Book Review by David R. Chicoine 3/06
Single Action Sixguns by John Taffin, 336 pages, hardcover, 350 color photos. $39.99. Order this book online from: KP Books, Dept. BNP, P.O. Box 5009, Iola, WI 54945-5009 (800) 272-5233
This remarkable new book, written by the well-known authority on handguns and all things cowboy, John Taffin, brings the reader a colorful and truly engaging look at America's favorite child, the single action sixgun. In Single Action Sixguns, the author offers the reader a generous knowledge of how the single action evolved, from the first "real" practical revolver; Colt's Paterson of the 1830's, on up through the ultra-modern and super-powered single actions available to today's shooters and hunters.
No, this is not yet another one of those books devoted entirely to the Colt Single Action Army, although, it would be impossible to write a book about single actions and leave them out, so a fair share of the work covers the venerable Peacemakers in great detail. Taffin begins our look at the single action revolver where he should, with it's roots at Sam Colt's invention of 1836. Carefully tracing their evolution through the percussion era, into an important area which is often overlooked; the first metallic cartridge single actions and the significant role played by Smith & Wesson in their creation and development. Many folks assume the Colt Peacemaker of 1873 was the first handgun to use metallic cartridges, no sir; it was actually Smith & Wesson, 16 years earlier in 1857 and they didn't stop there. Just after the Civil War, Colt and Remington were playing around trying to convert their percussion revolvers so they would fire cartridges. Four years before the Colt SAA was uintroduced, in 1869, S&W introduced a revoltionary top-break single action. This revolver was not only designed to fire metallic cartridges, it featured an automatic ejection system that removed all the fired cases with a flick of the wrist, making it by far the fastest single action to reload. It would be the late 1880s before Colt caught up to that act.
Nevertheless, the famous Colt Single Action Army was and still is well loved for its graceful lines, perfect balance and excellent shooting qualities. Aw heck, there is just something about the old Peacemaker that can't be defined really, its just an incredibly cool revolver. Single Action Sixguns shows us the SAA throughout its life, its military service, frontier use, alterations and the influnce of Elmer keith on modern sixguns and cartridges. The author also looks heavily into Ruger single actions as well as the many Colt clones and more modern SA's.
But what I like most about this book is that the author isn't just showing you what has been available from the factories, as in "stock" guns. He's giving you a good look into what can and what has been done to customize the single action, from Elmer Keith's alterations of the 1920's and 30's, up into some of the really sophisticated work being done by today's custom gunsmiths. What's more, there is a great chapter entitled "Using the single action sixgun" that shares some of John's valuable knowledge on the many aspects of the subject in very practical terms that almost anyone can put to use.
In a nutshell, this is a great new book that I am sure will generate lots of new and renewed interest in the single action. . .as if the single action sixgun wasn't popular enough already. I give this one 5 stars, its a really good read with a generous dose of wonderful photography!
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