There’s something about the movies of the Old West. Cowboys riding horses and shooting six-shot revolvers that never seemed to run out of ammunition. Traveling for days on horseback and never needing a change of clothes. The best part was always that they seemed to know where they were going, without a map, compass or Siri.
Those old westerns have a way of drawing us into the story, captivating us with the beautiful scenery, suspenseful plots—and incredible gunfight sequences. The firearms of the Old West are as fascinating as the movies themselves, especially those we know to be historically accurate, because we have the patents and many are still around to tell their own tales.
One of the greatest collections of western firearms is housed at the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. As you walk through the museum and view the various firearms and their information cards, you can imagine the stories you’d hear if guns could talk. Some of the most interesting things I found when I went through the museum were the firearms made by E. Allen and Company. I admit I pictured firearms specifically made for sofas and dining room tables, but there is no relation between the firearms manufacturer of the 1800s and the furniture manufacturer established in 1932.
