This is a 475L that was built by Alan Harton down in Houston. He recently made a new set of stocks for it out of Amboyna Burl. I think they turned out really nice, see what you think.









This is my ol' trusted 7.5" 454 Premier. I mailed it back up to FA for a nose job and sling studs about a month ago and then last weekend, mounted a new scope on it. I went with a 10" octagonal barrel with no front sight base. Gives it a nice clean look I think. It should serve its purpose very well with the rest of the hunting sixguns. I was just glad to finally finish monkeying with these for the year and figured I'd share.

Dude - those are pretty.

Glenn,

Those are some beautiful guns! And yes, I think he did a fair job on the grips

Being an FA junky, your tricked out Casull gives me the shivers...and I just got a new one. Love the octagonal barrel.

Must...have...MORE!

He did a great job on the grips. They're beauties! They look very smooth. Do they give you a tactile (non slip) grip?

NICE!!!

Major DROOL factor there

Man, there is some BEAUTIFUL iron & wood there!

The stocks are nice and smooth but do give you plenty of "grip". with the big bores, you want them to move some

This gun is fit like a fine swiss watch. there is NO movement at all in the cylinder lockup, Alan's work is unbelievable.

While John had the 454 apart, he smoothed up the action and they also replaced the firing pin assembly with the new style. They are some great folks up at FA. I picked it up in person when I went to ID in November and had a blast meeting with everyone up there. The action on this thing is amazing now with a trigger pull to die for. i was going to go for the usual round barrel but decided on the octagon to make it different than my 10" 44. I really like the way it turned out

Very nice!

Very nice

Very nice!

I can't say anything that hasn't already been stated... but

I think that Chief states it quite well... VERY NICE!!!

They are both very nice. I love octagon barrels!!

Sweet!!!!!!!

Glenn,
It's possible to have stunning grips made from many materials, but nothing is more beautiful than amboyna burl, in my opinion. Alan did a magnificent job.
Ken

What is the front band under the front site on the Ruger? Still nice.

I'm not the huge fan of the Sixgun....but, holly crxp those are beauties!!!!!

Bill in OR

Thanks for the kind words. They are two of my favorites and when coupled together, there isn't much you couldn't hunt with the duo in my opinion if anything at all when loaded correctly.

Ken, Alan did an awesome job on these. They just feel amazing when you hold it. The picture doesn't show it on the 454 but I had the crown inverted just like the 6" 500WE that you have. I like that look so much on the octagons that I couldn't turn it down

Rug1, the band is pretty common on the large conversions. It actually is a functional part as well as aesthetic. If you notice, the ejector rod housing is nestled in behind it. The band keeps the ejector rod housing from moving forward during recoil and shearing off the screw attaching the housing. These guns are not that heavy, roughly 47 ounces and when loaded to full potential with 375-430 grain bullets, it generates a substantial amount of recoil. The band is integral to the barrel, its just machined into the barrel when the barrel is turned. The front sight base on this one is from Hamilton Bowen and is attached with two screws on the top. However, if you notice, the step in the base is butted up to the band also keeping it from shearing those screws also. Its hard to tell in this picture but this gun is a little different than the standard 5.5" 475 or 500 conversion. I used a slightly cut down 5" ejector rod housing from one of the hunters or 10" supers rather than the usualy 4" version. This gave me an overall barrel length of 5.75" vs the 5.5" norm. Its tough to tell when its by itself but it achieves basically 1/2" more extraction by doing this. I have a picture comparing the ejector rod stroke on my 500L to this 475L, I have to get it to show you the difference. I'll post that just in case anyone is planning to build one, it may give you something to think about....

Here is the 475 compared to my 500L from John Linebaugh. You will see that the 1/4" doesn't really stand out all that much. I know the 500 needs new shoes but I haven't made up my mind what I want to put on it. I'm leaning towards having Dustin L made a set of white micarta for it. That would really set it off I think and would hold up to the recoil of that sixgun....





Here is the difference in the length of the ejector rod stroke..

500 with 5.5" barrel


475 with 5.75" barrel

Both are awesome!!!!

I do love the octagon barrel. If I ever order a FA it will have an octagon barrel. Same for a custom gun. I would like a 5-6" barreld bisley in 480 Ruger.

GlennS,
Thank you,I have seen the band, but never knew why it was there. Makes sense to me now. That is cool with the ejector rod. I have a 5.5 inch SBH so the .5 inches stands out to me. Very nice, I like the 5.5 inch myself.

Beyond nice.
Really like the FA with the octagon barrel.

Love your Harton .475! Spectacular grips!

Outstanding!

GlennS,

those are some very fine pieces you have. I just love those burl grips!

Those are sweet

Dang but that Ruger is pretty!!! Not to ignore the FA. Reminds me of the old Bowen Nimrod conversion. Always wanted one. This smith of yours have a site? Love to look at it.

Those are some nice sixguns. Those grips on the Ruger look great. Do you have his contact information?

Thanks guys. Alan is easy to reach,

Alan Harton
8822 Jackwood St
Houston, TX 77036

(713) 772-8314

He is a great guy to do business with and his work is second to none. The 475 does resemble a nimrod since the front sight base is one that Hamilton sent me that he uses on the nimrod. I think he sent me a stainless and a carbon steel one. I gave the carbon one to a guy that bought one of my project base guns one day. Some of you may have seen this little one before but I'll show you again anyway just because its another one that Alan did for me. This started as a run of the mill Bearcat that I bought before I knew we were having a kid. I figured I'd have one at some point and the next year, well, we did. I mailed it down to Alan and he worked it over pretty good. This is what he did:

Turned the barrel to hide the warning under the ERH and welded up the old front sight slot

polished the ERH to do away with the crappy paint they use on them

Fabricated and installed a new front sight base and Keith style blade

Full action job, felt like gravel when I bought it and now its slick as glass

Took the scratching "engraving" off the cylinder and then fluted and black powder chamfered the cylinder

Refit the elk stocks to it. I'm in the process of having a set of ram's horn stocks made for it from a sheep that I killed.

Welded up the topstrap, then machined the topstrap to accept a S&W Prewar style sight that David Clements made for me

A buddy of mine, Mike Barranti ( http://www.barrantileather.com ), is making a holster for it and a small cartridge pouch to match my full size Elmer Keith rig. It should be a really nice package for my little boy in a few years. He turns 3 in January so he's not quite ready yet

I've put away about 60,000 rounds of ammo that he can try and wear it out with and I'm still stockpiling just so he will have plenty.....Alan is VERY talented and is probably the best welder you will ever find for a sixgun, stainless or blue. I've seen some amazing work that he's done with a welder. He doesn't have a website but he does keep a small photo album and you can see some before and afters in that file. I'll locate it and post a link....

http://gallery.mac.com/aharton













Here is the holster rig that Mike made for me that he will match to fit this bearcat for my son...

I have handled both of these Harton guns and they are as good or better than he is saying they are....

GlennS, that's a sweet Bearcat!

Thanks KRal, That's one that made the move from Mississippi to Kansas

I'm currently working on a Bearcat project myself. I was about halfway through when hunting season rolled around and I put it on hold since it's my belt gun while hunting. When I get through (probably this summer) I'll post some pics.

Love that Bearcat!

That ain't fair no one should have 2 awesome looking guns.

THEM ARE SWEET SIXGUNS!!

Got a question. How's your accuracy in your 7.5" 454 Premier when you sling up good and tight with sling in that stud on the end of barrel? Change POI? Or did you just have it added for the looks?
Steve

Glenn, They are as good as it gets......

GlennS,

Heavy metal, love the burl wood! The Bearcat is a beauty too. Makes me want to go out and shoot.

Doc

Beautiful pieces!!

Not for looks buddy, the 10" gun is a little large so slinging it makes the most sense to me. I don't "sling it up tight" when I shoot it so there is no tension on the barrel any different than when I shoot at the range or the farm. I rested it on the side of the truck bed recently and fired a really nice and tight group with it at 165 yards. I shot a fallow deer with it recently at 105 and it was on the money. The thing shoots like a laser, that's all I can tell you