There can only be ONE....

[yahoody]

OK, new game.  You only get to pick one USFA gun as your favorite....

Just one...what is it?   Pictures please if you have them.  I am still pondering that question.  But I have narrowed it to one of three.

Along these lines...Italian clone and all

[Buck Stinson]

I had to butt in and say that I love the pearl grips.  Were they purchased from and fitted by USFA?  They really set off the engraving on the pistol.

[yahoody]

Hopalong/Tim's gun but I do believe the gun was fitted with Pearls prior to the sale.  Agreed, they really do set that particular pistol off right.

[Coffinmaker]

Omnipotent.
Had a pair, chambered in 38 Special.  I sold em cause the grips NO WAY fit my hands.  However, if just ONE, the gun is an engravers dream.  Fully engraved with Bubinga or Coco Bolo grips ........... lip smacking good.

Coffinmaker

[Pangaea]

That would be an incredibly hard choice to make.

[yahoody]

That would be an incredibly hard choice to make.

I know.
I was bored today...and it may take me a while yet to decide which one but at least I am down to a choice between three ;-)

[markg44]

I don't have one yet, but if I could find one it be a bisley target ,7.5 '', in 38wcf , with an extra cyl in 40 s&w. Kind of old school, new school, with a nice fancy  1 piece hard wood grip. I figure cost around $9K ...

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

Doesn't seem all that long ago that I brought up the same subject!  Still, it is always worth rethinking, and that is what I have done.  I'm going to stick to my original decision.
As before, I have two favorites... a 7&1/2" nickel plated .45 with premium walnut grips and a 4&3/4" nickel plated .45 with factory elephant ivory grips and a personalized serial number.
If my life depended on it, I would go with the 7&1/2" simply because it is one of the most accurate SAA's I have ever owned (and I bought my first one, a Colt, in 1967).  With it you can easily shoot 2" groups at 25 years, off hand, all day long.
The 4&3/4, while not quite as accurate, due no doubt to the shorter barrel, is plenty accurate enough at 25 yards.  The personalized serial number, SPD2566, reflects the initials of the police department on which I proudly served for over 25 years and my department serial number.  I had a special presentation case made for it along with a self made, custom USFA label (I scanned and altered one of the USFA labels found in their boxes) indicating that it is a special order gun commemorating my time in service.  Printed it out on parchment paper and attached it to the lid of the presentation case.
So... I would go with the 4&3/4.  50 years from now nobody will care about how accurate that 7&1/2" USFA was but maybe, just maybe, one of my heirs, the children of my children, will look at that 4&3/4" and think about me and where they came from.  That is what I do every time I sign on here in the name of my great-grandfather Capt. John Fitzgerald.

 
   

[yahoody]

Nice write up Captain.

One of the most best things about steel, is future generations will have the chance to hold exactly what you hold in your hand now.  Like our great grandfathers  (if we are really lucky) passed down to us...we can do the same.  Better yet our own history can be  documented here on the Internet or else where in great detail if we care to do so with little effort.  Not many material things that I value more than my Grandfather's Colt.  I suspect the same will be true of your USFA guns 100 years from now by your great, great grand children.

William's Colt, leather, pocket watch and a last box of ammo.   The Bisley a 1911 college graduation present to William from his father and my Great Grandfather, Levi.



Time leaves only tombstones and dry bones.  But we can leave steel.

[yahoody]

Nice clone    I think I know that window.

[yahoody]

Ha, ha...and I thought the original was a brilliant idea

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,53688.0.html

Be interested if anyone has changed their minds on the ONE gun.
I'm back to a gussied upped Rodeo as my favorite.

[TDW]

Capt. John,
   Not to take the thread off track....I have a small collection of Dept marked firearms (semi-retired LEO). One I just traded off, was a ca. 1903 mnf. Model 1897 Winchester that was stamped S.P.D. 13 on the stock, receiver, and under the buttplate.

Neat little patrol shotgun with a ton of character, but I had another that was more Montana specific, so it went down the road. Wish I could keep 'em all !!
Tom W.