Hello / "Western Six"

[Brandinhun]

Hello I have an old western six. I have never heard of these before. I was just curious if anyone can give me any info on them. Like where they came from and dates when made. It’s a .22 I will attache some photos if I can figure out why I keep getting errors
Uploading them
model k18942

[Throckmorton]

is 'western six' the only markings on the revolver. ? I've been shooting for a long long time, that is a new one on me. Sure it isn't 'single six '?

[Brandinhun]

i have uploaded some photos of the gun now that i am on a pc

[Jim Watson]

Company startup in 1967, I don't know how long it lasted.
Made cheap revolvers to replace cheap imports that GCA 1968 disallowed.

[Mal H]

Here is some information on it from The Firearms Forum: https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/thr...rn-six.215489/

Frankly, I think you have a priceless firearm there. And by "priceless", I mean it's worth next to nothing.

It might be steel, but it's painted metal and looks a little like pot metal.

[4V50 Gary]

Brandinhun - is that loading gate some sort of polymer or is it mystery metal? I had to make a replacement gate out of aluminium when a polymer one broke. It was a little bit of milling machine and then a lot of hand fitting with a file.

[44 AMP]

Frankly, I think you have a priceless firearm there. And by "priceless", I mean it's worth next to nothing.

It might be steel, but it's painted metal and looks a little like pot metal.

This would be my assessment, as well.

Check the various parts with a magnet, to easily see which ones are steel, and which ones are "other" metal.

[Pumpkin]

Could also have some “intrinsic value” which could also make it “priceless”.

[44 AMP]

"priceless" has several general meanings, such as something that cannot be bought for money, as in "the moment was priceless", or something too rare or valuable (to someone) to put a price on, or the opposite, something not worth enough to put a price on.

If the Western Six pistol actually works and you can hit a target with it, it has some value, but (a functional firearm always has some value) but few shooters will pay very much for a low tier firearm which is what Brandinhun's appears to be.

[Drm50]

I bought a bunch of those back in late 70s. They also sold a dandy little twist barrel 22 derringer. Stainless barrels, brass frame and rosewood looking grips. I sold them like penny candy. I’m thinking they were $12 if you bought unit of 10. I bought them several times the Western-6 only once. I bought Herman Schmitt SA .22s for my low end. They were very nice and in my opinion a lot better gun than Rough Rider or Wrangler.
Several customers in area still have the Kimel derringers but the Western-6s didn’t last.
Ratchet was first to give out and besides weren’t very accurate.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Drm50

I bought Herman Schmitt SA .22s for my low end. They were very nice and in my opinion a lot better gun than Rough Rider or Wrangler.

I had a Schmitt .22 revolver back in the 1960s. I loved that gun. It went AWOL during a move once. At the time I was dating a woman who was very anti-gun, and I suspected (but couldn't prove) that she discarded it while helping me move.

I loved that little pistol.

https://image.invaluable.com/housePh...-L95628921.jpg

[4V50 Gary]

Could also have some “intrinsic value” which could also make it “priceless”.

Certainly. Dad's gun or something like that. Owned by _______, a person of notoriety. Used in the _______ robbery. Provenance must be proven (like store receipt, police report, sales note from ______). Hey, actor Clayton Moore who played the Lone Ranger on TeeVee used to regularly sell Colt SAA and belt rig and Geronimo made bows for the tourist trade (there's one in the Frazier Arms Collection in Indianapolis).

[Ricklin]

Hawes in Los Angeles had a line of Western style revolvers, I think they offered a .22 tho mostly in .357 .45 and .44. Hawes capitalized on the spaghetti westerns with German guns.
Worth seeking these out today and easy to see both the quality and they are roll marked JP Sauer and Sohn on the barrel.
They routinely show up on Gunbroker and respond well to a trigger job.

[HighValleyRanch]

I got one of those Hawes, Sauer and Son's "Western Marshall". Got it at a gun show many many years ago. Shoots like a dream and built like a tank.
In fact, Buffalo Bore used one initially to test their hottest .357 outdoorsman loads. The cylinder is larger than Smith N frames and it weighs a ton!

[Mal H]

Guys - let's not start adding the various good models of revolvers available over the years to the "Western Six" which is the topic of this thread.

While it's not necessarily a good analogy, to me comparing a Sauer and Sohn made revolver to the Western Six is like comparing an old bathtub Porsche to a rusted out Yugo.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Mal H

While it's not necessarily a good analogy, to me comparing a Sauer and Sohn made revolver to the Western Six is like comparing an old bathtub Porsche to a rusted out Yugo.

Quite true. Looking at Brandinhun's photos of his revolver, even the cylinder looks crude. On many (most? all?) of similar low-cost rimfire sixguns, the frames were made of Zamack, which is strong enough to handle .22 rimfire with no problem, but I'm pretty certain the cylinders as well as the barrels were made of steel.

In these photos, the cylinder appears to be a casting. The locking notches and the flutes are unfinished. They were obviously cast in, not machined. The whole thing looks to be equal in quality to the blank-firing replica guns offered by a number of sellers.

Even so, having grown up in the heyday of television cowboys, I have a soft spot for such guns. I can't help wondering how it would look if polished up a bit and coated with Lauer DuraCoat in a semi-gloss black or maybe German Blue.

[Brandinhun]

Originally Posted by Mal H

Here is some information on it from The Firearms Forum: https://www.thefirearmsforum.com/thr...rn-six.215489/

Frankly, I think you have a priceless firearm there. And by "priceless", I mean it's worth next to nothing.

It might be steel, but it's painted metal and looks a little like pot metal.

it was my dads who passed away so i have no intention of selling even if it was worth anything.

[Brandinhun]

Originally Posted by 4V50 Gary

Brandinhun - is that loading gate some sort of polymer or is it mystery metal? I had to make a replacement gate out of aluminium when a polymer one broke. It was a little bit of milling machine and then a lot of hand fitting with a file.

i don't know what it is made out of, but it is very light in weight!

[Aguila Blanca]

See if a magnet will stick to the frame, the cylinder, and the barrel. (The barrel could be Zamack with a steel sleeve.) I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the cylinder is a Zamack casting. (Possibly sleeved.)

[CajunBass]

The country kid that still lives inside me, said he would love to have it and take it back to the 60's when we were growing up together. I would have been in high cotton with a fancy gun like that. There wouldn't be enough soda bottles in the ditches of Hanover County, Virginia to keep me in 22 ammo. (Anyone else build a financial empire on picking up soda bottles for two cents each?)

[rclark]

Anyone else build a financial empire on picking up soda bottles for two cents each

My dad would get a cent or two for gopher tails back when... Those were the days of fun varmiting.