Eighty-two years ago, Elmer Keith wrote an
article titled “The Last Word” for the American Rifleman
magazine. Mr. Keith had a lot of experience with Colt Single
Action revolvers, and this piece was the culmination of his
years of experience, using the gunsmithing skills of R.F.
Sedgley, Neil Houchins, J.D. O’Meara, and Harold Croft to
design and build “The Last Word” in single action revolvers.
Mr. Keith was a proponent of a heavily-loaded 44 Special. His
work with that cartridge led to the ultimate development of the
44 magnum cartridge. Mssrs. Keith, Croft, Houchins, Sedgley, and
O’Meara spared no detail in the creation of what has come to
be known as Keith’s Number Five.
The Number Five started as a Colt Single
Action Army. From there, everything that could be improved was
improved. The top strap of the frame was welded up into a
flattop configuration, with an adjustable rear sight added. The
front sight was changed to a Patridge style. To eliminate the
possibility of the base pin moving forward under recoil, an
ingenious design was created that uses a swinging lever to
retain the pin positively in its place. The head of the base pin
is enlarged for an easy grasp to aid in removal. The hammer was
modified with a Bisley-type spur, and the trigger was curved and
moved closer to the back of the trigger guard. The unique grip
of the Number Five was created by marrying a modified Bisley
backstrap to a Single Action Army trigger guard, resulting in
what is probably the most comfortable-to-shoot revolver grip
ever designed.
Since Mr. Keith’s Number Five was built,
custom gunsmiths have tried to replicate the sixgun with varying
degrees of success. Bill Grover built a few Improved Number Five
revolvers under his Texas Longhorn
Arms brand, but those were all mirror-image sixguns, built
for right-handed shooters. This Harton sixgun is closer in
detail to the original than were those built by Mr. Grover. The
revolver shown here is a beautifully-executed Number Five built
primarily out of stainless steel by Alan Harton of Single Action
Service of Houston, Texas. It uses better springs and stronger
steel than the original. The original was fully engraved, and
this Harton gun is not yet embellished, but it is a beautiful
sixgun, displaying superb fit and finish, and will be sent to an
engraver later.
Alan Harton is a master at his craft. I
have viewed, handled, and fired some of his weapons before,
but this Number Five is a superb work of firearms art, and the
level of craftsmanship exceeded my high expectations. The barrel
measures five and one-half inches in length, with a diameter of
.774 inch at the frame, tapering slightly to .722 inch just aft
of the muzzle, where it steps down to .676 inch. The ejector rod
is standard length, with the housing stopping just under an inch
short of the muzzle. The frame is of flattop configuration, and
is absolutely flat and smooth, as it should be. The rear sight
is adjustable for windage correction, and the front is
adjustable for elevation, with a Patridge style black blade. The
rear sight blade is also black, with a one-tenth inch wide
square notch. The screws through the side of the frame are blued
steel. The fluted cylinder measures 1.7 inches in length, 1.695
in diameter, and the front is perfectly radiused. The cylinder
is machined to fully recess the cartridge case heads.
Alan Harton beautifully replicated the
cylinder base pin catch of the Keith Number Five, which is a
work of art in itself. The head of the base pin is large, as it
should be for ease of use, and has the classic hourglass shape
of the Keith Number Five. The base pin and latch are blued
steel, as are the Bisley-style hammer and the wide trigger. The
barrel/cylinder gap measures a very consistent .003 inch, and
the cylinder lockup is perfect, with no discernable endplay nor
rotational play, as expected on such a high-grade custom sixgun.
The grip frame of the Harton Number Five
faithfully replicates the feel of the Keith sixgun, as best as I
can determine. I have never held the original, but from what I
have been able to determine, Mr. Harton got it right. John
Taffin has handled the Keith revolver, as well as Grover’s
Improved Number Five, and can be a better judge of this than I
when he receives this sixgun for evaluation, but the Harton grip
frame certainly feels like the grip frame of the Grover guns
that I have handled. The design of this grip frame handles
recoil very well, and shooting this sixgun with heavy 44 Special
loads is a delight. I fired mostly a handload using Lynn
Halstead’s Dry Creek Bullet Works 258 grain premium Keith
bullets. These are not Lynn’s excellent and inexpensive
"blasting bullets", but are very high quality
hand-cast bullets, and are very consistent and have a flat base.
Loaded with a stout load of Hodgdon Titegroup powder into
Starline cases with a WLP primer, these will group into
well-under one inch at twenty-five yards from my Ransom
Rest, using a grip insert that I modified to fit the unique
grip frame of the Number Five. These bullets leave the muzzle of
the Number Five at around 950 feet-per-second, and this is an
excellent working load in the 44 Special. The Harton Number Five
weighs in at two pounds, eleven ounces, and balances perfectly,
with just a slight favor to the muzzle end.
The ivory grips on this Number Five were
fitted by Alan Harton, and the scrimshaw work was done by my
little brother, Boge. The detail is very good, and depicts
Boge's interpretation of the classic Mexican Eagle design.
This fine sixgun shown here belongs to my
friend, Fermin Garza, and Fermin’s ownership is reflected in
the revolver’s special serial number. Alan Harton has done
lots of work for Fermin prior to this, but this Number Five is,
to me, the pinnacle of sixgun craftsmanship, and is the finest
sixgun that I have seen to come out of Mr. Harton’s shop. It
is the kind of handgun that can be fully appreciated only by
dedicated sixgun fans, especially those who study and appreciate
the pioneering work of Elmer Keith; a self-educated firearms
enthusiast who took the time to write of his work, which is
still enjoyed today, almost three decades after his passing.
This fine sixgun by Alan Harton is not only an excellent example
of the gun maker’s art, but an homage to the man who designed
The Last Word in sixgun perfection.
To contact Alan Harton’s Single Action
Service, call 713-722-8314 or 713-907-6301 or email aharton@hotmail.com.
To order the excellent Dry Creek cast
bullets, go to www.drycreekbullets.com.
Jeff Quinn
