Love these guys. Learned a lot from them.

Hot Rodding the .45 Colt

Great article, thanks for sharing.I have been a fan of Ross's for years, reading him in G+A ,years ago + when they fired him from Handloader I cancelled my subscription; he was the best writer they had.

Thanks Mike. I count myself another member of the Seyfried fan club who loves a .45 Colt, although all I have at present is an Uberti SAA clone.
Recently added the respected RCBS 45-270-SAA mold to the lineup and look forward to some range and chronograph work.

I’m another big fan of Ross. Not only for the 45 ( I built a Vaquero based on his writings) but old Black powder double rifles.
I wrote him a letter in the early 90’s about a 450 BPE and he replied with 2 pages handwritten suggestions. Wanted to shoot at Elk Song but never made it.
A truly gifted writer
Larry

I remember some of his first articles in guns&ammo. Heavy handgun bullet penetration tests and one about his own 338/378 KT.He definitely influenced my shooting life a great deal, meaning I partially blame him for some of the things I do. I’ll never have a 475 Linebaugh but I do have a Bisley 480 that I’m very fond of and only shoot LBT WFN bullets in.

Ross Seyfried was my favorite and a big influence. Thanks to his articles I have a Linebaugh gun. Too bad the author of this book turned out to be a fraud

One of his ideas that I still want to try someday is his 30-416 AI. Basically a 416 Rigby case necked to 30 cal. Then a 40 degree shoulder, info at the time showed a 180 G. @ 4000 MV. My reluctance at that time was that the case form die set was almost $900.00 + the regular dies were about $600.00. Back burner but still sounds interesting.

I had to keep my guard up reading Ross as I was so easily swayed. He wrote an article in either Rifle or Handloader on the .450 NE -- same one you read, Chief? -- and upon reading it bought a Ruger No. 1 in .458 and had it rechambered to .450 3 1/4 by Kevin Wyatt in Medford, Oregon. There was just enough taper in that case to clean up the .458 belt. Didn't shoot it much before trading it, but it sure was fun showing the boys those loooong cartridges and letting them touch one off. I have two or three left and always smile when I run across them while looking for something on my cluttered reloading bench.

Bill, as in The Grail, the quest was worth more than the end result.

Loved his articles, maybe he is the reason I have so many .45's

Indeed! If he went back to "Hand loader" I would resubscribe in a heartbeat.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I had to keep my guard up reading Ross as I was so easily swayed. He wrote an article in either Rifle or Handloader on the .450 NE -- same one you read, Chief? -- and upon reading it bought a Ruger No. 1 in .458 and had it rechambered to .450 3 1/4 by Kevin Wyatt in Medford, Oregon. There was just enough taper in that case to clean up the .458 belt. Didn't shoot it much before trading it, but it sure was fun showing the boys those loooong cartridges and letting them touch one off. I have two or three left and always smile when I run across them while looking for something on my cluttered reloading bench.

Bill, I came pretty close to doing the same thing with a Lipsey’s Ruger Blackhawk 4 5/8 inch barreled Bisley Model in .44 Special!

Somehow I resisted. But now I wish I had just given in and bought one.

quote:

I have been a fan of Ross's for years, reading him in G+A ,years ago + when they fired him from Handloader I cancelled my subscription; he was the best writer they had.

quote:

I’m another big fan of Ross. Not only for the 45 ( I built a Vaquero based on his writings) but old Black powder double rifles.

quote:

He definitely influenced my shooting life a great deal, meaning I partially blame him for some of the things I do. I’ll never have a 475 Linebaugh but I do have a Bisley 480 that I’m very fond of and only shoot LBT WFN bullets in.

quote:

Ross Seyfried was my favorite and a big influence.

Well, count me in this crowd. I LOVED and remember well his articles back in the 80s and 90s, things like making the nyati, building a 470 on a Ruger #1, a one mile rifle, his 45 colt revolver, cartridges that can break 4000fps and the quote, "They make new barrels every day, you can get a new one" and his general idea that despite all of the cool guns it was the Indian and not the arrow that mattered. He was obviously both a historically well versed gun guy and a hunter who wrote things that interested me, unlike most fluff today. I may or may not have a 4-bore, 8-bore, howdah, and 25-20 DR as a direct result of ideas his articles sparked. My bank account definitely hates him, but what great fun.

The only other writer that I thought shared the same spirit was Sherman Bell with his excellent Finding Out For Myself series in the Double Gun Journal.

Bob

He was a fan of the "Paradox" DBL. As well; I learned a lot of reading his articles.

I laughed out loud when I read this quote. It is pure Elmer Keith and pure Ross Seyfried:

" . . . the young Seyfried sat down with a pen and paper and wrote Keith of his test results. Keith promptly replied back that the .357 was useless and that Seyfried should acquire a .44 Magnum, and that is exactly what he did."

The .357 Magnum is useless. I love it, and what's worse, I totally understand it!

Both of those gentlemen heavily influenced me as well.

As did my grandfather who sided with Keith and thought O’Connor was wrong about lighter s after bullets (and he was correct about the cup
And core bullets available back then. With premium bullets available now it’s a different story).

Mike, was it this article that tempted you? It sure did me.
http://www.goodrichfamilyassoc...sley%20Revolvers.pdf

Bill, that was it! Thanks for posting it. I just re-read it and it's so well-written and informative. Ross is truly one of the best gunwriters of all time.

Re-reading this article reminded me that it was the "thread choke" problem Ross had with the Lipsey's Rugers that dissuaded me from buying one, notwithstanding that he did solve the problem with fire-lapping and, in one case, throating and fire-lapping.

I never did like Rugers and don't own one to this day because they seem to come from the factory with an immediate need for gunsmithing.

Having said that, I would probably buy one of these Lipsey's flat tops if I could find one now!

Bill, thanks for posting that great article. You still have pics of my Keith #5 w/ ivory grips, I assume. A PERFECT revolver!

Randy, I think those pics are on my old computer, but as I recall it was just a lovely revolver. That No. 5 is an absolute classic.

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
Bill, thanks for posting that great article. You still have pics of my Keith #5 w/ ivory grips, I assume. A PERFECT revolver!

You have a Keith #5 with ivory grips?!

I am in actual awe.

Please share details.

Bill, if you still have the pics, would you please post them?

I'll fire up the old Mac and see if they are there, Randy. No guarantees.

Bill, I sent you a PM, I might have to get new pics, but it is worth it to share some of a truly fine wheel gun. I just got to get it out of the safe. Grandkids must have thought it great fun to spin the tumbler wheel.

I consider Ross a good friend and he is the real deal when it comes to hunting and guns..

I also met Elmer a few times, I loved to read his stuff and took it with a grain of salt..

Gang, here is that lovely No. 5 of Randy's. Elmer and Harold Croft sure got everything right, didn't they? Ruger did, too, with the Bisley.

Sure does look like the Keith No. 5! Good-looking revolver and very practical besides.

The original sold for more than a quarter of a million dollars ( !!!) just last year.

RIA - Keith No. 5

Dave Clements built this for me almost 20 years ago. 5" bbl., reverse pawl, slick as glass + out of the box, 3" groups at 50 yds. offhand. Most likely, it would be a chore to get ivory grips these days.

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
Dave Clements built this for me almost 20 years ago. 5" bbl., reverse pawl, slick as glass + out of the box, 3" groups at 50 yds. offhand. Most likely, it would be a chore to get ivory grips these days.

Yup. Pre-ban ivory, in the USA, costs a King’s ransom these days.

Of course, ivory of any vintage is much less expensive in Viet Nam and China.

An interesting thing that Dave told me at the time was that he had the Amish do his ivory, as for some reason they were not affected by the law. I don't know the details.

Have not heard that. Interesting.

I wonder how it would work on an Indian Reservation?

I don't know. I do know that they can use eagle feathers, while a white man cannot. There are a bunch of bald eagles living around Lake Buchanan. One rancher several years ago found a feather on the ground, picked it up + had it on his dashboard, + somehow word got to TX P+WL + he was fined 10K.for possession of the feather

Ross is "The Man"

Ross was a huge influence for me also. I learned a lot from him. More than any other gun writer. Reloading techniques, LBT bullets, my Russell boots, how wel the 45 Colt performs,475 and 500s, shooting from the field etc.

I had an interview question, Who would you like to meet and why? I picked him.

Really miss his writing. Still would like the opportunity to meet him and actually say “Thanks”

I agree with you 100%;if he ever went back to Hand loader, or G+A, I would renew my subscription tomorrow.

I read a lot of writings from both.

Ross seemed to be a better then Elmer.


But Writers have to write.

Yeah, I have read that Elmer was an editors' nightmare.

Here is the article "45 Colt Dissolving the myth, Discovering the potential" by John Linebaugh.

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings

This may give more insights to the how, why and where the limits are for those who want a little more.

T