I always knew the place as "Central Loan". My dad took me there as a teenager and introduced me to Saul, the owner. I remember the brass Gatling gun on display. I bought many guns over that counter.

The Bellevue factory was just outside my district as a Deputy Fire Marshal in the 80's. It was sometimes convenient to schedule my lunchtime when I was near and stop in to see Sid and the guys on the line. Sid showed me the one-off idea guns he had in the office safe. I remember a bolt action long barreled conversion kit he had for the CM frame. I think it was in a rifle caliber (.223?), similar to some others that were coming on the market at the time.

I finally talked them into retrofitting my CM into the last of the .451/.45 packages. They assembled the kit with a leftover (very dusty) Haliburton case, a box of .451 brass, a reamer, a few Detonics shoulder patches, and an instruction booklet for loading. They fitted a .451 barrel to my gun and gave me a letter of provenance so I could prove the kit was direct from the factory. I've never loaded or fired any of the brass and the .451 barrel is still virgin. The .45 configuration is still my carry gun, though.

Thanks, Pat for your narrative. I really enjoyed reading it and have printed it out to stuff under the foam in the Haliburton.

Rich S.
Gig Harbor, WA