RARE TEXAS LONGHORN ARMS

[sixshot]

A friend & his sister showed up at the house today with a gun that was at full cock & he couldn't get the cylinder back in. Its a TLA South Texas Army, it has very nice spalted pecan stocks & has some very unusual markings, not the least being the serial numer.... its #1. The markings on the barrel state it is one of one thousand & it was given to Glen Foley.
If you look on page 64 of John Taffins fine book you will see that Glen Foley made the barrel for the first TLA Improved #5. The friend & his sister are Glen Foley's son & daughter, they live here in Soda Springs, Idaho.
Glen Foley operated a machine shop here for a few years before returning to Texas, he has since passed away & the gun was given to his son. The gun is in amazing condition, his son told me that only 3 people had fired it & it had been in the gun safe since then.
On the back strap it has his name (Glen Foley) on the butt it has serial #1 & Glen Foley's birthdate. Also on the frame in front of the trigger guard it has the serial #1. On the right side of the barrel it reads, 45 Caliber...maybe it was 45 Calibre, forgot already!
I'll have to apologize for the photo's it was raining hard outside so I had to take this inside & they didn't turn out very good, I'll take more tomorrow, they left the gun with me.









Dick

[dmize]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im glad its in your safe instead of mine................

[Lil Dudey]

EXTREMELY COOL AND A RARE TREAT TO HOLD.

[Boge Quinn]

COOL!!!

[cubrock]

Dick,

That isn't SN 1. That is SN A W.G.F.1 (which I assume comes from Foley's initials). That being said, the finish of the gun and the cylinder fluting point to a pre-1989ish gun, which would make it an early gun, for sure. Grover was not prone to share any gun under SN 6 with anyone but himself or family. I'm not saying he didn't consider this SN 1, but I also wouldn't say he did solely on the basis of the SN you show on the gun. He most likely gave this gun to Glen Foley in exchange for work, which was his common practice for subcontractors. Given Foley worked on the first #5, it is highly doubtful this is the first South Texas Army, as Grover had produced that model prior to when the #5 was developed.

Would you mind asking the current owners if they would fill out a survey form on it? I would LOVE to have data on that gun. They can find one at www.tlabook.com.

Thanks for sharing this with us! This is a very neat gun!

Steve

[sixshot]

Thanks Steve, I knew you would chime in here. Yes, his initials are W. G. F., didn't ask the kids what the W was for, also we didn't know what the A above the initials stood for unless it was, Army. This is only the second TLA I've handled, Glenn Swaggartt has the other.
I'll have one of them get in touch with you.

Dick

[ecvmatt]

That is very cool. What a find. Can't wait to see the pic tomorrow.

[cubrock]

Yes - the A is for Army. On his earliest guns, the A was a suffix. He later made it a prefix. He used T for his Flat Top Targets, B for his Border Specials, and K for his Number Fives. It is interesting that the SN on this one is engraved rather than hand stamped. Most of the earlier guns had SNs that were handstamped.

That is a really cool gun. Based on what I see, I'd guess it is a 1988ish gun and was probably payment for Foley's work on the #5. I have Grover's personal Border Special that was built in that time frame. It is similarly constructed and also has pecan stocks.

I look forward to talking with them. Thanks again for sharing this!

[sixshot]

Took more photo's today but still trying to get them indoors, its raining in buckets outside, if this keeps up the Bear River is going to look like the Mississippi.
One other detail I failed to mention was, on the bottom edge of the backstrap below "Glen Foley" it says, By Bill Grover, Inventor.




The engraving is quite small & hard for me to photo, hope you can see it.








Best I can do for now.

Dick

[Mark Terry]

What a cool find and just another reference that it is indeed a very, very small world. My guess is that this was less than a chance acquaintance / meeting. Still a unbelievably rare gun and a connection to the past. I don't remember seeing many CCH TLAs.

Cubrock - I was wondering about the book the other day. How is it coming?

Dick - thanks for sharing.

[Frank V]

Wow, thanks for sharing. The TLAs are fantastic six-guns. Bill Grover was a real artisan, his guns are about as good as it gets. I really enjoyed looking at this fine six-gun!
Frank

[James]

Sure as hell is a rare gun....

[cubrock]

Mark,

Still chugging away with research, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. This sure has gone more slowly than I anticipated, but others who have been down this road warned me that would happen.

[cubrock]

The Border Special to which I referred. I believe these guns were made during the same time frame.