Is that 32 up for sale?
Redburn's Guns
We all like pictures so I'd like to continue posting images of guns from my late friends collection. I'd also like to share a little about the man.
Then 60 years old, give or take, Billie Redburn was a tall slender man with a full head of white hair and a matching beard with handlebar mustache. He was proud of the fact that he still wore the same size jeans that he had worn in high school. Like one of his idols from an old western movie, Billie always dressed the same. His 20X silverbelly Stetson was worn and dirty and sported a rattlesnake band. The remainder of his standard apparel was as you would expect, plaid shirt with yokes front and back, Wrangler jeans and handmade boots from a small shop in Texas. The boots were cowhide, not some exotic critter but they did have custom silver toe and heel caps. His hand tooled belt carried a silver tip, keepers and buckle. The waistband on his right side always, and I do mean ALWAYS, bulged with an ivory handled pre-war National Match Colt .45 auto. Any handgun that Billy would or could possibly ever carry was equipped with ivory grips like General Patton, another hero of his. In the watch pocket of his jeans rested his model 110 Buck folding hunter which, like his guns, had been fitted with ivory scales and filework by knifemaker P.J. Tomes. Billie was an old school collector. He only added to his collection, he never sold. He still had the first gun he'd ever bought, a martially marked Artillery model single action army Colt that he had pulled from a pickle barrel full of surplus handguns and for which he paid five dollars.
Billie was a retired Navy man. He had been an armorer aboard U.S.S. Hornet and spoke with great pride about how, in the predawn hours of April 18, 1942, he had loaded the bombs on Jimmy Doolittle's B-25 in preparation for the first U.S. air raid on the Japanese home islands. From his participation with the Doolittle Raid in 1942 on USS Hornet to his presidential unit citations for Torpedo Squadron 8 during the Battle of Midway, he was always proud of his service. After retirement from the Navy as lieutenant, he pursued his passion for collecting firearms.
Billie Redburn was a genuine collector. He bought what he liked and he never sold anything. His first love was Colt firearms though his collection reflects representative examples from S&W, High Standard, Savage and others. When he passed away he still owned every gun he ever bought, over 200 handguns and around 85 long guns.
Billie Redburn, my friend of over thirty years, passed away peacefully on December 6, 2008 at the age of 86. He was a hero of the greatest generation. He led a full life and he will be missed. Good ride cowboy.
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This 1903 .32 from Redburn's collection is factory engraved and left the factory with mother of pearl stocks in 1906.
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Then 60 years old, give or take, Billie Redburn was a tall slender man with a full head of white hair and a matching beard with handlebar mustache. He was proud of the fact that he still wore the same size jeans that he had worn in high school. Like one of his idols from an old western movie, Billie always dressed the same. His 20X silverbelly Stetson was worn and dirty and sported a rattlesnake band. The remainder of his standard apparel was as you would expect, plaid shirt with yokes front and back, Wrangler jeans and handmade boots from a small shop in Texas. The boots were cowhide, not some exotic critter but they did have custom silver toe and heel caps. His hand tooled belt carried a silver tip, keepers and buckle. The waistband on his right side always, and I do mean ALWAYS, bulged with an ivory handled pre-war National Match Colt .45 auto. Any handgun that Billy would or could possibly ever carry was equipped with ivory grips like General Patton, another hero of his. In the watch pocket of his jeans rested his model 110 Buck folding hunter which, like his guns, had been fitted with ivory scales and filework by knifemaker P.J. Tomes. Billie was an old school collector. He only added to his collection, he never sold. He still had the first gun he'd ever bought, a martially marked Artillery model single action army Colt that he had pulled from a pickle barrel full of surplus handguns and for which he paid five dollars.
Billie was a retired Navy man. He had been an armorer aboard U.S.S. Hornet and spoke with great pride about how, in the predawn hours of April 18, 1942, he had loaded the bombs on Jimmy Doolittle's B-25 in preparation for the first U.S. air raid on the Japanese home islands. From his participation with the Doolittle Raid in 1942 on USS Hornet to his presidential unit citations for Torpedo Squadron 8 during the Battle of Midway, he was always proud of his service. After retirement from the Navy as lieutenant, he pursued his passion for collecting firearms.
Billie Redburn was a genuine collector. He bought what he liked and he never sold anything. His first love was Colt firearms though his collection reflects representative examples from S&W, High Standard, Savage and others. When he passed away he still owned every gun he ever bought, over 200 handguns and around 85 long guns.
Billie Redburn, my friend of over thirty years, passed away peacefully on December 6, 2008 at the age of 86. He was a hero of the greatest generation. He led a full life and he will be missed. Good ride cowboy.
=======================================================
This 1903 .32 from Redburn's collection is factory engraved and left the factory with mother of pearl stocks in 1906.
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Redburn continually searched for consecutively numbered pairs, usually Colt single actions. When a Colt shipment was on the way to the gun shop Billie would check the invoice for consecutive numbers. Any pairs would immediately be pulled from the order and put in Redburn's locker.
This photo appeared in our local newspaper in 1980. The single actions are consecutively numbered nickel Frontier Six Shooters. To get this pair Billie bought two consecutively numbered sets of Colt's 1873-1973 Single Action Centennial Commemorative. This way Redburn could have a consecutive pair of Single Action Army revolvers and a consecutive pair of Frontier Six Shooters.
This Model 1903 Pocket Hammer .38 ACP is another pistol from the Redburn collection.
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