Revolvers

The revolver has been a most interesting development. We will limit our discussion here to products manufactured by Smith & Wesson and Colt. The many variations on these basic designs are plentiful in today's market. However when you get right down to it, with exception of transfer bar safety there hasn't been a significant amount of development. Bigger bores, more powerful cartridges, recoil control, slicker smoother actions and better fire control have been the refinements we have seen.

Samuel Colt inscribed these words on the bottom of his Peacemaker Revolver "Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size, when danger threatens call on me, and I will equalize". Thus this gun became known as the Ol' Equalizer.

Smith & Wesson had a strong presence in the old West as well. With top break designs for quick ejection of spent cartridges, and easy loading this became the choice for horse mounted soldiers. Pictured to the right is a Smith & Wesson model 629 44 Magnum.

Today's refined designs are far more precise, and even the worst of them would have given a Gunfighter or Lawman at a tremendous advantage over his opponent. While many competition shooters today prefer the semi-auto pistol to the revolver. Many fine revolvers capable of high accuracy are still made. And many of the "elmers" out there are still shooting 45 ACP from an S&W model 1955.