By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
While having a sixgun with a longer barrel is handy at times, one should never dispense with sidearms fitted with shorter barrels, ranging anywhere from “snub gun” dimensions of 2-2 ½ to 4-4 ½ inches because these are the typical utility guns most people favor.
Whether carried openly or concealed, I’ve always found that handguns with tubes in that size range are easier for most people to carry and the barrel length does have its advantages.
My first magnum handgun was a Model 19 Smith & Wesson with a 6-inch barrel and Patridge front sight and adjustable rear sight. It had the smoothest action right out of the box of any sidearm I had handled at the time, and even to this day, it shoots phenomenally well.
However, a few years passed and I found myself purchasing a Model 19 with the 2 ½-inch barrel from the old John Jovino company in New York City. At the time, Jovino’s regular advertisements in whatever publication I was reading at the time always got my attention. This particular snub gun has served me faithfully for decades and now rides with me occasionally into the wilds, where even a .357 Magnum bullet launched from that short bore still can stop something with teeth in an emergency.
It has been the same story with my fascination for handguns chambering the .41 Magnum cartridge. My first purchase for a big bore was a Ruger single-action Blackhawk wearing a 6 ½-inch barrel. Despite its heft, this handgun carries well, and has been with me on more hunting trips than I can remember, including one to Southeast Alaska which was not exactly something to write home about. I’ve killed two Washington state bucks with that gun.
Yet, about 20 years ago, I bought a Blackhawk in .41 Magnum with a 4 5/8-inch barrel (shown above). It still has adjustable sights, can handle full-house magnum loads all day long, and has demonstrated downrange accuracy beyond some folks’ expectations. It has ridden with me on a cartridge belt through a lot of deer and elk seasons, in all kinds of weather, and I have no concern about failure. Honestly, I think it could be whacked with a hammer and still launch lead with the best of ‘em.
When I bought an N-Frame Model 57 S&W back in the 1980s, also from Jovino, it had a 6-inch barrel and slipped right into the Safariland shoulder holster I’d been using when I went on the aforementioned Alaska hunt. This is the sixgun I now use at the annual Elmer Keith long range memorial handgun shoot and I have managed to hit targets at, let’s say, a few hundred yards with this revolver. It also has a smooth action, and I’ll soon be back to the range in preparation for this year’s Keith shoot.
But along came an opportunity to purchase a Model 57 with a 4-inch barrel, and I jumped at it. This gun had been only slightly used when I bought it and had spent a couple of years in a gun safe. A trek to the range revealed it to be a good shooter with my handloads and factory fodder, and about five years ago, I used that gun to finish off a wounded mule deer buck which was on the move in the middle of a cut-over alfalfa field.
Some years ago, when Ruger introduced the New Vaquero, I scrambled to buy one with a 7 ½-inch barrel in .45 Colt. It’s deep blue barrel and grip frame is off-set with a handsomely-finished color case frame. I was not disappointed with this gun’s performance. I worked up a load using Hodgdon’s HP-38 pushing a 255-grain Hornady lead Cowboy Action bullet with a muzzle velocity of about 875 fps out of that longer barrel. I had to file down the front blade sight just a bit to bring my shots up a bit at 25 yards, and I’ve put a lot of lead through that barrel over the years.
But once again, maybe ten years ago, I bought a New Vaquero with an all-blue finish and a 4 5/8-inch barrel. This one comfortably rides the high country in a hand-built, lined holster on a 30-loop cartridge belt and it shoots rather well with my handloads.
I have over the years replaced all the factory stocks on these guns with various grips from Eagle, Herrett’s, Ajax, Arizona Custom, Pachmayr (for wet weather) and even a couple of grips I personally crafted.
Each sidearm has its utility purpose. The short barrel is handy for sitting behind the wheel or riding in a passenger seat, hiking and even concealing the handgun when necessary. I’ve found one doesn’t sacrifice that much muzzle velocity when opting for a short gun, either.
And that, as they say, is the “short of it.”
