Meet the Gunsmith Gary Reeder: A brief look at one of America's most prolific custom gunsmiths

Guns Magazine, March, 2002 by Dick Williams

True art needs no explanation; it simply hits you emotionally. Admittedly, there are exceptions. Much of Picasso's stuff needs an explanation... at least to me. But not handgun art. When I look at the creations of Gary Reeder, I'm moved to the point of reaching for my wallet, which for me is an act of great emotion!

Reeder owns the Pistol Parlor in Flagstaff, a town in the mountains of Arizona. Flagstaff is one of God's secret vacation resorts. While the area does attract and inspire a number of artists, Reeder was building firearms back in Tennessee during the late '70s and early '80s. Combining careers as a gunsmith and rock 'n roll disk jockey took Reeder from Tennessee to Florida to New Mexico -- and finally to Arizona in the '90s. He is self-trained and began working on his own guns even before finishing high school.

The Right Attitude

"It's one thing to mess up on your own guns," he says. "But I never try a modification on a customer's gun until I have successfully completed it on mine."

When you look at the masterpieces that are displayed on his Website, it's hard to imagine him ever making an error.

Despite a focus on handguns, Reeder does work with some rifles. He likes the Ruger Number 1 single-shot and periodically makes a limited run of full custom guns and calibers. For those wanting that special rifle for Africa, he offers his Big Five Classic Ruger in caliber .500 Jeffery. For the lever gun enthusiast heading to the Dark Continent, he blows out the .45-70 cartridge to accept a .475 bullet (called a .475 GNR), chambers it in a Marlin 1895, and calls it the Buffalo Hunter. If you're heading north to tackle the big bears in the dense alders, check out his Alaskan Classic, a Marlin 1895 chambered in .45-70 with the barrel cut to 16 inches. Cowboys wanting something a cut above the ordinary can either choose between his Custom 1886 Winchester and 1866 Yellowboy. If there's a beat-up 1892 Winchester in your closet, Reeder can restore that to a condition that will generate envious glances at your next match.

Handgun hunters who are fond of Thompson Center single-shots should also take a peek at his Website. Reeder customizes Contenders and Encores to include the special barrel length of your choice in calibers that will bring down any critter you could dream of hunting. But the bulk of his work seems to be on revolvers, with a focus on cowboy shooting, handgun hunting and compact carry.

Near Endless Variety

Perhaps as impressive as the quality of his work is the variety of custom handgun work he offers. For example, he converts the various Ruger single-action revolvers to the big, specialty calibers such as .475 and .500 Linebaugh much like other custom smiths do. He also makes his own stretched frames and cylinders for the super calibers like .475 and .500 Maximum. He will reshape your grip or make a new one of his own design -- such as his incredibly comfortable Gunfighter grip -- and then make custom grip panels of semi-exotic materials that fit perfectly.

Not Shopping For A Big-Bore Revolver?

Reeder offers his Coyote Classic, a converted Ruger Super Blackhawk chambered for a variety of the shorter .22-caliber center-fire cartridges. If you want multiple, interchangeable cylinders for the same gun, order one each in .22 Hornet, .22 K Hornet, or .218 Bee. If you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, you might like one of his GNR series of proprietary chamberings, like maybe a .41 Mag case necked down to .357, or a .44 Mag case necked to .41-caliber. You end up with dramatically improved performance in your .357 or .41 and no set-back problems with fired cases.

Thinking more "artsy" than functional? He does some beautiful work in various finishes and relatively inexpensive engraving. I find his velvet chrome and black chromex finishes tremendously appealing. Not only do they look great but they also wear well. And a velvet chrome front sight is more visible in the dim light of early morning or late evening without being shiny enough to cause a blinding glare in the bright sunlight of midday. Once a theme is selected for a series of handguns, the engraving, picture selection, and even the functional design changes on those custom handguns which support that theme, e.g. the Black Widow or the Backpacker. This leads me into a discussion of the sample Reeder custom handgun chosen for this review.

Purpose Built

The Backpacker is exactly what the name implies. It's a lightweight handgun that can be comfortably carried all day over mountain or desert trails without adding unnecessary weight or undesirable bulk to the load of a hiker. But the really serious comfort afforded by this gun is that its .45 Colt chambering allows you to deal with almost any possible threat situation you might encounter.

The gun sent to me began life as a standard Ruger Vaquero in caliber .45 Colt, but if you would prefer a different caliber, Gary will oblige: The barrel, ejector rod, and ejector rod housing have been cut to 3 inches; a special nonsnag front-sight blade has been installed; the muzzle crown has been recessed to protect the rifling from inadvertent dings; and the factory grip frame has been replaced with one made of lightweight aircraft aluminum fitted with black Micarta panels.