By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
When the conversation gets around to revolvers, it is almost inevitable that someone asks, “What’s your absolute favorite sixgun?”
Yeah, like there’s a definitive answer? Oh, c’mon.
Elmer Keith is known to have preferred Smith & Wesson double-action N-frame wheelguns with 4-inch barrels, chambered for the .44 Magnum cartridge, to which his name will be forever linked. But he is also known to have carried a .44 Special; a sixgun I’ve only seen in photographs. It had the same carved ivory steer head grips from the old Gun Reblue company as his famous magnums, the same barrel length and similar engraving.
However, when the late John Taffin wrote about visiting Keith at his Salmon, Idaho home back in 1968, the “grand old man” of long-range handgunning met Taffin and his wife at the door packing a S&W N-frame .41 Magnum. As Taffin explained in an October 2021 article in GUNS Magazine, “It still had a 4” barrel and still had carved ivory stocks and was still carried in his favorite holster…”
Keith also had a hand in the development of the .41 Magnum, and he is known to have owned a pair of them, gifted to him by S&W back in 1964. He swapped out the factory rosewood grips for the carved ivory steer head panels—I’ve seen a photo of him holding the pair while seated in an easy chair—and often dreamed of having had the bank account to have allowed me a successful bid for one or both of those guns when Keith’s firearms were auctioned.
It took many years for me to find a 4-inch .41 Magnum S&W, and I bought it along with 200 rounds of ammunition, a set of HKS speedloaders and brand new, unused reloading dies. It was to be my “retirement gun,” and it has been a dandy to shoot and carry afield. It even has a notch in the grip for a mule deer buck I dispatched with it several years ago in eastern Washington. It now wears a set of handsome Kirinite grips (a remarkably tough stuff probably more durable than genuine ivory) and typically resides in a lined leather holster tooled with my favorite clam shell pattern, which rides on a 30-loop cartridge belt.
But is it my favorite? Ahhhhh, well, maybe.
It would have to compete with my 6-inch S&W in the same caliber, along with my Ruger single-action wheelguns in .41 Magnum and .45 Colt.
Then there are some guns in .357 Magnum, including a 1980s vintage Colt Python with that deep Royal Blue finish and the original box, complete with a letter from Colt.
What Makes a ‘Favorite’?
How does someone define “favorite?” Is it a wheelgun that shoots flat and accurately at long range? Does it have a smooth-as-silk action and crisp trigger let-off? Are you able to pack it all day long, under all sorts of conditions? Is it chambered for a fight-stopping caliber?
Maybe it’s a combination of all of these factors.
I shoot handloads in all of my sixguns, and the .45s rarely see a jacketed bullet. I’ve found that Hornady’s 255-grain RNLFP bullets designed primarily for Cowboy Action shooting perform rather well, propelled by either HP-38 or CFE Pistol powder with charges capable of producing muzzle velocities in the 850-900 fps realm. Hit something with a big, slow-moving piece of lead and you’re going to get some attention!
But, stoked with my handloads, are either of my Ruger New Vaquero wheelguns my “favorites?” Again, I’ve got to say perhaps.
It’s a different story for the .41 Magnums. It is only in recent years I’ve been using cast lead SWC bullets in my wheelguns, having enjoyed years of good performance with 210-grain JHPs from Nosler, Sierra and Hornady, propelled by charges of either H110, 2400 or Accurate #9.
Recently on a visit to Lewiston, Idaho, I implored my old pal Allen Jones, now retired from Speer, to try coaxing that outfit to resurrect the 220-grain half-jacketed SWC bullet in .41 caliber, but I suspect it’ll never happen. That 220-grainer was a superb projectile, and the half-jacket served as something of a gas check, contributing to the bullet’s downrange performance.
And let’s not forget the .357s. For decades, I faithfully carried full-house magnums topped by 125-grain JHPs from Speer or Nosler (the latter appears to have been discontinued), or Hornady’s XTP. But age and experience led me to some delightful experimenting with the 158-grain Hornady XTP, and I’ve discovered that launching this pill with an ample dose of H110 or 2400 delivered downrange results which caused my eyebrows to rise!
Confession Time
Okay, it’s time to cop a plea. I love ‘em all, and have found good uses for all of my wheelguns. The .41 Magnums—the .44 Magnum has too much recoil for what little difference might exist between it and the .41 in terms of ballistics; the .41 can do pretty much everything the .44 can do—are definitely game-stoppers. I’ve had venison in the freezer as proof.
The .45 Colt, well, that cartridge has, shall we say, filled enough coffins over the past 150 years to convince anybody it is capable of stopping trouble.
As for the .357 Magnum, its reputation needs no defense. It may actually be one of the top two or three self-defense rounds on the planet. It shoots flat, hits like a ballpeen hammer and has permanently stopped more bad behavior among two- and four-legged varmints than anyone can count.
I’d have to explain it thusly: My favorite wheelgun is the one I’m packing when I need it. I know whichever one it happens to be, it will shoot reliably, accurately and finish the job.
