Reeder Custom Guns - Just curious, what was your first Reeder Custom?

Mine was the Kodiak Magnum 44. 36 years and still looks and shoots great. Out of all my handguns this one has been shot by more different people than any other. It's a bona fide hit at the range.

Gary, thanks for the good times.

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was the 480 Achilles. He took a cheap Uberti made for Cabela's (they called it the "Millenium") and turned it into one of my favorite single actions.

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Top of the barrel .. all the guys who were in on the project
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Love the wormy mesquite grips
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Top Gun: 41 Special
Middle gun: 410 GNR w/41 Mag (1.4" case) cylinder
Bottom gun 41 GNR #2 w/414 SM cylinder

Sean

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My first guns were custom Contenders in a nice gun case. It was in 1966 or so while we were at my gun shop in Santa Fe. In September 1987 we had moved to Flagstaff Arizona. We had our first really big hit and was the Black Widow. It was the centerfold in a couple of magazines. It kept me on the phone forever. I was talking to a fellow at our shop in Flagstaff Arizona when a gentleman named Dave Martin with his wife Debbie walked in. He asked me if I would autograph a magazine for him. It was the GUNS magazine with the Black Widow in it. They were from Florida and visiting a friend in Phoenix. They drove up to Flagstaff to get the magazine signed.
Talking about the Black Widow, the strange thing is I just finished engraving a Black Widow last night, almost exactly like the centerfold that ended up in GUNS Magazine in September 1987. If all goes well It will be finished in our deluxe Black Chromex and go on the web site the first of the week.

The next really big hit was actually not even a revolver. It was a full custom Contender chambered in 45-70 in October 1989. It was the GUNS Magazine centerfold that month. It was a full custom Black Chromex Contender with gold bands and a solid gold lion on the sideplate. It had a Redfield scope mounted on it. It came in nice wooden presentation case. I still get calls to build that gun.
But to answer that question the first full custom revolver was our Black Widow that was a pitch black 44 Magnum revolver with gold spiders. So I guess Charlie Herf guessed right.
To the rest of you, thanks for the memories.

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Black Widow in 45 colt, horn grips, multiple widow's every where.

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used the buffalo horn in a good while. It tends to warp real quick. Our dry weather causes the buffalo horn to warp when sent to a humid area. We switched to stag horn as it normally doesn't warp. I would guess that gun was made in the late 1990 to 1995 time frame. Just a guess.

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The FIRST was the Sixgunner.Com Special!!

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I used it to take a Javelina that year.

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customized. Plain but classy. Barrel cut to 4" with the Deep Dish Crown. Gunfighter Grip with Mongolian Stag grips. Gold bead up front. High polished Black Chromex. With the Gunfighter Grip it just fits the hand perfectly. A whole lot of class without all the flash. We came out with our Night Hawk several years ago and it was perfect. Then Ruger came out with their 4" Redhawk. It was so plain it was ugly. Ruger has copied a lot of our guns and I am all for them. They are a great bunch of folks but I wish they hadn't done the 4" Redhawk.

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My 1st was this Montana Hunter that I used to take my 1st unicorn in Idaho last November. [image]

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Know what was our first custom gun. Sorry about that. But now that you guys started it, that is a good idea. What was your first full custom gun?

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My first was a used North American Hunter followed by a 1911 that was one of Case’s early builds and is featured in the photos on the website. I bought that one used from a forum member here. The hunter has since been sold to another Forum member. The 1911 isn’t going anywhere. [image]

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popular ads I ever ran. I would have people call and just say they liked the ad.
The North American Hunter or any of 40 or 45 different ads for a revolver set up like in the picture that Baxter shows above. It's got everything. The gun was super popular. For a hunting revolver how could you beat it. A medium length semi heavy barrel, gold bead front sight, beefy 5 shot unfluted cylinder, Gunfighter Grip with stag grips and a satin 2 toned finish over the whole gun. How could you beat that?
Hopefully someone will bring the Gun List back. If they do I would be the first in line to buy that full page ad.

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He ran an add in there every week. A fantastic publication it was. This was late 1980's. Gary advertised TC customs at very good prices Turn-key around $700 and all engraved up. Some very exotic calibers shown to get attention. It was all very alluring. I couldn't wait for the mailman to bring the paper to me each week (?). It was bliss.

I actually bought my first Reeder gun used. It was a 5-shot stainless Blackhawk .475 LB conversion. Standard grip too! It was a killer. Later I had it reworked into a wonderful African Hunter version with cherry laminate Gunfightered grips. That made a huge difference. Sadly, I sold it to another Misfit (that helps) to sponsor a .510 GNR gun. I went all in on .51 cal. for my really big bore. Because I could not get a .52.

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The best thing I ever did. I found out who read the ads by what they asked for the next week. If I ran an ad on a custom shotgun or semi auto AR-15 type rifle I got a few calls the next day. But if I ran an ad on a custom revolver or Contender all slicked up, my phone rang off the wall the next issue.
Even though the ads were different every issue I still ran them as it was a mistake not to. My Gun List ads were the most popular as there was a picture of the gun in the ad. Shotgun News also ran an ad but the quality of the picture and the text would not be as nice as Gun List.
People would call and ask me what was I going to run in the next issue or I would have folks call and say "you ran an ad for a XXXX a few weeks ago. I am thinking of having you build one like that for me, can you run it again". I would have to tell him I schedule a certain gun several weeks ahead so I couldn't call and break up the line up, but I would get his address or phone number and fax or mail him a copy of that ad.

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I got this in 2008. Gary had posted it here but no one grabbed it for a week or so, so I did. It was in an article in Combat Handguns by Gary Johnston when it was a 44 Mag. When Gary got it back he rechambered to 429 GNR. There's also another Ultimate 44 prototype, a S&W that I think Gary made before the Ruger and then he decided to stay with the Ruger. I took a hog with this gun at the 2008 HHC and a cow elk at the 2009 HHC.
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Just curious, what was your first Reeder Custom?

The first one I had Gary build ....

I think it was this 41 GNR #2 w/414 SM cylinder

Ultimate Black Widow in 475L

45 Colt Mastodon

our first custom guns

whats the timeframe on this one Gary ?

That one goes back a ways Jon. We haven't

Nice Gun DrDoug, here is big brother

Burnin' ring of fire, fantastic!

I was wrong about the First One!

First Reeder Night Hawk

That is one of the classiest Redhawks I have ever

1st Reeder

Black Widow

I guess I read your post wrong. I thought you wanted to

Ultimate 410

broke my cherry on a 3 1/2 in El Diablo

First Reeder

That North American Hunter was one of the most

GUN LIST I forgot all about that, great exciting publication

The first Reeders I noticed were in Shotgun News adds

I ran full page ads in Shotgun News and Gun List

Ultimate 44 prototype

North American Hunter 410GNR/41 Magnum.

The cat tracks really set this one off.

Long Colt Hunter 5 shot. I Gary’s add in the