In late December of 2018, I lost one of my
dearest friends: Terry Murbach
passed away suddenly as the result of injuries sustained from a
fall at his home earlier that month. Terry was a wonderful man,
a misunderstood genius, a Shootist,
a philosopher, a lover of music, a renowned ballistician (having
served in that capacity for a couple of ammunition companies, as
well as personally loading for over 150 different cartridges), a
gun collector, a cranky
old curmudgeon, and one of the best friends I have ever had. His
passing leaves a void in my heart that will never be filled (at
least, not on this side of The River); I miss him every day, and
our daily contacts (whether by phone, text, or email) were at
the same time wondrously humorous and deeply serious. As my
friend Mark Roberts observed at Terry's Memorial Service,
"there is a giant hole in the Universe where he used to
stand."
Some years ago, Terry decided that his life
would be measurably enriched if he owned a custom Old
Model Ruger Single-Six chambered for 380 ACP (or, as he
liked to call it, 9mm Kurz). He did not enter into this decision
lightly, as he never entered into any decisions lightly. He also
did not allow himself to be dissuaded by the fact that there are
many similarly-bored but more-powerful cartridges which have
been successfully mated to the Ruger Single-Six, such as the 9mm
Parabellum, the 38 Special,
or even the 357 Magnum (although he was, and I remain, dubious
about the wisdom of running 357 Magnum in a Single-Six). Terry
was a man who appreciated each caliber for what it could do, and
did not allow himself to fall prey to conventional wisdom and
fads, so he was convinced that the 380 ACP and a single-action
sixgun would be a very desirable combination. Plus, he would
have something unique!
The first problem Terry encountered was that
he lacked a suitable Old Model Single-Six "project
gun". He owned a few Old Model Single-Sixes, but he hated
to alter one of his own, so I sent him a nice, but not pristine,
example with my blessings. After enjoying the sixgun for a while
as a 22, he packed it up and sent it to our friend and brother
Shootist, Hamilton Bowen of Bowen
Classic Arms, for conversion.
Converting a six-shot Rimfire revolver into a
five-shot Centerfire revolver is no simple or easy task; before
any custom work can be done, the basic geometry of the lock work
must be reconfigured, and the firing mechanism must be
re-aligned and re-positioned. Custom revolver makers have been
doing five-shot conversions for decades (indeed, Hamilton
Bowen literally "wrote the book" on such exacting work),
but coupling the five-shot and Centerfire conversions into one
revolver only exacerbated the difficulties involved. I imagine
there existed very few individuals for whom Hamilton would have
taken the project, but fortunately, Terry was one of them.
Unfortunately, however, such projects take a
great deal of time to work into a busy schedule and accomplish,
and neither Terry nor Hamilton imagined that a great deal of
time was exactly what Terry did not have. Hamilton Bowen no
longer offers Rimfire-to-Centerfire conversions, so he farmed-out the lock conversion to another of America's most respected
custom gun makers, John Gallagher of Jasper, AL. Gallagher was
to perform the action work, while Bowen custom-made the
five-shot 380 ACP cylinder, rebarrelled, and finished the
project. Because of the collaborative nature of the project, the
amount of time it would take to create the revolver would be at
least doubled; especially since Gallagher has been dealing with
some serious heath issues of his own for quite some time. The project would
require Bowen to first work-out the geometry, fabrication, and fitting of the
five-shot cylinder; then the revolver would be shipped to
Gallagher for conversion, timing, and action work; then the
revolver would be shipped back to Bowen for fitting, finishing,
sight installation and regulation; then finally the revolver
would be shipped back to Gallagher for final action tuning
before it could be sent to the ever-more-anxious (and
ever-more-impatient) Murbach. Before all was said and done, the
project took several years to complete; in fact, Terry did not
live to see the finished revolver "in the ferrous
flesh", as he liked to say. When Terry passed away, it
would be a matter of only a few months before the project saw
completion. Had Terry suffered from a long illness, I am sure
Hamilton and John would have expedited the project, but the
unexpected nature of Terry's death could not be foreseen. I have
several very special custom revolvers, from Bowen as well as
other fine and respected makers, and I always advise friends who
are contemplating such projects to not begin if they are unable
to ship the base gun, pay whatever deposit was required, and
then forget about it. The level of craftsmanship displayed in
things such as these cannot be rushed, especially when the
participants in such a collaboration are each very busy
craftsmen.
After the conversion was complete, Bowen
installed one of his beautiful dovetail front sights onto the
5-1/2" match-grade barrel. Bowen's dovetail front sight is
superbly crafted and perfectly fit, the blade is just the right
width, and the blade's face is nearly vertical as well as
heavily serrated for maximum visibility in any light conditions
in which the revolver is likely to be used. Finally, the
dovetail makes the front sight easily windage-adjustable, which
is far superior to the windage adjustment methods available to
the Colt-style rounded-blade Single-Six front sight: either
bending the sight or slightly turning the barrel, which induces
problems of its own. The dovetail front sight also allows for
the sight blade to be easily replaced if a taller front sight is
needed, while the methods for making the front sight taller on
the Colt-style rounded blade are both impractical and
problematic. Ruger's Old Model Single-Six rear sight was a
windage-adjustable dovetail sight in the flattop frame, and is
far superior to those typically found on the fixed-sighted New
Model Single-Six. In my opinion, the flattop frame of the Old Model Single-Six
is more elegant in appearance than the more familiar Colt-style
rounded top strap of the fixed-sight New Model Single-Six, and
more functional as it features the windage-adjustable dovetail
rear sight instead of the Colt-style fixed sight groove (Ruger
did use the flattop frame on a few New Model Single-Sixes, but
these examples are quite collectible, and priced accordingly).
Finally, Bowen set about the task of making
the revolver look the part. The frame, hammer, and trigger were
color case-hardened; the grip frame was given a Wheeler
Engineering Cerama-Coat™ finish; the unfluted
five-shot cylinder was finished in a beautiful charcoal blue;
the stainless steel barrel was sent to Ryan
Ross for finishing, and was matched very nicely with the
bluing on the carbon-steel cylinder; and finally, as a very nice finishing touch, the frame screws
and base pin latch were finished in Nitre blue.
After Bowen had completed his work, the
revolver went back to Gallagher for final action & timing
tuning, and it was while the nearly-finished 380 was in John's possession that
Terry Murbach passed away. Terry had made it clear that, in the
event of his passing, the 380 would go to me, both because of my
appreciation of the project and because I had given Terry the
original Single-Six; as a result, some months after Terry's
passing, his "Last Gun" arrived at my FFL dealer.
Terry and I had talked many times about the 380 project; he
would enthusiastically keep me updated at every turn of the
gun's progress, and now I was to receive the custom revolver he
had eagerly awaited for so long. I picked-up the gun with very
mixed emotions: while I was certainly pleased to have it, both
because of what it was and because of its connection to Terry, I
would much rather Terry were still around to tell me how
wonderfully his Bowen/Gallagher Single-Six 380 shot, and how
much he was enjoying it. I would much rather shoot it with Terry
at the 2020 Shootist's Holiday...but that is not to be.
As received, the revolver was simply
beautiful; the fit and finish was impeccable, as one would
expect from such a great maker as Hamilton Bowen. But there was
one thing wrong: the gun still wore the factory walnut grips.
Not that there is anything wrong with the factory grips, but
such a special sixgun deserves better. So, before I even
Christened the 380 by firing it, I packed it off to my friend
Scott Kolar at SK Custom
Grips for a nice set of grips commensurate with the
revolver's quality. Scott never disappoints, and I eagerly
accepted his recommendation of a nice set of Stag grips. In
short order, Scott returned the revolver to me with a beautiful
set of Stags; very nicely fit and profiled, with just the right
amount of "bark" visible, and no unsightly pith when
viewed from the butt. This was some of the nicest Stag I had
ever seen. Perfect.
At last, it was time to see how the gun would
shoot in the hands of its end user...even if the end user was
not the person for whom the gun was made.
But first, as I was getting stuff together
for testing, I saw another set of grips nestled in the gun safe.
This set of grips had belonged to Terry, had been gifted to me a
few weeks earlier by my friend Rob Leahy of Simply
Rugged Holsters, and they had been found by Bobby Tyler of
Tyler Gun Works
during Bobby's handling of Terry's estate (Bobby offers the
service of buying/selling or consigning gun collections, and I
intend for Bobby to handle mine when I cross the River). Bobby
had found this set of grips among Terry's things, and offered
them as a prize to the Shootist who could correctly guess what
was the last caliber Terry had reloaded, based on what Terry's
press was set-up for at the time of his death. Rob won the grips
by correctly guessing 327 Federal, and then sent the grips to me
because of how close Terry and I were. I had greatly appreciated
this before, but now as I looked at the grips and wondered if
they would fit Terry's Last Gun, my appreciation peaked as I
discovered that they were a perfect fit! Much tighter and closer
fit than Ruger factory grips, as though they had been
custom-made for this very revolver. The grips are ivory polymer,
scrimshawed and signed by William Lett III. As Terry was a
Southpaw, the left panel bears Terry's "TM" monogram
which Terry had designed many years ago, and used on everything
from custom leather to a silver pocket watch Terry had gifted me
in the early 'oughts. The right panel bears the legend "The
Shootist - South Dakota" and an upright prairie dog along
with Lett's signature. Lett was the long-time grip supplier to
Ruger; he was a friend of Terry's, and Terry had used Lett's
exhibition-grade walnut grips on several sixguns in the past, a
couple of which now reside with me. These Lett grips were
perfectly fit, were personalized to Terry, and were laying among
Terry's things uninstalled, just as if Terry had acquired them
just for this revolver. Needless to say, they have now found a
permanent home on Terry's Last Gun, and the SK Stag grips will
soon find a home on another special sixgun.
Finally, it was time to shoot Terry's Last
Gun, and it certainly did not disappoint. Using several
different factory loadings from Winchester, Remington, and
Lehigh Defense, the revolver shot very well. The 380 shot very
close to the sights, both for semi-target work as the pictures
show, and for informal plinking. I am sure I would have shot
Terry's Last Gun better if I hadn't had something in my eyes. As
often as I shoot or fondle this revolver, I will do so in remembrance
of Terry Murbach.
Godspeed, my good friend, until we meet
again.
Ruger: www.ruger.com
Bowen Classic Arms: www.bowenclassicarms.com
Gallagher Custom Guns: Phone (205) 384-5229 (No Web Site)
SK Custom Grips: www.skgrips.com
Simply Rugged Holsters by Rob Leahy: www.simplyrugged.com
Barranti Leather by Mike "Doc" Barranti: www.barrantileather.com
Kel Tec: www.keltecweapons.com
Winchester Ammo: www.winchester.com
Remington Ammo: www.remington.com/ammunition
Lehigh Defense ammo: www.lehighdefense.com
Tyler Gun Works: www.tylergunworks.com
The Shootists: www.shootists.org
Boge Quinn


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