Sheriff's Model Myth

[Danny Bear Claw]

The myth continues to grow.  The current issue of Guns Of The Old West has a very interesting article on the Doc Holiday Classic 45 Colt made by the talented custom gun smith Gary Reeder.  I have handled and shot a couple of Reeder guns.  The man is truly an artist and if I can ever afford a custom gun Mr. Reeder is the man I'll be calling on to make mine.

On to the myth, (myths).  On page 48 - picture #1 is captioned "Doc Holliday Classic is similar to the Ruger Vaquero Sheriff's model, except for the grip shape."  In the picture is a Bird's Head Vaquero.  There-in lies the myth.  In all of my reference books on Colt single action revolvers the so called "sheriff's model" is a single action without an ejector rod/ejector rod assembly.  Barrel lengths ran from 2 inches to 5.5 inches.  Seems like many folks think that any SA revolver with a barrel shorter than 4.75 inches is a sheriff's model.  Not so.  What makes a sheriff's model is the lack of an ejector rod assembly.  I own a Bird's Head Vaquero with 3.75 inch barrel.....and an ejector rod.  It is not a sheriff's model.  It is merely a short barreled copy of the Colt Peacemaker with a bird's head grip.  Colt only used bird's head grips on their Lightning and Thunderer models, which by the way, were double action revolvers.  I also own a clone Colt Sheriff's Model with 3 inch barrel.  It has no ejector rod and there is no accomadation on either the frame or barrel for adding one, not that an ejector of such short length would do any good anyway.

On to the second myth.  Dispite what the movie "Tombstone" depicted, the fact is Doc Holliday apparently carried a 7.5 inch barreled Colt SAA.  On page #160, of R. L. Wilson's "The Peacemakers" book, there is a picture of Doc's Colt which he gave to his nephew before his death.  He told his nephew that it was the gun he carried throughout his time in the west including his gunfight at the OK Corral.  It is a 7.5 inch barreled, blued steel revolver with one piece walnut grips in caliber 45 Colt.  The accompanying text states this is authenticated with the related paper work.  This particular book shows many of the guns of the well known characters of the old west, including Pat Garrett's gun, Billy The Kid' gun and the Remington model 1875s carried by the James brothers in the latter part of their careers.  "The Peacemakers" is a must have book for anyone interested in the old west.

I could go on and on about the so called "45 Long Colt" thing too, but I think I've been windy enough for today.  There's 45acp and 45 Colt.  That's it.  I'm getting off the soap box now.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Glad you were able to get that done without fallin' off the box, Danny. you were informative as usual.............Buck

[Terry]

Way back when, when I collected Colts, we called them Store Keepers Models.  Short barrel, no ejector, I have owned several, both '73 SAA and '77 Lightnings.  The SAA, did not have a birdshead grip, not sure after all these years, but I doubt Colt ever put one on anything other than their DA's

[Danny Bear Claw]

Terry..... you're right on the money with the bird's head grip thing.  Colt only used them on the Lightning model and the Thunderer model.  Both were double action revolvers.  The Lightning was caliber 38 Colt and the Thunderer was available in 44 or 45 Colt.  Now the "Store Keeper's Model", sometimes called "Shop Keeper's Model" was a horse of a different color.  According to my Colt reference books the so-called Store Keeper's model was available in barrel lengths of 3.5 inches up to 4.75 inches and generally speaking, had ejector rods.  This differentiated them from Sheriff's models.  It makes me wonder what the difference was between a 4.75 inch Peacemaker or model P and a 4.75 inch Store Keeper's model.  At any rate, a gunsmith I know has said that with a barrel shorter than 3.5 inches an ejector rod wouldn't be of much use anyway, hence, the reason Colt made the Store Keepers with barrels of 3.5 inches and up.
Now over time the terms Sheriff's model, Store Keeper's model and Shop Keeper's model all got smooshed together and folks began to call any short barreled revolver with or without ejector by any of these names, but according to Colt, the Sheriff's model were the ones without ejectors.... regardless of barrel length.  I've actually seen a 5.5 inch barreled Sheriff's model made in the early 1890s.  Looked kinda funny without the ejector.

[Irish Dave]

Absolutely dead on re: the sheriff's models being sans ejector. I hate to see Ruger -- and even Uberti now -- referring to their 3.5" or 3.75"  barrelled versions with a shortened ejector rod and housing as "sheriff's models."  Just ain't historically so.

After some effort, though, I'm proud to say, I finally have a true Ruger Vaquero Sheriff's Model. It's taken me a couple of months, but I converted a 7.5 " RV into a 3" ejectorless sheriff.

I (with some pards' assistance)  removed the barrel, ground off the ejector rod swell on the frame, refinished the frame and cut and recrowned the barrel.

A very good gunsmith I know in Indy, named Eric Woods, did the balance -- milled a new front sight slot, reset and silver soldered the front sight and reblued the barrel. 

It looks cool, shoots well, and is historically accurate to boot (at least as accurate as a RV can be etc).

Can't wait for the next match to try her out. Plan to carry in a shoulder rig.

BTW One of my Colt reference books (which escapes me off hand) IIRC, indicates the Sheriff as 3.5 " or less and the sotrekeeper's model as 4" or more -- but both without ejectors. In any case, I think all sources here and elsewhere I've heard of, agree that the sheriff model Colt SAA was ejectorless -- that and a shorter than normal barrel were the key features of the type.

[Frank Dalton]

Good info and thanks for sharing it. I like reading these small tidbits, as they all help me become more attuned with the "true" facts.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Good information, there. I have an original 77DA with a 3" bbl and no ejector housing. Must be a sherrif's model. Cool.

Also have an SAA that was converted to a sheriff's model, most likely by J. C. Petmecky of Austin, TX. Not a factory original, but certainly an interesting looking gun. The factory barrel was 4 3/4". It's a guess on what length it was after being converted. It was obviously a working gun because it had a lot of use and the original barrel was later replaced with a 5" one, probably because it was too pitted to be accurate, judging by the pitting in the cylinder.

[Long Jim Handcock]

Good discussion Danny, thanks!