A Gambler's Fifth Ace
The small 1849 Colt Pocket "five shooter" put famed gunmaker Sam Colt in business for keeps.
Categories: Shooting from the Hip
By: Phil Spangenberger 09/01/2007
"You gonna pull those pistols or whistle 'Dixie?'"
Clint Eastwood's gunslinger famously brushed off a group of Union soldiers with those sneering words—just before he shot all four of them dead. The line was more than a bit reminiscent of the oft-misquoted line Eastwood said in the 1971 movie that catapulted him to fame: "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?," his Dirty Harry character asked the bad guy at the mercy of his Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum.
When Eastwood's character ruthlessly killed those soldiers in 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales, he chose as his weapons of death the 1847 Colt Walkers from his belt holsters. It's not surprising that Hollywood would have him draw Colt's first six-shooter, as much of the credit for taming the Wild West is usually assigned to six-shooters and big-bore rifles. But had he met those soldiers at a poker table, Josey might have reached into his vest pocket for the little five-shot pocket revolver that played its own part in the saga of the American frontier.
That hideout revolver, the 1849 Pocket Colt, was the most produced of all Colt percussion arms. It also became the best selling handgun in the world during the entire 19th century.
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT