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Bill Davis Custom Guns

rfo1
Hi,
I am in the process of purchasing a Bill Davis Custom PPC gun.If anyone has one or can give me any information about this pistolsmith and his workmanship,it would be very much appreciated. [:)]


"I'm Your Huckleberry."
Val Kilmer "Tombstone"
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  • Der Gebirgsjager
    I can give you some info. I personally knew the man fairly well in the late 1960s and 1970s. He was originally a career law enforcement officer who did action jobs on revolvers in his garage as a hobby. He was personally a fantastically good shot with revolvers, and understood what it took to make a good one better. I once witnessed a cadet on the pistol range at the academy, where he was a range officer, approach Bill and complain that his newly issued S&W Mod. 14 6" didn't shoot straight. Bill took the revolver in hand, loaded it, turned it upside down, and fired it one-handed using the little finger of his right hand. The result was a centered group of approx. 4 inches at 15 yards on a bullseye target. He handed it back, and dryly remarked, "Seems to shoot o.k. to me." One day he confided to me that his garage business had reached the point where he had to make a decision which career to follow. He resigned from his law enforcement job and opened a shop in Sacramento, CA, where the PPC shooting world beat a path to his door. Soon he had several apprentice pistolsmiths working for him, but he closely supervised their performace. Bill offered several crossbreed revolvers such as the "Smolt" and the "Cougar". He was also a pioneer in area of round and slab sided bull barrel PPC version revolvers. I believe that he also invented the "Speedfeed" stock for police shotguns which was purchased and put into production by Mossberg (or else there is another Bill Davis). He eventually sold the business, and I have not heard of or from him for years. There is no doubt that his PPC revolvers were among the finest ever produced. It comes as a little bit of a surprise to hear his name spoken again after so many years, and I'm also surprised and pleased to find that someone is still interested in the PPC game. The old .38 Special PPC load was a cast lead 148 gr. wadcutter over 2.5 gr. of Bullseye powder, and given a little care, one of Bill's revolvers should last several lifetimes.
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  • rfo1
    Der Gebirgsjager,
    --thank you for your detailed information on Bill Davis Custom guns.I bought the gun in question sight unseen off a Canadian gun auction site.A lady, whose husband had recently passed away, was selling several of her husband's guns including the Bill Davis Custom .38.I emailed her a few days before auction end asking for pictures but she did not have access to a digital camera.I decided to be pretty conservative in my bidding.I guess because there were no pictures included with the listing,and maybe because Bill Davis is not exactly a household name here in Canada,the gun did not get a lot of bids. I was high bidder at $224.00 CDN-- about $175.00 USD.I assume it is built on a K frame, perhaps a M10.All I know from the description is that it has Hogue grips,has a "heavy sight" and is chambered in .38 special.PPC shooting is going strong here in Canada so I figure worst case scenario is if this gun is just "not for me" I can always resell it.I am a casual plinker and do not shoot competitively.
    Again-- my thanks for your background information.It is much appreciated.[:)]
    Good shooting--
    Rick rfo1

    "I'm Your Huckleberry."
    Val Kilmer "Tombstone"
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