Among the very best companies offering replicas of mid-to late-19th-century assorted cowboy gear is Old West Reproductions, Inc., in Florence,...
A Real Western Colt in the Reel West
It’s a firearms collector’s dream to find a gun that is well documented to have been owned or used by someone famous, or was involved in a...
Hollywood’s Flintlock Fakery
Movie making is all imagery, or as Hollywood calls it, “movie magic,” or the “suspension of belief.” After all, you don’t really think the actor you...
A Texas Dance For Johnny Reb
Of all of the Confederate-made revolvers, perhaps none stirs the imagination like those six-shooters manufactured by the J.H. Dance Bros. of Texas....
U.S. Cavalry’s First Bolt-Action Carbine
The more ammunition you give a soldier, the more he’ll use!” Despite their continued post-war use of the seven-shot Spencer repeater, this was the...
A Frontier Favorite Lever Gun
All 1873 Winchester rifles have octagonal barrels and the carbines have round barrels, right? Well, no, as a special option about one out of every...
America’s First Cavalry Blade
In 1833, the U.S. Army formed its first official mounted regiments, the First and Second Dragoons. These soldiers rode to battle, then dismounted to...
Wild West Six-gun Goes to War
True or False? General George S. Patton was the only top-ranking American officer to pack an 1873 Colt Single Action Army (SAA) revolver as a...
Red Ryder BB Gun
Years ago, at a friend’s 50th birthday party, I gave him a Red Ryder 50th Anniversary, special edition BB rifle. Despite his being showered with a...
Buffalo Bill’s Saddle Pals
Although Buffalo Bill Cody used a number of guns and horses throughout his colorful career, there was one special rifle and one amazing horse that...
Colt vs. Schofield
Arms enthusiasts often ask which government-issue .45 revolver was the best during the Indian campaigns of the late 19th century—the 1873 Colt or...
Armchair Gun Show
How would you like to go to a gun show with me without getting out of your comfortable seat? In recent months, there have been some colorful and...