Lonesome Dove Walker

[Campbell]

Texas State University in San Marcos
(I live down the road) has a permanent Lonesome Dove exhibition with plenty of movie props including Gus’ Walker.
Maybe these photos would be of interest.

 

[IT47]

That b-u-ti-ful Walker has "Gus" and "Woodrow" written all over. The Walker truly was the original magnum revolver. What power. Back in the eighties, when the Italian clones were coming stateside, because of the Clint Eastwood Italian westerns, I was very fortunate to pop a cap on a Walker clone. The components were 60 grains fff GOEX, RWS Dynamit Nobel No. 1075 caps, and plenty of tallow, no wads, and .457 balls. In the other corner was a Smith & Wesson 29, 8 inch barrel, The victims that day were two large cast iron skil-lits at 25 yards. The indentions of that Walker was ever so close to that Model 29 .44 mag. If I was an onry cuss in Laredo, I would hate to be on the receiving end of either one. The Walker truly was The El Patron of it's day.

 

[Long Johns Wolf]

Visited that Lonesome Dove exhibition in 2012.
At that time Gus McCrae's ASM Walker was still labeled as a Dragoon ... like in Larry McMurtry's book.
Long Johns Wolf

 

[Spaxspore]

very cool thanks for sharing guys.

 

[tom in nc]

A Walker or two is on my bucket list!

 

[Spaxspore]

A Walker or two is on my bucket list!

you wont regret it

 

[BillinOregon]

Well it now appears that I have a reason to visit San Marcos.

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Bought this a few months back. It costs bit more than your standard Uberti Walker + ($100-150), but as you can see its beautifully finished by Cimarron, Charcoal Blue, beautiful hard wood grips, cylinder is in the white (as it was historically) and properly marked. Case coloring is impressive as well. Fired around 4 cylinders through it after these pictures were taken. The 3rd party SLIXshot's nipples did a excellent job of ignition using Remington #11 caps. Not one miss fire. Used .454 ball with 50 grains of 3F Black Powder.

If you haven't ever shot a Walker, you need to you. Its a very unique and one of a kind experience. Enjoy the pictures.

dang thats a beauty. thanks for pics

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Aw come on !!! It's a Magnum for cryin out loud!!!!

But seriously, 30gr. or 60gr. , it's gonna move ( eat wedges) if you don't get a spacer ( for the arbor) in it. It's easy to do.

Here's one I had in the shop not long ago.
View attachment 287725
View attachment 287726

Mike

sweettt

 

[Flint1]

Very beautiful gun! I like the way they include the company with the serial number as the originals.

 

[M. De Land]

Texas State University in San Marcos
(I live down the road) has a permanent Lonesome Dove exhibition with plenty of movie props including Gus’ Walker.
Maybe these photos would be of interest.

View attachment 287851View attachment 287852View attachment 287853View attachment 287854View attachment 287856View attachment 287857View attachment 287858

Mike, is that common for the Walker bolt notch to wallow out like on the Lonesome Dove gun or is the hand nose to long on this one?

 

[45D]

Mike,is that common for the Walker bolt notch to wallow out like on the Lonesome Dove gun or is the hand to long on this one?

Those cylinder notches look a little shallow on a "questionable" cylinder make ( for a prop gun). Making sure the bolt is contacting the bottom on the tall side of the notch should keep that from happening. The cylinder may not have much if any kind of heat treatment.
The Uberti cylinders should hold up pretty well though usually the material will "upset" slightly on the tall side when cycled rapidly. That's a lot of weight spinning even when unloaded. If you tap it down ( I use a tack hammer that was my dad's) a couple of times, it'll work harden it enough to not be a recurring problem.
Since I install an action stop, I make sure there is slight play in the cylinder at full cock ( thumb still on hammer) meaning no hand / ratchet contact. That's obviously a notch saver in itself. A bolt block is always a good addition as well to keep throw-by at bay.

Mike

Ps, I always "back cut" the tall side of the bolt. That keeps the bolt from contacting the edge of the notch but the "bolt head" (down in the notch) is still full width.

 

[M. De Land]

Those cylinder notches look a little shallow on a "questionable" cylinder make ( for a prop gun). Making sure the bolt is contacting the bottom on the tall side of the notch should keep that from happening. The cylinder may not have much if any kind of heat treatment.
The Uberti cylinders should hold up pretty well though usually the material will "upset" slightly on the tall side when cycled rapidly. That's a lot of weight spinning even when unloaded. If you tap it down ( I use a tack hammer that was my dad's) a couple of times, it'll work harden it enough to not be a recurring problem.
Since I install an action stop, I make sure there is slight play in the cylinder at full cock ( thumb still on hammer) meaning no hand / ratchet contact. That's obviously a notch saver in itself. A bolt block is always a good addition as well to keep throw-by at bay.

Mike

Ps, I always "back cut" the tall side of the bolt. That keeps the bolt from contacting the edge of the notch but the "bolt head" (down in the notch) is still full width.

Yeah thanks, I can see where my bolt is bottoming out in the notch on the back side which is a good bit deeper than on the Dove gun.

I broke/dressed both sides of all the notches with my medium diamond file to keep the edge corners from buggering. This gun seems well timed right from the factory but still needed a trigger job and arbor button.

 

[Eutycus]

One of these days

 

[deerstalkert]

i am not a pistolero in any sense of the word. love my long guns.
But the two BP revolvers i have are Walkers.
one was gifted to me and is a CVA marked. i shoot it about 4 times a year.

 

[45D]

I broke/dressed both sides of all the notches with my medium diamond file to keep the edge corners from buggering. This gun seems well timed right from the factory but still needed a trigger job and arbor button.

That's good but I can't stress enough about the action stop. It will save hand, a block will do the same for the notch and bolt.
Here's a profile of the "back cut" for the bolt head :

Mike

 

[fireman1]

Nice pistola!

 

[Ed C.]

I have a Uberti Walker that I love but I want that gun!

 

[Tommy Bruce]

That's a beautiful piece. I had an Uberti a couple of years ago and foolishly sold it. I usually shot 35-40 grains of 3f in mine but I loaded a couple of cylinders with 60 and it packs a punch! not uncomfortable to shoot at all but it sure did make the gongs bang.

 

[Bad Karma]

Aw come on !!! It's a Magnum for cryin out loud!!!!

But seriously, 30gr. or 60gr. , it's gonna move ( eat wedges) if you don't get a spacer ( for the arbor) in it. It's easy to do.

Here's one I had in the shop not long ago.
View attachment 287725
View attachment 287726

Mike

Just a heads up that one of the chief complaints from the War department back in the day was that they needed to replace wedges too frequently. They also ordered a few thousand replacement frames and arbors for field repairs. This refers to the 1851, and 1860 of course.