The Fractured History of The “Buntline Special”

Why is the name of the gun in quotes? "The Edward Zane Carroll Judson Special" wouldn’t fit on the page. Mr. Judson, the dime novel king to be, conjured up a nom de plume for himself stolen from oldtime seamen when they referred to the rope at the bottom of a square sail and became Ned Buntline. Ed had run off from home at 17 and gone to sea on windjammers.

After a short stint of the seagoing life he returned to dry land and established a publication, a story paper titled Ned Buntline’s Own, so his writings would be sure to get into print. Ned drank a lot while simultaneously publishing dozens of articles and making an equal number of fi ery speeches promoting temperance.

In his early twenties he killed a husband who suspected him of having an affair with his teenaged wife, was tried, convicted and lynched by an angry mob across the street from the courthouse, but was cut down by a friend before the noose could complete its job. Judson/Buntline wore Sergeant’s stripes in the Union Army, was busted to private, yet claimed the rank of Colonel after the war and stuck to the fable until his death in 1886.

His adventure yarns were mostly nautical in nature and he wrote none with a western theme until after a chance meeting with William F. Cody. Thereafter, Ned Buntline’s Own, considered rather racy in the 1840s, still carried its critiques of gambling, prostitution and boozing There are no Colt records of shipping any such revolver until 1892 and none were shipped as "Buntlines." in New York City but added tales of western daring-do attributed to one Buffalo Bill.

Cody would later announce to all whom Ned had misled that it was not Buntline who came up with the moniker, rather, it was the nickname given him by the railroads who contracted Cody as a hunter while their tracks were being laid westward. Though most of the extraordinary adventures and triumphs of Buntline’s western hero were drawn from the writer’s imagination they made Buntline a wealthy man and Buffalo Bill Cody a national celebrity.

Despite, or because of, his success, Ned’s political skullduggery, journalistic posturing and rabble rousing prompted one never-identifi ed critic to refer to him as being "a boisterous, cheap, incorrigible liar." Be that opinion true or otherwise, let me not further delay or detract from what may have been the best bit of fiction old Ned ever dreamed up. To say confusion prevails about the gifts Buntline handed to five western lawmen including Earp and Bat Masterson would be understatement at the very least.

Purportedly, each gift took the form of Colt Peacemakers with twelve-inch barrels, chambered in .45 Colt. The hub-bub has probably been compounded in Stuart Lake’s original biography of Earp, Frontier Marshal, and Jay Monaghan’s 1952 biography of Ned Buntline, Great Rascal: The Life and Adventures of Ned Buntline. Using Lake as his source, Monaghan wrote that the presentation took place in

Going beyond this basic level requires detailed disassembly. Dodge City in 1875. Lake, however, had actually written that Earp didn’t arrive in Dodge until 1876. Now add Colt factory records to that. Though scanty and possibly incomplete dating that far in the past they indicate no Peacemakers with twelve-inch barrels left the plant until 1892 and none were ever referred to as a "Buntline." They were actually shipped as revolver carbines with a skeletonized, detachable stock.

Television eventually arrived and only made matters worse. During all its multi-season run the program Frontier Marshall, starring Hugh O’Brien as the legendary Earp, the actor packed a Peacemaker with a sixteen-inch barrel repeatedly identifi ed as a Buntline. No detachable stock was ever shown. Now, for me, comes the kicker — or kickers.

Wyatt Earp preferred and toted a Smith & Wesson Model 3 chambered in .44 S&W American and Masterson had three inches cut off the barrel of the Peacemaker he was supposedly given making it possible to draw and bring the revolver to bear both quicker and easier. For those of you still interested, further reading about the actual characters involved with Ned Buntline and "The Buntline Special" abound on the web. There are several sources considered dependable and based on what are currently accepted as facts.

As an example, the oft-depicted Gunfi ght at the OK Corral didn’t take place in the corral but in a nearby alley. No Buntlines were present. Among these additional reference sources is the site of the Kansas Historical Society (kshs.org). Whatever conclusions you may arrive at from these readings may differ from mine but this I know. There is such a thing as a Buntline Special.

Regardless of the character and characteristics of the dime novelist who christened it, he still comes to mind every time a Peacemaker with an over-length barrel shows up at a modern day Cowboy Action shootout. If nothing else, its presence has made Ned Buntline immortal. I still think his real interest was always the piling up more bundles of bucks but maybe immortality was what Ned had as top-of-mind all along. In spite of his reputation, deserved or not, he seems to have succeeded.

Field Stripping Your eyes are being protected and the gun has been certifi ed empty?

Fine. If not, stop reading further until those steps have been taken. There are more than one means of securing the base pin (2) on a Peacemaker. The oldest is a screw installed immediately under the base pin, also referred to as the black powder method. Later, smokeless powder cartridge models employed a spring-loaded cross pin (3 and 5) as did the Peacemaker we received for this article from E. M. F. Company, Inc. (emf-company.com).

Much later, circa 1916, the plunger/spring set up was moved to the front of the frame with a screw added to secure it. I have seen this arrangement referred to as a "smokeless latch" in Dave Chicoine’s Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West (oldwestgunsmith.com), which is recommended reading. Whatever the configuration for retaining it may be, pin, plunger/ spring, smokeless latch or some other means I haven’t seen as yet, the base pin has to be removed. Open the loading gate and place the hammer at half cock.

Remove whatever holds in the base pin and withdraw it toward the muzzle. Always keep the pin clean and lightly lubricated. The cylinder is supported by and rotates on it. Remove the cylinder toward the loading gate side of the frame by pushing it out from the opposite side. Remember, the cylinder has been fit to the Peacemaker on which you’re working. It’s easily removed and replaced but don’t force it in any direction. Just in case, roll the base pin back and forth on a true surface.

Apiece of plate glass is ideal. If either end of the pin rises off the surface during the test it indicates bending is present. The pin must be replaced. Ignore the warning and things will only get worse, such as a cylinder that refuses to rotate. Detailed Disassembly. Remove the grip stock (42) and back strap (9) by undoing the upper back strap screws (39) and rear back strap screw (41).

Back out the Withdrawal of a base pin from a brand new revolver may require encouragement. mainspring screw (38) and allow the mainspring (37) to fall free of the frame. Three screws hold the trigger guard (8) to the frame. You’ve come across their numbers before because they’re identical to other screws in the revolver. First out is the front back strap screw (41) and it is followed by the two lower back strap screws (39). With those removed, lift the guard off the frame.

A screw (36) retains the trigger/ sear (31) and bolt spring (33). By now you’re working, or should be, from the underside of the frame. Back out screw #36. This will make it possible to remove the trigger (31), spring and bolt (32) after undoing the hammer screw (30) along with the bolt and trigger screws (34 and 35). The bolt and trigger come out the bottom of the frame and can be separated. The hammer (22) comes out the top with its hand (28) and spring (29) still attached.

Make ready to pull the loading gate (10) from the frame by taking Aout the gate catch screw (13), gate spring (12) and gate catch (11). By no measure can the catch be considered large or easy to find once lost so don’t lose it before or after pulling the gate free. Hoping it’s not too late, but the same thinking should be applied to the base pin latch assembly (3, 4 and 5) when it’s unscrewed. What the hey, any time there’s an itty bitty part involved there’s a chance of losing it.

Having spent all too many hours searching the floor of a working area on hands and knees with an Optivisor clamped to my head and a high intensity flashlight clenched between my teeth, no one knows that better than I. Begin ejector assembly removal by detaching the ejector housing screw (17) from the barrel (15), lifting the housing (16) from its barrel stud and giving the housing a muzzleward push. This should be enough to dislodge the housing from its frame seat.

The head (19), rod (20) and spring (21) are with- C

E. M. F.

Great Western II Buntline Revolver (Speci cations subject to change without notice) 1 Frame 2 Base Pin 3 Base Pin Latch Screw 4 Base Pin Latch Nut 5 Base Pin Latch Spring 6 Base Pin Bushing 7 Cylinder 8 Trigger Guard 9 Back Strap 10 Gate 11 Gate Catch 12 Gate Spring 13 Gate Catch Screw 14 Barrel 15 Front Sight 16 Ejector Housing 17 Ejector Housing Screw 18 Ejector Housing Screw Bushing 19 Ejector Head 20 Ejector Rod 21 Ejector Spring 22 Hammer 23 Firing Pin Rivet 24 Firing Pin 25 Hammer Roller Pin 26 Hammer Roller 27 Hand Pin 28 Hand 29 Hand Spring 30 Hammer Screw 31 Trigger 32 Bolt 33 Trigger & Bolt Spring 34 Trigger Screw 35 Bolt Screw 36 Trigger Spring Screw 37 Mainspring 38 Mainspring Screw 39 Back Strap Rear Screw 40 Hammer Pin 41 Back Strap Front Screw 42 Grip

Figures 1, 2, and 3 show, respectively, the hammer at rest, at half cock for loading and full cock for firing. When in the rest position the trigger’s sear end, illustrated in black, engages the hammer’s safety notch. drawn from what is now the back end of the housing. Reassembly Alerts Though a Peacemaker goes back together as easily as it has been taken apart, it’s smart to run a few checks afterwards and before returning the gun to it owner. Check the headspace.

The distance between the cartridge rim and the rear of the frame should be 0.060-inches minimum and 0.068-inches maximum. The barrel-to-cylinder gap should fall between 0.040-inches minimum to 0.080-inches maximum. A gap of 0.060 is considered ideal by many gunsmiths. These specs can be determined with the automotive feeler gauges you can buy at any hardware or auto parts outlet but it is quicker to use purpose-built headspace gauges. They are steel, mirror images of the cartridges and fit the cylinder chambers.

There are GO and NO GO gauges. The former let you know instantly that all is well. The latter tell you just as quickly that all is not well. If that is the case, what you have in your hand is a Peacemaker with excessive space between the rear of its cylinder and the back of the frame. How did it get that way? End shake. It is caused when the fore and aft movement of an out-of-spec cylinder goes beyond maximum due to the discharges of the revolver and remains out-of-spec when the cylinder is closed.

Too much end shake creates more than one problem. When the cylinder is driven too far forward upon firing the gap will widen, the hand eventually will fail to fully engage the ratchets, the case rim will finally bind on the frame and the cylinder will cease rotation. In addition, firing pin impacts upon primers may be too light to touch off ignition. The gap between the rear of the cylinder and the rear of the frame also increases due to repeated recoils.

How can you measure to determine how much end shake exists that must be corrected? Here’s where the automotive feeler gauges can get into the action. With the hammer down, apply rearward finger pressure on the cylinder and prevent it from moving forward. Slip the thickest feel gauge you can between the barrel/cylinder gap. Let’s assume it’s a 0.018 gauge. Now you know how much gap exists. You also know that is 0.014 over the minimum. Do the math.

That tells you how much the gap has to be reduced in order to bring the Peacemaker back into barrel/cylinder specifications. You have a choice as there are two widely accepted ways to tackle this job. One is pretty labor intensive. It involves removing the barrel, turning the required amount of material off its shoulder and reinstalling it on the gun. The other is quite simple. Belt Mountain Enterprises (beltmountain.com) offers over-size base pins for Peacemakers, as well as its many clones and descendants.

Take out the old base pin, then install the cylinder and new base pin. Stone a small amount off the pin as required to establish the proper gap and you’re almost home free with this check out. Leave the hammer down with the gun assembled. Keep your finger off the trigger and use the fingers of your free hand in attempting to rotate the cylinder in a left-to-right, or clockwise, manner. Attempt the same in reverse. Slight movement is OK.

More than, say, 0.002 of an inch in either direction could mean the bolt and/ or its frame slot are worn. You can’t readily do much to the frame slot as it would likely be considered manufacturing by ATF and that’s illegal without a manufacturer’s FFL. However, a bolt can be replaced and you should insist on adding the cost of the installation of anew bolt to your bill for services rendered in such a case. I suspect you’re probably going to get an argument about that from the owner of the Peacemaker. Take heart.

Such an argument won’t last long after you have told him or her that their revolver won’t last long if the necessary repair isn’t made. AG