Gun Digest – August 2019

gundigest.com GunDigest the magazine AUGUST 2019 (^) | 49
ABOUT THE REVOLVERS
Despite sharing the same barrel length and chambering, the New Sheriff and
Thunderstorm Thunderer are very different guns with very different purposes,
but each has its own way of being fast and lethal.
The New Sheriff has a full-sized grip made of walnut. The texture is smooth,
and the fi nish is shiny and pleasing to the eye. I have large hands and found the
grip to allow for a better purchase on the revolver under recoil. When hands get
sweaty and temperatures rise, the smooth grip can get a bit slippery.
The hammer of the New Sheriff sports a traditional spur, and the lockwork
of the revolver is traditional SAA. Trigger pull is light and crisp. There was
the slightest amount of drag in the fi rst 100 rounds or so. Nevertheless, this
smoothed out with time.
An interesting point about the New Sheriff is that the frame is the Old Model
P style. This means that the gun has a screw in the frame holding the base pin
in. This style dates back to the fi rst SAA revolvers in the early 1870s. Most mod-
ern SAA revolvers have the spring-loaded pin release common to models clas-
sifi ed as “pre-war,” which were made from 1896 to 1940. (The Thunderstorm
Thunderer has a pre-war frame for reference. The pre-war style is much easier to
take apart, and there’s no risk of damaging the frame.)
TheNewSheriffhasa numberofminutefeaturesthatmakeit anexceptional
gun for hard use. The fi nish of the gun is color case-hardened on the frame and
hammer, while the cylinder and barrel are blued. The fi nish on my sample gun
was even and well-applied. A recoil shield is present in the face of the frame.
This feature adds strength to the frame and helps prevent deformation of the
fi ring pin hole by dry-fi ring.
Overall, the New Sheriff saw about 1,200 rounds for this article—and there
wasn’t a single failure to fi re. I considered it to be among the fastest and easiest-
to-point revolvers I’ve ever tested. The revolver was not cleaned at all during
the entire testing; even so, it showed no problems. Care needed to be taken to
prevent the screws from backing out, but a little bit of thread locker can take
care of that should you desire.
If you’re looking for a fast-handling, classically styled .45 Colt that won’t
break the bank, this gun has my recommendation. (MSRP: $566.32)
I would classify the Thunderstorm Thunderer as a modern gun in several re-
spects. The grips are a “Doc Holliday”-style bird’s-head made of checkered wal-
nut. The grip is comfortable and quick to handle, but I found it to be a little bit
too small overall for precision shooting. Shooters with smaller hands or those
looking for a gun that’s easier to conceal will enjoy this feature.
Mounted shooters will be happy to
know that the Thunderstorm Thun-
derer is Cowboy Mounted Shooting
Association (CMSA)-approved. The
revolver has a lowered, widened ham-
mer spur and an action job that light-
ens trigger pull, along with the force
and effort needed to pull the hammer
to the rear.
Trigger pull was much lighter than
on the New Sheriff, but it wasn’t quite
as crisp. Instead, it had a much more
gradual pull that is preferable to ac-
tion shooters looking for fast hits and
not ultra-tight groups. This means
that the Thunderer is exceptional for
one-handed shooting. I found it to be
faster to deploy from the holster and
get lead on target than the New Sher-
iff ... but only marginally so.
I fi red 900 rounds through the
Thunderstorm and didn’t have any
signifi cant issues with it—aside from
a minor deformation of the fi ring
pin hole. The revolver benefi ts from
complete stainless steel construc-
tion, making it very durable overall.
It also benefi ts from a hardened-steel
recoil shield which, while somewhat
unnecessary in an all-stainless gun,
prevents burring around the fi ring
pin hole.
Accuracy with the Thunderstorm
was on par with that of the New
Sheriff, but the bird’s-head grip
made it diffi cult for me to print
tight groups at 25 yards. Average ac-
curacy was, again, equal for each of
the three loads, tested at 5.3 inches
for 10 shots at 25 yards. Point of im-
pact varied slightly, with the Black
Hills load shooting closer to point of
aim than the Sig and Armscor loads.
(MSRP: $975)
Shooting fast from a draw is a
pleasure with both guns. There’s
something so satisfying about spin-
ning the cylinder on your Cimar-
ron SAA and squaring up with some
“outlaw.” Drawing from the hip and
ringing steel put you right back in
the Old West.
There are many types of SAA revolv-
ers out there today, but not all are
equal. If you want the best of the Old
West, Cimarron has you covered. GDTM
Cimarron does a great job with its color case-hardening. While not an exceptionally
expensive gun, the New Sheriff is certainly an eye-catcher.