I'm back to the old Ruger Super BH but they are big money too right now. Strange market times.

You really need $1000 budget to pick and choose widely. Hopefully you have some money left over for accessories and ammo. Cutting that in half ($500) and some luck in the used market you can find a good .357. Taurus makes a good serviceable gun. I have a few.

a 4.25 41 mag redhawk