© 2005 TAGATE
© 2005 TAGATE
When it came to the use of shooting irons, however, some men were more equal than others - a fact cowboys knew well. To improve the odds of landing on the right side of this equation, they exercised meticulous care in selecting their firearms from among the weapons available. From service in the Civil War, thousands of frontiersmen inherited handguns like the revolvers whose rotating chambers held several rounds. They fired a kind of roll-your-own ammunition consisting of a ball, powder and a percussion cap. But the ammunition was all too fallible: unless carefully loaded, it might misfire or even set off chain-reaction detonations of the rounds in adjoining chambers.
The development of metallic cartridges soon solved these problems. The first metallic-cartridge revolver to be adopted as the standard sidearm of the postwar Army was the mordantly misnamed Colt's Peacemaker of 1873. Sold in enormous numbers on the open market and by mail, this single-action - i.e., manually cocked - pistol swiftly became the weapon most likely to be whipped from the holsters, waistbands or leather-lined coat pockets of Westerners. But the reliable Peacemaker, along with its imitators and successors, had a drawback. The relatively short barrel - eight inches or less - reduced the power and accuracy. While an expert might consistently hit a stationary mansized target at 40 yards, effective revolver range in the chaos of combat was less than half that figure. Most cowboys therefore enlarged their arsenals with a rifle or a shotgun.
Even with one of these bigger weapons for deadly firepower, and revolvers for close work, some felt less than fully equipped, so they added a vest-pocket pistol to their array of iron. Although woefully inaccurate, a small, hidden firearm possessed a matchless potential for surprise, and more than once proved a trump in the hazardous games of men who lived by the gun.
The man whose name was stamped on the most famous gun in the West did not live to savor the triumph. Samuel Colt - a Yankee who developed the first practical revolver in 1836 and went on to earn a fortune and the honorary title of colonel in the Connecticut militia - died a decade before his company came up with its classic creation. But the 1873 Peacemaker was a worthy extension of his genius, and a total of 357,859 of them would be produced by the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company of Hartford. Fighting men everywhere considered the Peacemaker's balance and durability superior to that of other revolvers of the day, and they expressed their appreciation by clamoring for a variety of versions - some decorative or modified for fast draw, others plain, all lethal.
Colt's competitors tried hard to skim sales from the Peacemaker. Smith & Wesson won an endorsement from Buffalo Bill Cody, and Remington got a resounding plug from Frank James - "The Remington is the hardest and the surest shooting pistol made," he declared - although his brother favored a rival product. Both the Colt company and other gun manufacturers wooed customers with an alternate kind of revolver design: double-action. In double-action weapons, squeezing the trigger performs the double duty of drawing back the hammer, then releasing it. But even this dividend of simplicity - and a shade more speed - failed to make the Peacemaker obsolete, and in effect its rivals were all competing for second place.
Easily stashed-away firearms - whether pocket revolvers or the one- or two-shot pistols known as deringers after the pioneering Philadelphia gunmaker Henry Deringer - often were hidden in bar girls' bodices and faro dealers' sleeves. Even the toughest used them as back-up weapons. One Arizona lawman carried upward of half a dozen petite pistols on his person. But the scaled-down size of these guns cost heavily in accuracy and range. Mark Twain, who packed a pocket-model Smith & Wesson .22 on his travels through the West, was guilty of only mild exaggeration when he wrote, "It was grand. It only had one fault - you could not hit anything with it."
With a mean-looking pistol and a steely eye, a cowboy might deter would-be foes by appearances alone. But when combat was inevitable and circumstances permitted a choice of weapons, any sensible cowboy would reach for a rifle or shotgun - preferably the latter. Rifles and carbines (light, shorter-barreled rifles) were accurate at ranges often exceeding 200 yards and, with lever actions and calibrated sights, were simple to operate. While shotguns had only about a fifth the range of rifles - or even less if their barrels were sawed off for easier handling - no weapon in the arsenal was more fearsome, since a buckshot load at close range could practically cut a man in two.
Westerns on TV were the rage in the 1950's, starting with old B Westerns, which evolved into made-for-TV Westerns. This created a demand for single-actions, not only to be used by the actors, but by shooters as well. Colt had ceased production of the Single Action Army in 1941. Since they had publicly declared that they had no plans to ever resurrect the old Peacemaker, the prices on pre-war Single Action Colts started to rise.
Now that Westerns had created a demand for single-actions, someone had to fill it. Shooters wanted real Colts and they couldn't get them, but Great Western stepped in to fill the void. The Great Western looked so much like a Colt Single Action Army that they actually used real Colts in the early advertising. I'm not sure exactly when Great Western began, but I think I saw the first ads in 1954. They were smart enough to present John Wayne with an early matched pair, fully-engraved with ivory grips. One of the owners of the company was Audie Murphy. Young Murphy lied about his age to get into World War II, became the most decorated hero of that conflict, and then went on to make Western movies. Some thought that he wasn't much of an actor, but we didn't care. He was a real genuine hero who could definitely handle a Colt Single Action .45 on the silver screen.
The West and its land were there for the taking, but it was no place for the timid or the weak. The men who conquered the West: the outlaw, the lawman, the gambler, the buffalo hunter, and the frontiersman earned reputations that inspired the era of legends that continues today.
The epic story of the West is legendary and the grandest facet of this story is the firearm. While film and television portray the Old West as a romantic tale, the harsh reality of it was brutal, lawless, and expansive. This is evident as you look upon the firearms. The story of the man who used these firearms in his quest for freedom, food, financial gain, protection and not always for the pursuit of good.
From the Frontiersman, who used the flint lock muskets and pistols, Buffalo Hunter's Sharps Rifle, to the gamblers of the time who used many pocket pistols, derringers, and belly guns, guns of choice for the gambler. From Lawmen who used firearms to dispense justice, to the Outlaws, numerous firearms were probably carried.
The Western gun holster sometimes called "cowboy holster", has had a long and colorful history. Its roots can be traced back to the end of the civil war and continued through the frontier period of the American West. After the turn of the century, western lawmen, especially the Texas Rangers and U.S. Border Patrol, contributed many ideas to holster and saddle makers. The frontier period of the American West came and went quickly. It was scarcely more than the last third of the 19th century. By 1890 the Old West as we knew it was over. A new period emerged referred to as the classic period of the Old West. The southwestern Border States were still vastly unsettled and to a considerable degree still lawless. Both lawmen and citizens alike carried guns as a normal every activity.
Newer western holster styles evolved during this post-frontier period. They were more practical in the way they were worn and positioned the pistol. Heavier leather and more eye-appealing lines came into vogue. Holsters of the 1870's and 80's slowly gave way to new designs that were more responsive to a new breed of shooters and lawmen that demanded more from their guns and holsters.
It was this classic period that produced the finest saddles, boots, holsters and gun belts that flourish to this day. Significant improvements in western holsters occurred during the early part of this century and probably peaked during the heyday of the 1940's and 50's western film and television era. Holsters took on a new meaning. They were no longer just gun "holders." Westerners wanted more substantial and stylish designs. A demand for holsters that really permitted a "fast draw" emerged. More thought and innovation went into holster designs and fully lined leather belts and holsters began to appear. Holster designs that were more closely shaped to the pistol with fancy stamping, carving and silver trim began to gain popularity.
Filmmakers of the 1930's, 40's and 50's took great liberties with holster designs worn by their heroes and outlaws alike. There were very few skilled holster makers during this time in Hollywood. Costume designers merely took their sketches to local saddle shops that faithfully reproduced their historically inaccurate designs.
Contrary to myth and popular western film culture, "quick draw" as we know it today, simply was not possible with the holster styles of the frontier period. This historical fact in no way detracts from the courage, skill and accuracy of the old timers. They must be judged by the conditions that existed during that time and place in history.