4 GUNSOFTHEOLDWEST FALL 2019
R
edemptionatone’s
ownhandwasoftenthe
lastthinga cowboyor
lawmandidintheAmerican
West. Law by the barrel of a
gun often ended badly for
all concerned, but having a
prisoner taken, either by an
angry lynch mob or anout-
law gang hell bent on getting
their man back, well, that
was a different story.
In the 1870s, it was
hard enough for lawmen to
track an outlaw across great
distances, let alone bring
one back alive. Worse still,
dependingupontheoffense,
it couldbe justasdauntingto
ke epa manlockedupawait-
ingthecircuitjudge.The
tougher the town, the harder
the job, especially in cattle
towns when the offensewas
cattle or horse rustling.If a
lawman was prepared for the
inevitable, he was armed with
a shotgun, and that often
let cooler heads pre-
vail, but a surprise
jailbreak could
catch even
the best
of
menoff guard.No shotgun—
justa holsteredrevolverand
a potof coffeesittingon an
oldwoodencrate.
The backup gun is not
a modern concept. It dates
back to before the CivilWar,
onlya backupwasoftenan
anemiclittlepistolbackthen,
butany portina storm,as
they say. AftertheCivilWar,
boomtowns and cattle towns
were cropping up all across
the West, and the local law, if
A BIRD
’
S HEAD
IN THE HAND
Bird’s-head grips could spell the difference between life and death on the frontier
By DENNIS ADLER
• GUNS OF THE GUNFIGHTERS •
(Right) This Colt Model
1860 Army is typical of
cut-down percussion
models carried in the
late 1860s
and aearly
1870s. (Above
Right) A talented
gunsmith (in this
case a teaming of the
famed R.L. Millington
and Doug Turnbull
Restorations)
created these
cut-down 1860
Army revolvers.
(Below Right)
These post-Civil-
War 1860 Army
designs predate
the 1½- and
2½-inch-barreled
Colt Model 1877
Lightnings by
almost a decade.
