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Share your Cowboy Shooting kit

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10K views 86 replies 23 participants last post by  Jim Martin 
#1 · (Edited)
Antique tool

Thought I would start a thread to share those SASS combinations we all love to shoot.
Top is a Marlin 94 in 38-40.
I shoot two top pistols in 41 Colt, one is marked 41 Colt the other is a 38-40 with a 41 Colt cylinder. Very accurate at cowboy ranges.
The lower Bisleys are 38-40s. Love only having to carry one load and not sort brass when I get home.
I am also working on a 32-20 outfit, need another SAA to complete.
So show us what ya got, y'all.
 
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#69 ·
You're a luck man to find it and blessed it was in your size! The older hats were so much higher quality than what can be had now for the most part. Goees back to the craftmen working with their hands and caring about the products they produced. I'd guess 1915 to 1920 on your hat. Do you have a idea when it was built?
 
#71 · (Edited)
#72 ·
I had a Tim McCoy hat duplicated several yrs ago to go along w/my McCoy tribute gun I built & I also had his holster & the famous silver buckle duplicated he always wore that came out of a 1926 Bohlin catalog & last but not least I got an identical fancy leather vest made that was worn by him in a lot of his movies.I've been meaning to get some pictures taken of all of them but haven't got around to it yet due to my lack of compuker interest & ability.
 
#75 ·
AlanC said:
...Stetson No. 1 Quality (1890s to 1910s)" you will see his example. Mine is identical including the tags behind the band.
Quite the treasure! Like owning a Custer gun in 98% condition. Thanks for sharing that bit of rare Western Americana. Any idea who the dealer was that sold it?
 
#78 ·
I have been a SASS member since 2001, here is a still taken after the Arizona Cowboy Shooters Association annual banquet. The buckle was earned by shooting it the classic cowboy category for the whole year. (Classic Cowboy requires minimum .40 caliber revolvers and rifle, externally hammered double or 1887 lever shotgun as well as costume requirement. Revolvers are Colt SSA black powder frame, bullseye ejectors, one piece stag grips, roll stamped barrels "Frontier Six Shooter" of course in 44 WCF.
 
#79 · (Edited)
I have been a SASS member since 2001, here is a still taken after the Arizona Cowboy Shooters Association annual banquet. The buckle was earned by shooting it the classic cowboy category for the whole year. (Classic Cowboy requires minimum .40 caliber revolvers and rifle, externally hammered double or 1887 lever shotgun as well as costume requirement. Revolvers are Colt SSA black powder frame, bullseye ejectors, one piece stag grips, roll stamped barrels "Frontier Six Shooter" of course in 44 WCF. View attachment 332113
Nice lookin' Colt peeking outta that holster.. I've got Stags pretty similar to that on my everday-gun
 
#80 ·
I got a question for you guys and those top-dollar Beaver hats. I haven't got an expensive genuine one by any means myself, buy $80 ones that I don't feel bad giving a licken to* Anyhow, always wondered on the good-ones' durability vs. these cheaper ones... See (lots) of guys covering their hats with those Bs rain-covers and hiding them away in dirty conditions n different stuff.. that I never felt hurt mine none, I've worn it through 3-day drenches in the mountains, in dust around the farm and with pine needles & alder branches knocking its sides; it still-is the hat I wear to Weddings even-after the beating its taken.. I think it looks even better as a matter of fact!!

So what is-it with the guys scared to weather those expensive hats... cuz I would think a beaverskin should stand up better than my cheapo Bailey hat does, no?? Anybody here really "work" with theirs that can comment?

Could it be that most people are scared to really 'use' them because of the price, or are they actually more delicate than I think?
 
#81 · (Edited)
Rooster good question and I'd bet others have answers as well. 50 years ago even some of the 5 and 7x hats were damn durable and high quality hats by comparison to much of what is sold today. Bought the kid that works for me a $150 American Hat Co. lid couple months back he's worn every day since. It is a POS in my mind but it is what he wanted and was willing to work off. I have reformed it twice already so he could go dancing all purty after the rodeos :rolleyes: Good to be young aint it! But the $130 Amish hat is three times the hat the Amercan will ever be. And out last it by years.

Bailey has made some really good hats. Wife and I both have 30 year old 7x versions we still wear.

Photo below is 100% beaver hat I built from a blank 18 months ago. We don't tolerate no shirkers here :) last 2 months its been up to 90+ and down below freezing more than once. A inch of rain in 24hrs more than once, rain most weeks is common in spring. I use this hat as protection to move sprinklers wearing Xtratuffs 'cuz I know I'll get soaked. Big brimmed hat really helps keep some of the water off there. Hat got stretched and pulled on tight to my ears for a couple of weeks straight riding young horses. Lost it on one particularly memorable day twice in the round pen and then again when I went through the arena fence. It got stomped on first by the horse, then again by me that day. Hat was looking pretty worse for wear at that point. Not one I'd be wearing to a wedding. But good for a long neck or two and keeping the sun out of your eyes. It still looked better than I did after all that! Week later had a partner get tossed and busted a pelvis down a canyon and needed a airlift to get out. I wadded my hat up to use as a pillow for that one...hat or unconscious rider...thought I could sacrifice the hat. He got most all my clothes and chaps too before that all got sorted out.

A lesser hat would have done all that no question and lived through it I suspect. Just not as easy to fix or looked as good when done :bang_wall: Had a friend suggest I trade the Beaver for a hard hat. He's a smart ass.

Took a few minutes with a sand paper, hat brushes, and a steam kettle to get this one back to some thing that resembles a hat but easy enough to do. I look at good hats like a engraved gun. Buy them, use them, repair/replace as required. Life is short. A good hat, nice guns and a broke horse make life more enjoyable :cool: None of them are gonna be worth a chit if you are going to baby them or just save them took at on Sunday.



an after thought.....I have never as in never worn out a high quality hat. I have rotted out leather sweat bands and trashed/soiled hat liners. Both can be replaced. Good bodies like the silver belly beaver above can be cleaned and rebuilt many times. Had lesser hats not hold their shape, bleed dye, not keep out the rain and/or fit poorly . All reason enough to get rid of them for me. But a good hat fits perfectly, keeps water off your head, sun out of your eyes, is cool in summer and warm enough in winter. The better hats will do all that, feel good in the hand, light on your head (Amish hats are a little heavier than needed) and last a long, long time. IMO, if you wear a hat....you deserve to at least try once in your life a nice custom beaver hat built specifically for your head. For all the same reasons we shoot a Colt and not a Uberti.
 
#83 ·
I wouldn't wanna say how much my Tim McCoy hat cost me & then that beautiful leather vest wasn't cheap either & the tooled rig w/the silver buckle but the engraved gun sure looks good in it.I AM going to get some pictures taken of my McCoy stuff ,I've got a silver & gold neckerchief slide w/his brand from the ranch that he had before he got into the movie business & an original size neckerchief to go w/it.
 
#84 ·
Well, when I buy a hat, durability is the number one priority. That, and how it fits. You can get by with a cheaper hat, but I wear mine everyday so it has to be comfortable, stand up to snow, rain, hail, sun, sweat, dirt, getting stepped on and everything else in between. The brown hat I posted earlier that I put on my son's head is so sweat stained now, you can't even tell the hat band was ever tan. It's a dark brown color like the rest of the hat from all the sweat and dirt. If I did all that with a cheaper hat, more than likely the brim would be draped in front of my eyes within the first year. So, its nicer to get a hat with more beaver felt, and less wool. The thing I like about Mackey's is that you can send him the measurement of your head, tell him if your head is a long oval type or not, and they almost feel like a custom hat. And, you can send him a picture of exactly what you want and they will do it. They come kinda tight, but are great after you get them broke in. To me, hats like Mackey's are well enough made, and fit well enough that they merit the cost. So, they aren't cheap hats that will wear out in a couple of years, and they aren't crazy expensive like a custom hat outfit wear you go in and get your head measured with the gizmo and all that.
 
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