Popular with the military, agents of the law, and with criminals, it was said by a former train robber that ‘a Colt’s forty-five makes all men equal’. Probably the most famous of the Old West guns, the Colt six-shooter became renowned as the ‘gun that won the West’. Remington’s version featured two barrels that lifted up for loading and is featured in reproduction form in ‘Django Unchained’ (2012).

Named after gunmaker Henry Deringer, ‘Derringer’ became a generic name for a small, concealable weapon for very close range self-defence, carried in a vest pocket or lady’s muff. A lesser-known weapon of the period, it appeared recently as a plot point in BBC One’s Victorian police drama ‘Ripper Street’. This wasted less propellant gas on firing, making it prized for its accuracy amongst Confederate snipers in the American Civil War. The British Whitworth rifle resembles the better-known Enfield Pattern 1853, but features hexagonal rifling and was designed to fire a close-fitting, hexagonal bullet. The LeMat appears prominently in 2010’s martial arts/Western mash-up ‘The Warrior’s Way’. This was a lot of firepower when the revolver was introduced in 1856, and it went on to find favour with the Confederate States in the American Civil War.

The LeMat was unusual in that its cylinder held nine shots instead of the usual five or six, and because it had an extra shotgun barrel mounted underneath. The 1873 model is the best known, even starring in its own movie: Winchester ’73 (1950). Its mechanism would later inspire the Maxim machine gun. Winchester 1873 Rifleīased on the 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle, the famous Winchester featured a tube magazine with an enormous capacity for the time and a rapid-fire lever action.

We thought we’d introduce you to a magnificent seven guns from our collection you may see in the hands of your favourite cowboys and cowgirls. Welcome everybody to the wild, wild west.

World at war guns list