OT - Wild Bill's 1851 Colts

[Tennessee Hayre]

What ever happened to Wild Bills 1851 colts. Did they get buried with him? I have tried to find this out. I know or I read his rifle was.

[Kansas Ed]

Apparently they were sold off to finance his funeral. This according to Kennedy in Guns of the Wild West.

One is in the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in LA, the other is in the Cody Museum.

Ed

[Tennessee Hayre]

Thanks, Kansas Ed. Nice to know they are not lost. I am a big fan of Wild Bill. He had an interesting past. The mid 1800's were hard times and I guess everyone used what skills they had to scratch out a living. I was reading a page on the hearing for the shooter (Jack McCall) and it seemed like McCall had alot of folks talking good about him, and for Wild Bill everyone seemed to only talk bad about his past how he was a man to quick to pull a gun, ect,,,. That was at the Deadwood hearing. Glad his friends re-tried the little dirtbag and gave him what he deserved. They buried Jack with the rope still around his neck.

[Doc Hudson]

There is a photo of one of Will Bill's Navy Colts, the one in the Autry Museum, on page 88 of Rattenbury's Packing Iron along with a Slim Jim-style holster that allegedly belonged to Wild Bill.

[Malamute]

There is a pair of engraved Navy Colts tagged as belonging to Hickok at the Cody Museum. I was going to post pics of them, but I can't seem to get photobucket to work to upload them and post them here. Oh well.

[Tennessee Hayre]

Would love to see them!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

Would love to see them!!!

Me too!

[Old Savage]

I think I have to take another trip down to the Autry Museum.

[Malamute]

Sorry for the flash glare, I tried a few shots without flash, but they were pretty dark. Sure miss the old 35mm.

[jd45]

"scuse my skepticism, but the grips are smooth..........didn't Wild Bill's guns have grips with American Eagles? There's supposed to be one of them at the Gene Autry Museum, if i'm not wrong. jd45

[Ray Newman]

If you read the tags in the picture posted by Malamute it states:

"Said to be one of a pair owned by Wild Bill...." (italics added --RCN)

Notice use of the word "said" -- no definite proof that they were owned by Wild Bill.

Myself, I think it is probably very hard to determine w/ 100% reliability what happened to his firearms after his death.

Remember one of John Wayne's last movies, "The Shootist" I think it was. The barber after cutting his hair sweeps it up into a small pile w/ hopes to sell it after the shootout.? Well after he sweeps it all up, he notices more hair on the floor from other customers & sweeps it all into one pile.

Malamute: what is the serial number on the top revolver -- the photo posted seems to cut that info off?? Sort of curious if they are a matching pair.

[Malamute]

I have it in another shot, but didnt load it into photbucket. Photobucket was giving me fits trying to load that one. I'll look,..........It's ser # 204672E. Not consecutive, but very close. They no doubt pulled them both off the line at the same time for engraving, they just weren't perfectly consecutive.


Interesting item regarding the upper gun, it has a very small dovetail front sight, and the lower gun has the factory front sight. Guess he wanted both to print to the same exact point of aim.


Something else to keep in mind, we keep thinking "Hickok had a pair of Navy Colts, because that's what he was noted for carrying most often, but history tells us he had many guns, including an 1860 Army and other pistols at different times. It's not at all out of the question that he owned more than one pair of Navy Colts.

[Ray Newman]

"Something else to keep in mind, we keep thinking Hickok had a pair of Navy Colts, because that's what he was noted for carrying most often, but history tells us he had many guns, including an 1860 Army and other pistols at different times. It's not at all out of the question that he owned more than one pair of Navy Colts."

--BINGO!

[CowboyTutt]

Intersting thread, and I enjoyed the pics. Thanks 'Mute!

-Tutt

[Tennessee Hayre]

Great Pic's '' The only thing I don't see on the handguns posted is wear. I own an 1851 navy colt and I handle it often, and I have wear marks on mine and I would think a man like Wild Bill who fired and wore his often you would see wear marks on the gun from sliding in and out of a belt or holster etc.....what do ya think!!

[jd45]

You know, what I'm still flabbergasted by, after reading the accounts of his expertise, is the absolutely other-worldly accuracy he was capable of. But that just goes to show you what a grain of talent mixed with a ton of practise can achieve, don't it? There'll never be another Wild Bill, that's for sure! jd45

[Malamute]

They show wear, it doesn't show in the pics well. I don't know what the original finish was, but they are a greyish/silver/brown patina color now, like blue worn/faded off. There's some pitting as well, the guns have obviously had serious use.

Engraved guns seem to age differently, they still look pretty good with some wear.


I'm still trying to figure out the digital camera. With the old manual 35mm Minolta, I could focus on any part I wanted, in about any light and have a sharp shot.


Gosh, it only took a half hour to load one picture on photobucket, things must be speeding up all of a sudden!!

Ok, here's another shot of the upper gun. It shows heavy use and wear, particulalry the front edge of the cylinder and the edges of the front sight base. Front sight is non-factory. You can see heavy pitting on the flat of the barrel of the lower gun in this shot also.