Cimarron Arms is a Fredericksburg, Texas based company that is an industry powerhouse in the world of Single Action Shooting Sports and Cowboy reproduction guns. We were fortunate enough to have them send us one of their most popular pistols the “Evil Roy”. The pistol is named in honor of Gene “Evil Roy” Pearcey, a SASS National Champion as well as a SASS World Champion. Some of the features that he inspired on this pistol are the wide square rear notch sight and the wide constant width front sight. This pistol is functional and gorgeous, If you are like me and wasn’t familiar with a well built Single Action Army style pistol then picking up this pistol is a real treat. The shooting sports are growing at a rapid pace and we here at The Arms Guide figured we would like to provide some coverage into the ever expanding field of SASS, so we reached out to the best Cimarron Arms and they thankfully agreed to work with us, so here we are with the Evil Roy on our work bench.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
My initial impression when I opened the box was that Cimarron Arms really went all in with their old west style packaging and layout of the gun and informational material. I expected this level of detail from what I kept hearing was the Single Action Shooting Sports most dedicated gun manufacturer. When I opened the case and withdrew the pistol the first thing that jumped out at me aside from the 2.38 lb weight of the steel framed pistol, was the beautiful colors in the case hardened receiver. I checked to make sure it was in the caliber and variant that I had requested, a 4 3/4″ long barrel and chambered in .357 Magnum, both were correct so I quickly began to play around with it. There is something about a single action pistol like this that brings up images of movies like Open Range, A Fist Full of Dollars, or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It might seem old fashioned or corny to some but to many of the people reading this we remember the days of our youth pretending to be those outlaws and train robbers.
While handling the Evil Roy I was repeatedly spinning the cylinder around and trying the trigger out when I noticed the deep brown color of the grips and the nice even checking on them. The grips on the Evil Roy are thinner than “normal” width grips and are made of a walnut and my set game with a nice deep finish. Cimarron Arms put a lot of attention to detail on this gun, the grips had no spots on them where the stain didn’t take all the way or it ran down the grips. The frame, barrel, cylinder and hammer all featured uniform and deep stains or coatings on them, the quality control at the factory was on their game for sure when these were built.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Manufacturer: Cimarron Arms
Model Name: Evil Roy
Calibers Available: ,357 Magnum, .44-40, 45 Long Colt
Barrel Lengths: 4 3/4″, & 5 1/2″
Available Finish: Stainless Steel or Standard Blued
Weight: 2.38 Lbs as tested
Capacity: 6
MSRP: $739.70
We just recently received this pistol from Cimarron Arms who was kind enough to let us perform a test and evaluation cycle on it. The company didn’t have to help us out or send us the particular model we asked for but they were gracious enough to do so. We chose the Evil Roy because it was an entry level competition pistol at an affordable price, add to that the reputation of Cimarron Arms and we figured it was a no brainer decision. The shooting world is made up of all sorts of people, target shooters, black powder fans, die hard tactical shooters, single action cowboy shooters and many others. We strive to look outside our own normal shooting boundaries in order to review gear and guns that cross all spectrums of the shooting sports world.
Be sure to check back with us as we take the Evil Roy to the warm and heated confines of our local indoor range and see how it performs with a variety of loads from several top name manufacturers. Im really looking forward to this trip out to try my hand at my first single action cowboy style pistol. It should be a real treat. I mention this often at the end of many of our reviews but if you have an idea or topic you would like covered here at the site, drop us a line in the comments section and we will see if we can accommodate your inquiries. No question is too small or too odd. Until next time stay safe and happy shooting.
Rick