Hello, I need help about weapons in the Wild West. Thank you for the help you could give me.
Caius
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Hello, I need help about weapons in the Wild West. Thank you for the help you could give me.
Caius
Revolvers:
Colt Single Action Army
Schofield Model 3
Note: Every revolver was carried with the hammer down on a empty chamber, so that jostling the weapon wouldn't cause it to discharge.
Shotguns:
Coach Gun
Rifles:
Sharps Rifle
Winchester Model 1873
I believe the Single Action Army was the most commonly used during the Wild West. Everyone wanted a pistol that shoots multiple bullets one after another without having to reload between the shots.
dont forget:
the 1861 colt navy revolver(carried by Wild Bill)
the 1864 Henry repeating rifle (precursor to winchester)
more to come.
I thought Wild Bill used the 1851 Navy? Although there was also a Colt M1861 Navy.
The Colt Walker also has a pretty neat history going back to the Mexican-American War. If I recall correctly it was the most powerful handgun until the invention of the .357 magnum, although I tink modern 45 Colts, especially Rugers, can be loaded more heavily. The Remington Model 1858 was also influential, having a single piece frame unlike the Colts of the time, and little notches in the cylinder that the hammer could be rested in, allowing you to carry the gun fully loaded, rather than with just five bullets loaded like most revolvers of the period. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, many were rather poorly made, so despite a better design they never outstripped the early Colts in popularity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiberius of the Drake
A crazy multitude by what I know of it. Reading references to the era, there seem to have something like a dozen different manufacturers in the field plus European imports on top of that - and a lot of very creative if not always terribly succesful to circumvent the Colt patent on some rather key characteristics of the revolver principle.
And let's not even start on the calibres. Not only was there a mind-boggling proliferation of different ones, we're also talking about the very transitional period from black powder to cordite propellant...