Reposting of The Most Viewed Post Ever:Concealed Carry Participant, Porter Rockwell's Guns

This is the most viewed article ever on this blog.

Concealed Carry Participant, Porter Rockwell's Guns 6/9/2014

Orrin Porter Rockwell’s 202nd birthday is the 28th of this month. To celebrate I thought I’d focus on the guns of Ol’ Port.
Porter was ahead of his time. He understood the importance of concealed carry and did it often. He carried a sawed off 1851 Colt single action Navy .36 caliber revolver in his pocket. He even filed off the trigger guard for better conceal ability.
A story of Port goes like this:
A young gunslinger got the drop on Rockwell. “Say your prayers,” he demanded. Rockwell replied, “You wouldn’t try and shoot a man without a cap on your pistol, would you?” The instant the man glanced at his gun, he was blown from his saddle by Rockwell, who had a gun hidden in his pocket.
Port understood concealed carry.
The first generation Colt single action Navy revolvers were produced in 1851. The most popular chambering was .45 but Port seemed to like the .36 maybe because it was smaller and not as heavy. He often wore two Colts in his belt for some open carry action.
The cylinder of this revolver is engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche on May 16, 1843.
He also carried the Hawken rifle. This was a .54 caliber black powder rifle. The Hawken brothers, Jacob and Samuel, were from St. Lewis, Missouri. They started to make guns together about 1825 to service the fur trade. This gun weighed about 8 ½ pounds, had a 28 inch octagonal barrel with a hooked breech system. The Hawken was known as an extremely accurate weapon and was used by Indians and settlers alike.
These two weapons truly helped to tame the west.
Porter was known as the “Avenging Angel” because of his expertise with these weapons.
It seemed Rockwell had been one who dared to test the hunters' wisdom: a buffalo bull could not be stopped with a shot between its horns, through its skull. But Rockwell stalked around to the front of a big one and—naturally—tried him out.
October 3, 1869 During a speech by U.S. Vice President Schuyler Colfax, Porter objected to his being called a killer and reportedly yelled, “I never killed anyone who didn’t need killing.”
June 9, 1878 At Porter Rockwell’s funeral, Apostle and future Church President Joseph F. Smith spoke and said the following about Porter:
“They say he was a murderer, if he was the friend of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven and apostates will go to Hell… Porter Rockwell was yesterday afternoon ushered in Heaven clothed with immortality and eternal life, and crowned with all glory which belongs to departed saints. He has his little faults but Porter’s life on earth, taken all together, was one worthy of example, and reflected honor upon the church. Through all his trials he had never once forgotten his obligations to his brethren and his God.”
June 21, 1878 The Church owned Deseret News wrote of Porter after his June 9th death, “Honorable in all his dealings, true to his friends, and his word, firm in faith; feared only by cattle thieves, and mobocrats and their supporters.”
A cowboy ballad from the 1850’s says:
Old Port Rockwell looks like a man,
With a beard on his face and his hair in a braid,
But there’s none in the West but Brigham who can
Look in his eyes and not be afraid;
For Port is a devil in a human shape,
Though he calls himself “Angel,” say vengeance is sweet,
But he’s black, bitter death, and there’s no escape,
When he wails through the night his dread war cry, “Wheat! Wheat!”,
Somewhere a wife with her babes kneels to pray,
For she knows she’s a widow and orphans are they.
(The war cry “Wheat!” is in reference to a phrase Porter would say to something that was good. Basically, it was a 19th Century way of saying something was cool.)
I think this ballad was probably anti-Port or anti-Mormon or both, but the fact that the ballad exists is a testament to Porter Rockwell’s reputation with a gun.
Many, including Church members, don’t like Orrin Porter Rockwell. I think they listen to the anti-Mormon rhetoric that exists about him. My sentiments agree with the Apostle Joseph F. Smith:
“He was the friend of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven and apostates will go to Hell…”
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

Who Said It? February

This is a new feature called “Who Said It?” It is a monthly quote having to do with preparedness or self-defense and open for a response from you. Try to determine who said this quote and comment with your answers. Don’t use Google and give it your best response!

January 2020 Quote

“The two most important rules in a gunfight are: always cheat and always win."

Clint Smith

Clint Smith is President and Director of Thunder Ranch, is a Marine Corps veteran of two infantry and Combined Action Platoon tours in Vietnam. His experience includes seven years as a police officer during which he served as head of the Firearms Training Division as well as being a S.W.A.T. member and precision rifleman. He left law enforcement to serve as Operations Officer for the American Pistol Institute (Early Gunsite Academy) where he was Dean of instruction and was instrumental in range and curriculum development for A.P.
In 1983, Clint founded International Training Consultants, Inc., an active mobile training program which is nationally recognized for innovative programs in Urban Rifle, Shotgun, Precision Rifle, and various handgun formats
In 1986, he served as Director of Training for Heckler & Koch, Inc., where he developed and taught progressive courses in fully automatic weapons as well as conventional weapons systems.
In 1993, Thunder Ranch, Inc. opened to show not only innovative training, but numerous range designs and functions of a type not seen before in one facility. Clint is a contributor to American Handgunner, American Cop, GUNS and SWAT magazines and has published articles in many other national and in international publications.

I have never taken a class from Thunder Ranch or met Clint Smith. But from what I have seen and heard from different sources I like his thinking. I think he and I would see eye-to-eye on many, many things!

February 2020 Quote

"Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised."

LDS Gunsite Index 2019

LDS Gunsite Index 2019
Jan
1. Legalities of Concealed Carry and Defense 1/4/2019
2. Proportional Response 1/10/2019
3. Clint Smith Safety Challenge 1/11/2019
4. Check You Bug Out Bag 1/11/2019
5. Overwatch: Drill Of The Month For January 1/16/2019
6. Hiding Guns And Safety 1/24/2019
Feb
7. Being Offended Is Offensive 2/5/2019
8. Legend of Special Forces Underground 2/11/2019
9. LDS Gunsite Index 2018 2/12/2019
10. Being Organized In Ammo Storage 2/18/2019
11. Overwatch: Drill of the Month For February-Tribute To Todd Green 2/19/2019
Mar
12. Gun Cleaning 3/18/2019
Apr
13. We're All Safe Now... Bump Stocks Are Gone 4/3/2019
14. Adding To Your Training Program 4/4/2019
15. Overwatch: Drill of the Month For April 4/9/2019
16. Thoughts On SERE and Survival Schools 4/10/2019
17. Privacy And What Not To Say On The Internet 4/11/2019
18. Privacy: Being Less Exposed On The Internet 4/12/2019
May
19. Backfires, Fireworks, and Gunshots 5/3/2019
20. Overwatch: Drill of the Month For May 5/14/2019
21. Preparedness Review 5/15/2019
Jun
22. Gun Registration in The U.S. 6/3/2019
23. An Oath: Worth Fighting For 6/4/2019
24. AK Or AR? The Eternal Question 6/5/2019
25. Remember 75 Years Ago-D-Day 6/6/3029
26. Concealed Carry And Law 6/6/2019
27. Overwatch: Drill of the Month For June 6/7/2019
28. Privacy: Dead Drops Now and Then 6/10/2019
29. Danites And Modern Persecution To The Church 6/18/2019
30. Celebrate Porter Rockwell's 206th Birthday With A OPR Tour 6/21/2019
31. Man/Livestock Tracking: Cutting Sign 6/23/2019
Jul
32. Hope Your July 4th Was Great! 7/6/2019
33. LDS Security Training Facility 7/22/2019
34. Overwatch: Drill of the Month for July 7/22/2019
35. Understanding Those With PTSD 7/31/2019
Aug
36. Going Underground 8/12/2019
37. Nationalism and Patriotism 8/28/2019
38. Who Is Watching You and How To Be More Invisible 8/29/2019
39. What Stops A Bullet And What Doesn't 8/29/2019
Sep
40. The Church's New Firearms Policy and Me 9/5/2019
41. Porter Rockwell and Loren Dibble: When Not To Shoot 9/7/2019
42. Overwatch: Drill of the Month for September 9/9/2019
43. New LDS Policy Defense Adaptation 9/10/2019
44. Situational Awareness Day 2019 9/19/2019
45. The Space-Time Continuum and Awareness 9/19/2019
46. What, Me Worry? 9/20/2019
47. Safety, 200th Hour, Safety! 9/27/2019
Oct
48. Learning Threat Indicators 10/2/2019
49. The Ammo Shortage of 2008 and Gunbot.net 10/2/2019
50. Overwatch: Drill of the Month For October 10/3/2019
51. My Suggestions For Church Defense 10/9/2019
52. The Decision To Defend 10/22/2019
Dec
53. "Be Nice!" (Everyone's Mom) 12/27/2019