Who was that masked stranger? It was Clayton Moore actually, wearing unfeasibly tight trousers and dual-wielding a pair of 5½” Colt SAAs in the 1955 Lone Ranger television show. Few would argue that this handgun, which has remained in production almost continuously for over 140 years, is worthy of the title “ classic“. It may not have been the first revolver or even the first handgun to use a self-contained cartridge but it combined these things in a simple, rugged and enduring design which provided reliable firepower to very large numbers of people. However, in addition to fuelling adolescent cowboy fantasies, the Colt SAA was also an important handgun. The Cast of the Maverick television show demonstrate their Colt SAAs, circa 1957 For this reason the Colt SAA will always be the pistol most people associate with the Wild West. However, in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, when many cowboy movies and television programmes were being made, Colt SAAs were more readily and cheaply available than most other guns of the frontier period and so were most often used as props. Sadly, the idea that every cowboy carried a Colt SAA is not historically accurate – S&W top-break revolvers for example, were more numerous on the frontiers of America in the late 1800s. It somehow looked right and the evocative and distinctive click, clack, click, clack of the hammer being cocked became a kind of aural shorthand for manliness, excitement and danger. Whether we called it a “Peacemaker”, “Colt 45” or just a “six-shooter”, for a whole generation, the SAA was simply the “cowboy gun”. Sitting through countless cowboy themed television shows and Saturday afternoon matinees in the 1950s and 60s meant that every small boy (and even some discerning small girls) became familiar with the SAA, even if most of us didn’t know what it actually was. The Colt Single Action Army is indelibly associated with the romance and adventure of the Wild West.
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