Cowboy Up: 255-grain lead .45 Colt

Aloud, pre-dawn creak on the wooden porch outside his bedroom window awoke the homeowner and alerted him that something was not right. Shaking off the cobwebs, he reached over to his Colt Peacemaker in the bedside drawer. The plowhandled grip felt reassuring, just as it had so many times before when he had fired it at tin cans. Only now the single action might be put to more serious use. This is not a scenario from the 1880s or  a western movie. It could very well take place in the homes of the thousands—dare I say millions—of men and women who own single-action, lever-action and smoothbore originals and replicas of 19th century firearms, either as Cowboy Action guns or because they simply favor these tried-and-true designs for hunting, plinking and, yes, self-protection.

VIDEO

After all, the guns that once kept bandits at bay can have an equally viable role in the 21st century. I’ll never forget being approached by a fellow Single Action Shooting Society member at an End of Trail competition a few years ago and being asked for my recommendation regarding a home-defense gun. I looked at the two Ruger Vaqueros in his double rig and replied, “You’re wearing them.”

VIDEO-VIDEO