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Dad's S&W M21

2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  recoil junky 
#1 ·
As described in other threads:



This was one of Elmer's (PTOOEY) 21's that Charlie O'Neill (the "O" of OKH) kept rebuilding for him. I'm not sure how many 21's it took to put this one together, but at least three. The ventilated rib was silver soldered to the top strap and barrel for "more strength" and to keep the barrel from unscrewing, but Elmer (PTOOEY) thought it too ugly so Dad and Charlie set out to finish it to "fit" Dad. The grip was lengthened by Charlie and Dad fit the rosewood grips. The trigger was also "fixed' to accommodate Dad's "pickle" fingers as his wedding ring is too large for thumb (hence my inherited gorilla mitts) As you can see the sights were never finished due to Charlie's untimely death so it was left as is out of respect.

This is the revolver I learned to shoot, cast bullets and reload for. I also learned how to remove lead buildup in the process.

The old gal is showing her age as most of the nickel has pealed away but she still shoots as good or better than I remember when I was 10 shooting "boy loads" of Bullseye and 429421's. I think I was 12 or so when I tried my hand 🙄 at "man loads" with 2400, these being followed by a huge grin from Dad and myself and me earning the monicker recoil junky.

RJ
 
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#3 ·
Yeah, C'mon RJ..............give us the juicy insight as to your shyness of ol' Elmer and his exploits! :giggle:
 
#4 ·
CC, he's explained it in a few threads; but This is the most recent.

Cliff notes:
He was just a schnook, who wanted you to believe he single handedly, is the reason guns exist and you can have them 🙄
 
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#5 ·
Ok, for clarity:

Back in the late 40's early 50's in the heyday of OKH and Elmer's (PTOOOEY) rise to stardom Charlie and my Dad were neighbors in the Bitterroot. Dad got to meet Elmer (PTOOOEY) on several occasions as well as Don Hopkins ( the "H" of OKH who was a U.S. patent attorney and the majority "owner" as in, he had the money)

Anyways, uuhhm, oh yeah,

As stated earlier, Elmer (PTOOOEY) would bring broken bits of revolvers (Colt Army and S&W's) to Charlie for repair after he had "broken them" with his continued overloading. This lead to quite a "pile" of parts and pieces and that is how this particular 21 came to be.

More History:

Mr. Hopkins would come up with an idea for a "new" cartridge/chambering/bullet etc and Charlie would make it into "reality" building reamers, barrels, dies, bullets and reloading and Mr. Hopkins would use them on a hunt or safari. He would write letters to Charlie ( as published in The American Rifleman) describing his successes and failures while hunting.

Meanwhile Elmer (PTOOOEY) is whooping it up basking in the glory of the ideas of others and making such a name for himself that he is invited to write for the afore mentioned American Rifleman and other magazines thus "enshrining" his place in the gun industry forever.

After Mr. Hopkin's passing in 1954 (?) the money dries up and Charlie goes back to being a full time rancher until an untimely accident claims him in 1956 (?) and Elmer (PTOOOEY) being who he is, takes everything and leaves the bill paying to the O'Neill children, Rose Mary and Daniel. Enough debt that they are forced to sell the ranch in Darby (Montana) where Rosie would remain as "caretaker" until her passing in 1995.

In all of Elmer's books and writings there is no mention of the people who made him who he was.

RJ
 
#7 ·
Met him once @ one of the NRA national meets. I was NEVER so unimpressed with a man's grumpiness & general air of "I'm above this!" While I read his exploits (bragging?) for years before that, the single chance encounter totally soured me on the man. Later I read an editor comment on trying to turn his puntuation & capital letter bereft stream of consciousness babble into intelligible articles. Then I was totally lost to his cause.

RJ's inside viewpoint has driven the last nails in the coffin!

PTOOOEY
 
#8 ·
Love him or hate him, he had an impact. In the EK thread, I noted in another post that most all of the writers of the time took the work of others and gave themselves credit for a lot of it.

I always liked Bill Jordan on handgun shooting. He was also one that was very full of himself. He did produce one of my favorite quotes - paraphrasing - "You take your auto, I'll take my revolver and you take your chances". I'm guessing that he wouldn't mind the current generations of semi-auto handguns today though. Who knows.

Interesting takes.
 
#9 ·
I'm a "Skeeter" fan. I liked most of his stuff and stories. He once wrote an article on how to slick up S&W revolvers, that if you applied some common sense to it? It was helpful.
 
#10 ·
Skeeter Skelton, Charles Askins, Bob Munden and Jerry Lewis did more for my handgun addiction than Elmer (PTOOOEY)

Yes, I meant Jerry Lewis.

Oh, don't forget Sammy Davis Jr.

RJ
 
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