.38 Caliber Dreams

We all have dreams. Some of them require winning the lottery, and I have a few of those, but some are much more reachable and obtainable. This dream is one of the latter.

I have an old Colt Cobra in .38 Special. It was my grandfather's revolver. It was carried regularly by him, whether in a holster, tossed into a saddlebag on the motorcycle, under the seat in the car, or in that little box pocket thing next to the seat on the tractor. Consequently, it's all beat to hell. The finish is worn off in several places, and it has dings, nicks, scratches, etc. However, as much as he carried it around with him, it never got used much. The inner workings are just about like new. Everything is tight, clean and crisp in the workings. I love this old Colt because it was my grandfather's, and I enjoy carrying it for the same reason.

The condition of it started me thinking of projects. I would never do anything to alter my grandfather's gun, just because of what it means to me, but I'm now on the look out for one in similar condition. Of course, I'll also have to have the pennies scraped together when I finally run across it to be able to purchase it, but isn't that always the way with dreams?

What I want is a nice, snub nose revolver, of .38 caliber or greater, that's ugly as crap because of a hard life, but still has nice tight workings. Here's what I want to do with it. I want to make it into an ultimate knock around gun. One that you won't worry about getting dirty, even muddy, or getting wet, even in salt water. I want to take it, and strip it down, and have it Parkerized. I suppose I'll also have to have the barrel chromed, or treated in some similar fashion to protect it it as well. Once the gun is Parkerized, I want to immerse it in a tub of cosmoline, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and let it soak in the heat of our Southern summers for a month or two. Then get it out, and clean it up, leaving enough of the petroleum product embedded in the finish to make it darn near impregnable to rust or corrosion. At which point it can be reassembled, and fitted with a nice synthetic grip, maybe one of those rubberized Hogue grips or some such.

At that point, you've got a revolver, one of the most dependable hand guns around, treated to stand up to just about anything short of plugging the barrel or jamming the cylinder, that you can carry with you on hunting or fishing trips, or any jaunt out into the world, and never worry about it's condition deteriorating.

I know, not anything earth shattering there. But sometimes, it's nice to have reasonable dreams that are obtainable, just to balance out all of the pure fantasy dreams that while nice to think about, just aren't going to happen...


Casey