Gary Reeder
our first custom guns
Thursday, February 05, 2026, 16:29

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.