Sunday, June 2, 2013

From my 2012 visit to the Autry Museum in Griffith Park, California.
This is a "Colt Walker" pistol. This one was made in 1847 and has serial
number 1004 (!!!!!!!!!).  This pistol was designed by Samuel Colt and
 Capt. Samuel H. Walker and manufactured by Eli Whitney Jr. I've always
wanted one of these pistols.
 
The Walker is about 15.5" long and weighs 4.5 pounds. Holy cow. It is a
black powder pistol and uses .44 ball ammo. In Hollywood this pistol was
carried by Josey Wales in "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), Mattie Ross in
"True Grit" (1969) and Augustus 'Gus' McCrae in "Lonesome Dove" (1989).
 
In reality, Capt. Samuel H. Walker was carrying a pair of Walkers when he was
killed by a lance in the Mexican War, the Battle of Juamantla in October of 1847.

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