Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

297 страница из 495

THE SINGLE-SHOT SAVAGE MODEL 101 PISTOL

The concept for this unique handgun came as a result of the spine-tingling early struggles between heroic lawmen and despicable bad guys as shown on TV in the 1950s. This universal theme was that honesty and fair play always win. These scenarios made a deep impression on young Americans and entertained many oldsters as well. The numerous handgun conflicts which erupted always involved the rock-solid legendary Colt single action pistol. This was Hollywood’s standard equipment for the good guy’s and bad guy’s handgun, which, in truth, was close to being historically correct. The lasting romance of this famous old six-shooter is still with us today. It had excellent balance combined with a superb universal grip. It was well built and rugged and it always functioned.

Loading the single action Colt revolver to fire in a single shot mode is not a simple operation, however. A live cartridge has to be placed in an empty chamber and the cylinder manually rotated to the proper position to align with the barrel when ready to fire by cocking the hammer. This is not a simple, straightforward operation. It is not a maneuver for an inexperienced shooter. A simple, safer, and inexpensive concept for loading and extracting a single-shot had to be devised.