[TFlyboy]

I know that the British drive on the other side of the road, but does Colt change the configurations on handguns for the British??

Although I suspect some real photo trickography happened here, I thought these would be interesting pictures and probably give many people a reason to pause.



Colt Python aka Combat Magnum

 

[DPris]

Just dummied-up images.
Colt never made those.
Denis

 

[JohnnyP]

When cameras used film, if the negative was flipped over everything was reversed. Before film, glass or metal plates were the negative and could not be reversed. Everything showed up reversed on them. Civil war muskets in these pictures appear to have the hammer on the left side.

One of the most famous of the negative photos is the picture of Billy the Kid. For many years it was thought he was left handed as his gun appears to be worn on the left side, but he was actually right handed and the reversed photo was the culprit. I believe it was Paul Newman that played Billy in the movie, "The Left Handed Gun". If you look at the Winchester at Billy's side, the loading gate is also on the left side.

 

[DPris]

If the image were merely reversed, the barrel lettering would be, too.
Denis

 

[dfariswheel]

Reversed images which were further altered by changing the barrel markings.
Easy to do these days with cheap and readily available software.

As an interesting aside, in the book "Guns of the American West" is a computer enhanced photo of the above Billy the Kid photo.
The picture gives a FAR different look at The Kid. The enhancement removed all the age damage.

As example, The Kid was a rather handsome young man and not buck-toothed, as would be expected given his reputation as well-liked by the ladies.
He's wearing clean, nice quality looking clothing, with a fancy fringed sash, leather covers over his boots, a nice ring on his left hand, and is wearing an expensive looking gold watch chain.

Most interesting, the enhancement totally changes his hat. Instead of the smashed down bum's hat, it's a good looking hat with a lower crown. The photo was damaged and the picture above showing a smashed hat was actually blotching on the negative.