A question for the Great Western gurus

[awp101]

I know Elmer Keith's remarks regarding the Great Westerns have been covered before but I have a question: Does anyone know the rough serial number range of the bad one he received vs the better one?

IOW, if I were to look for one, what serial number range should I be looking at if I want one of the better ones?

Thanks! ;D

[sackpeterson]

Everything Keith wrote about Great Western - the bad, and then the subsequent achievement of quality - appeared in the first edition of Sixguns in 1955. This is a very short period of time from when the company started.

I'm not sure the Keith anecdote is going to be a good method of screening potential purchases. Just give them good inspections and pay accordingly.

[Lee Martin]

They seemed to get good around 1955/56. I'm no Great Western expert, but if I had to guess I'd say 1,000 - 2,000 and above we be where they got their act together. Close to 22,000 were made between '53 and '62. From what I understand, production sped up after the first couple of years.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com

[awp101]

Thanks Lee, I'll keep that in mind.

sackpeterson, my copy of Sixguns is from '59 IIRC. I thought the updated review might have been added for the new edition but I recently ran across a thread here (I think it was here. I went back 25-27 pages just looking and reading ;D) saying the good and bad were in the first edition as well. Regardless, that is sound, safe and sage advice for any transaction.

I figured it was worth asking if there was a pretty good serial range to look at.

[heyjoe63]

For Great Western specific questions you might check out the new GW forum

gwcollector.proboards.com/index.cgi

[CraigC]

Jul 28, 2011 18:59:10 GMT -5 sackpeterson said:

Just give them good inspections and pay accordingly.

Good advice!

[sackpeterson]

Its certainly not a bad question in terms of…what should I be attempting to buy?… what exists chronologically over the 54 – 62 time period?

My feeling is the early ones are more Colt like than the later ones. Lets say to up to GW7500 to pick an imprecise round number. They are very appealing for that reason.

The later ones have a more modern, precision machined look. Lets say 12500 and up.

Centerfires are reasonably hard to find under any circumstances just because fellas don’t sell them when they have them. They’re not all that numerically scarce though.

I like 15000 – GW20000 as a sweet spot for build quality and options.

[awp101]

Jul 29, 2011 9:22:25 GMT -5 heyjoe63 said:

For Great Western specific questions you might check out the new GW forum

gwcollector.proboards.com/index.cgi

Nah, that'd be too easy! Actually I didn't know about it so I'll check it out when I get home, thanks!

Jul 29, 2011 10:50:05 GMT -5 sackpeterson said:

Centerfires are reasonably hard to find under any circumstances just because fellas don’t sell them when they have them. They’re not all that numerically scarce though.

That's what I'm finding out. In the past 6-8 years of gunshow/gunshop hopping since I became aware of them I might have seen 2 centerfires and 3-4 rimfires.

I looked back through 8-10 pages of completed auctions on GB last night and I don't recall seeing any that actually changed hands for less than $375.