Ann Arbor Arms

We dropped into  Ann Arbor Arms, a new gun shop on 5060 Jackson Road in Ann Arbor Township yesterday while on our way to the Dexter Cider Mill. It's a nice place, clean and well organized, with very friendly staff. I was pleased to see that that carry a wide range of the Maxpedition cases and packs- I'm a huge fan of Maxpedition gear.

Most of what they carry is oriented towards personal protection, but I was pleased to see used three single-action revolvers under the counter that were there on consignment. One was a .357 Ruger Blackhawk, one a Super Blackhawk with some engraving and ivory-looking grips, and the third, which interested me the most, was a replica of a Colt Single Action Army in .38-40. We couldn't find a maker's ID, but I suspect it was an Uberti Cattleman, like this one:

Whatever it was, it was very nicely finished.  .38-40 is an odd caliber that Winchester introduced in 1874 as a black powder loading for rifles. It was created by necking down the popular .44-40 to a diameter of .401", which means it really should be called a .40-40, I suppose. It's been obsolete for decades, but the recent popularity of Cowboy Action Shooting has revived its popularity, and there are now probably half a dozen makers producing SA replicas in .38-40.