John Taffi n


growing up, my true formative years, took place in the 1950s. I was blessed to be in the last generation of kids al- lowed to grow up normally and natu- rally. The 1950s were also a great time for sixgunners. During those few short years, Colt


I tion Army and introduced the .357 Mag- resurrected the Single Ac-


n 1950 I entered the seventh grade. By early 1959, Diamond Dot and I were married. The majority of my


.45 ACP, the .357 Magnum Highway Pa- trolman, the .357 Combat Magnum, the 1955 Target in .45ACP, and Elmer Keith’s long-awaited .44 Magnum.


My grade school, the house I


Ivory stocked .45 Colt Series ’70 engraved by Ed deLorge; leather by El Paso Saddlery.


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lived in the 1950s, the shipping and receiving docks I worked on after high school, are all now just a mem- ory. Not just because I live more than 2,000 miles away now, but, in fact, they no longer exist. The same is true of every single sixgun men- tioned from the big-three manufac- turers of the 1950s; most have been dropped while some exist in name only no longer manufactured, as they were more than a half-century ago. The only Colt that remains is the Single Action Army and it has changed in several ways; all the Old Model Rugers have been dropped


AMERICAN HANDGUNNER TACTICAL • 2011 SPECIAL EDITION


num and the .357 Python. Ruger gave us the .22 Single-Six, the .357 Magnum Blackhawk, the .44 Magnum Blackhawk and the .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk. Smith & Wesson outdid both compa- nies with the arrival of the 1950 Target and Military Models in .44 Special and


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