The original cowboy six shooter

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Boge

· #3 · Feb 25, 2014

jabberwoki said:
So what would be considered the quintessential cowboy six shooter of the late 1800`s favoured by the most cowboys/gunslingers of the area?
Pics encouraged.

A cap 'n ball. They were cheap & plentiful and despite Hollywood most people didn't saunter around like a rolling armoury. As well, the most common longarm on the Frontier was a muzzleloading shotgun which could be used for hunting & defense. S&W actually made more large bore ctg. revolvers than Colt in the 19th century, however most were sold overseas as those contracts were literally worth their weight in gold as that what's the Russians paid in.

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LaVistaBill

· #4 · Feb 25, 2014

In my opinion the quintessential "cowboy" sixgun (I'll include this to mean lawmen and outlaws too) would be the Colt Model P or SAA in .45 Colt. For many years, this was the most powerful metallic handgun cartridge and was carried by such notables as Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, Chris Madsen, John Wesley Hardin, Bill Cody, and Theodore Roosevelt. Not to mention many Texas Rangers, Arizona Rangers and others too numerous to mention. The gun itself was rugged, reliable and simple to use, plus sufficiently powerful when chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge.

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rhmc24

· #5 · Feb 25, 2014

Something like my SAA .45 Colt? Dates from 1870s, old brown gun outside, bright bore inside ----

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twaits

· #6 · Feb 25, 2014

Revolver Gun Firearm Trigger Starting pistol

This is what a "Harlem Cowboy" would have carried in the '70s.......the 1970s

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Chaffee

· #7 · Feb 25, 2014 (Edited)

Most people would think one of these......

or one of these....

but the Navy was very popular....

3

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nifty1940

· #8 · Feb 25, 2014

Anyone willing to sponser an Aussie to the great plains. Just gottta be this blokes' neighbour. Then I know I'm in heaven. Love them all. ta for the showing; jealous as all hell

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BobWright

· #9 · Feb 25, 2014

Many old photos I've examined where a gun could be identified (approximately) indicates a Colt Single Action Army of some sort. Hard to tell, but many look to be nickeled. Posed in a studio, a 7 1/2", studio prop or actual personal arm? Many cowboy photos of the era show a shorter Colt in a Mexican loop holster worn near the kidney position and just above the saddle, contrary to the now-accepted cross draw holster.

I remember seeing a photo of an old time sheriff posed with his deputies, both of them, and the sheriff wearing a Mexican loop holster and a gun belt full of .45 cartridges. Holster in front of his private area bore a Luger!

Bob Wright

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C

Colt-SL

· #10 · Feb 25, 2014

jabberwoki said:
So what would be considered the quintessential cowboy six shooter of the late 1800`s favoured by the most cowboys/gunslingers of the area?
Pics encouraged.

To my mind it would have almost certainly been a Colt in either .45 Colt or .44-40. But your question makes me think of two separate barrel lengths. The 7 1/2 for the cowboy riding the range and maybe a cut down 4 3/4 for the gunslinger for ease of fast draw potential.

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azshot

· #11 · Feb 25, 2014 (Edited)

You'd be surprised how popular the Merwin and Hulbert revolvers were. They were in lots of photos, probably because they were cheaper than Colt and very well made.

I've also read several books by miners, forest rangers, settlers in the West in the 1880s and 90s. It stood out that most said they didn't carry a gun this late in the period. Several made a point of saying that they weren't needed, for wildlife, and were seldom carried. Guns were of use in the outskirts of heavy drinking towns to defend against people, not to use against Indians or animals, by the late 1880s. Also, a gun we very expensive. Poor folk that spent a lot of time away from towns often didn't have the money to go armed. They spent it on traps, seed, mining claims, or whatever would help them make a living. If you had money, and traveled far and wide like a cowboy, you probably found a way to buy some gun. But I bet it was often a Civil War surplus cap and ball.

In times of Indian uprisings like the Apache wars, or when a Grisly bear had been in the area, people probably begged, borrowed, or sole a gun if they had to be away alone. Again, you asked about the late period. The early western period was a different matter. It would be suicide to not have good firearms out west in the 1850s - 1870s.

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WIL TERRY

· #12 · Feb 25, 2014

NO DOUBT : the COLT SAA 45 in all it's permutations. It outsold the second best seller, the COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER 44WCF by a long ways.

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rhmc24

· #13 · Feb 25, 2014

Merwin-Hulbert? Here mine my Dad bought for $15, 1960s.

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Sgt405

· #14 · Feb 25, 2014

Chaffee, can you adopt me???? What a collection!

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twaits

· #15 · Feb 25, 2014

Chaffee,

That's really impressive. That SAA collection alone must be $50,000 or more. Of course I have no idea if there is a single $15,000 pistol in there somewhere so it may be way higher than that.

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Oyeboten

· #16 · Feb 25, 2014

There were a fair amount of large Frame, Six Shot, Belgian Top-Breaks in .44 Russian and .44-40 also, being carried, back East and out West in the latter years of the 19th Century.

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Boge

· #17 · Feb 25, 2014

As far as cartridge guns go, one model was sold by the boatload & yet is rarely mentioned today as most people's idea of the Old West is shaped by Hollywood. That gun was the Bulldog revolver.

I think many people have an idea that when ctg. revolvers were introduced that people merely threw their percussion guns in a lake.

For example, when John Wesley Hardin was arrested in 1877 he was carrying a '60 Army. It was more of a slow transition, but even into the 1880's you had a far greater chance of encountering someone armed with a cap 'n ball rather than a ctg. revolver.

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dogface6

· #18 · Feb 25, 2014

And what with the 'No Guns' rule in the trail towns - the little Bulldogs came into their own.

By the time one was pulled - things had really gotten to a bad place...

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BobWright

· #19 · Feb 25, 2014

WIL TERRY said:
NO DOUBT : the COLT SAA 45 in all it's permutations. It outsold the second best seller, the COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER 44WCF by a long ways.

In an article some years back in The American Rifleman there was a survey of .44-40 caliber revolvers, the second most popular caliber in those days. Smith & Wesson, Forehand & Wadsworth, and Merwin Hulbert were all cited, then the kicker, Colt produced more .44-40 revolvers than all other manufacturers combined!

And Colt produced far more .45 caliber guns than .44s. Gives you some idea how popular the Colt .45 really was.

Bob Wright

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Chaffee

· #20 · Feb 25, 2014

Sgt405 said:
Chaffee, can you adopt me???? What a collection!

Only if you look something like this..........

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