The time was the early 1950s, the place was Los Angeles......I have said it before that Hollywood was made famous by the gun and Hollywood has made many a gun famous.
Westerns were big in Hollywood in the early 50s and you can't make a western movie without Colt Single Action Army revolvers, it was the "Gun that Won the West" after all.
Here is the problem, Colt quit producing the gun in 1940/41, although there were plenty of used Colt SAAs running around, parts and pristine ones were starting to run out. In addition, there was a demand by the consumer for new guns that matched what was seen on the silver screen.
In America when there is a demand for something, it is only a matter of time before someone comes along to fill that demand. Such is the case with the Great Western Arms.
Before we tell this story, we should mention that Bill Ruger also saw the same demand and introduced his .22 Single Six revolver in 1953.
Founded by an engineer from Northup Grumman named William Wilson, a gun store owner named Hy Hunter along with several investors including people tied to the LA Rams NFL Team.
They founded the Great Western Arms Company to produce a Colt copy both for Hollywood and the fans of western movies.
Wilson actually visited Colt in Hartford to make sure they were not interested in bringing the SAA back into production and they claimed they were not (this changed a few years later).
The company opened for business in 1953 using frames that were investment cast by a company named Ferrocast.
The early guns actually used some Colt N.O.S. parts, although some dispute this.
Hy Hunter (yes that is apparently his real name) owned a gun shop in Los Angeles and was one of the first to carry/distribute Great Western Arms revolvers, the picture below shows him in his gun shop with Carbine William (in the cowboy hat) inspecting some Great Western Arms revolvers.
The company did OK for the first couple of years, sales were good, they had endorsements from John Wayne, Audie Murphy and others, but around the same time Great Western Arms was started other gun makers (mostly in Europe) also began making copies of the gun, then in 1956 Colt reintroduced the Colt Single Action Army (known as the 2nd gen).
In 1959, after serval bankruptcies, they were bought out by Early & Modern Firearms (EMF) who also imported competitors to the Great Western.
By 1964 it was over, 22,000 revolvers and 3,300 derringers were produced by Great Western Arms.
The introduction and popularity of the Great Western Arms revolvers no doubt had an impact on Colt's decision to reintroduce the Single Action Army.
The original factory was on Miner Street in Los Angeles, somewhere between E92nd and E88th streets.
The factory in North Hollywood at 11728 Vose Street still stands, it is now a cabinet shop
The Early & Modern Firearms shop at 12418 Ventura Blvd in Studio City is now a massage parlor, hair studio and clothing store.
Hy Hunter's gun shop is also gone, once on the corner of Ontario Street and West Burbank Blvd, it is now a postal services company.
https://greatwesternarmsco.com/history/timeline-notes/
http://www.greatwesternfirearms.com/history/
https://gundigest.com/collecting-the-first-colt-clone
https://greatwesternarmsco.com/quality-and-build/on-the-use-of-colt-parts/
https://vawv.jouwweb.nl/handguns/revolvers
