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John Wesley Hardin's guns
v35
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Just finished "The Pistoleer" by Blake about Hardin's escapades as viewed by people of the time.
Hardin talks about favoring the Colt Percussion 44 Army but is also quoted referring to his Remington.
His career spanned the percussion era to 1895, well into the double action revolver era.
A picture in a reprint of his autobiography shows an SAA 4 3/4 with ejector housing removed.
Apparently he carried two guns; one in a side holster and one in a modified vest holster.
Can anyone shed some light on his favorite guns?
Hardin talks about favoring the Colt Percussion 44 Army but is also quoted referring to his Remington.
His career spanned the percussion era to 1895, well into the double action revolver era.
A picture in a reprint of his autobiography shows an SAA 4 3/4 with ejector housing removed.
Apparently he carried two guns; one in a side holster and one in a modified vest holster.
Can anyone shed some light on his favorite guns?
Comments
I've read in the past, that some of the old gunfighters actually favored the Remington over the Colt SAA.
The only two that I've ever heard of would be the 1860 Army, and the Colt Thunderer (some called it a Lightning).
I've read in the past, that some of the old gunfighters actually favored the Remington over the Colt SAA.
I can't comment on who carried what, but the name "Lightning" was used for the .38 cal, and the "Thunderer" was the .41 cal.
I think the proper name for it is the Colt Model 1877 Double Action Revolver.
For his first kill, he was 15 years old. He lived in the post Civil War south. He got into a wrestling match with a big former slave. He bloodied the ex slave's nose.
The ex slave reportedly said, "No white boy will draw my blood and live."
The next day, Hardin was riding his horse when the black guy accosted him. He wanted to fight again. Unfortunately for him, Hardin was packing his pistol. As the black guy approached him he fired. He knocked the guy down, but he got up and came at Hardin again. Hardin fired until his pistol was empty, killing the black guy.
Bad deal in that era, as the state was governed by Yankee soldiers and freed blacks.
Hardin's dad told him to go on the lam, and he fled to another state, and did not return home for ten years.
Later, Hardin killed a man sleeping in the room above him in a hotel, because the man's snoring woke Hardin up.
I admire him for that, I wanted so badly to do that to one of my fellow Paramedics who snored in the bunkhouse.
Anyway, my book said next to nothing about Hardin's guns, except that one was a Colt .45
He did express a fondness for the 1860 Army.
He mentioned using a Bulldog, a pinfire, caplock shotguns and various borrowed guns. Two 41 cal Colts were found on his body. One was Ivory handled and the other black. I assume the Ivory handled gun was the SAA in a photo and the black one, a Thunderer.
I'd like to find a source of more specifics on his gun preferences.
He was an expert in looking for trouble, finding it and killing his adversaries, some of whom he provoked.
He successfully used The Road Agent's Spin on Wild Bill Hickock; backing him off and again on an arresting officer, killing him.
This was with the bulky 1860 Army.
there is some incredible gun handling video including the spin. The pistols are twisted around & presented to the adversary butts first as if surrendering them.. Then the gun is spun around,reversed, cocked and fired. Try it with a heavy SAA or 1860 Army. It's hard but Hardin practiced regularly in front of a mirror and was quoted as being a top notch gun handler.
testimony by the Acme saloon owner after Selman blasted Hardin in the back of the head, was that Hardin had two 41 Colts on him, one with black handle and one with white. I'm assuming the black handled gun
was the smaller Thunderer since he seemed to like one in a vest holster.
A photo in the front of an original manuscript copy is of an ivory gripped SAA 4 3/4 w/o ejector.
In Googling Hardin's guns, a 2 1/2 38 1877 Lightning in nickel with pearl grips comes up as does a 44 1878DA Colt.
Funny, as I typed this, I am reminded of Pattons comment on pearl grips. Had he made it to Hardin he would have gotten one through the forehead in a twinkling.
It gets confusing but one thing for sure is he liked the 1860 Army and carried one at least till 1878 when he was jailed.
That would be a cool move to pull, you would need to be well practiced at it, and have balls of brass, especially if the other guy was pointing a pistol at you.
I read on at least a couple of different occasions that Hardin used an 1860 Colt Army that had been converted to double-action, but that strikes me more as misinformation than credible fact. Converting the old percussion revolvers to cartridge was commonly done. Converting a single-action to double-action would involve a greater degree of combined gunsmithing expertise, difficulty, and consequent expense than I'm inclined to believe anyone would bother with. It's possible that the reference to a double-action involved someone's having confused an 1860 Army with the later-model Thunderer -- both were Colts and both seem to have been carried by Hardin, and to all-too-many "experts" that would mean they were the same gun.
Tradition seems to maintain that Curly Bill Brocious did use the road agent's spin (also known as the Curly Bill spin, BTW) against Fred White, but even if the incident can be documented by witnesses, or was testified to in court during the post-shooting hearing, strict adherence to the truth wasn't a strong point of legal proceedings or newspaper reporting at that time. Participants in both processes consciously provided entertainment, in addition to occasionally arriving at justice or informing the public. Hmm, that would describe both processes quite well even today....
Makes more sense that, instead of trying one stunt or another that could easily go wrong and make him look like a fool, as well as dead, the typical gunman would have gone with the better odds and waited for either his opponent to make a mistake and one way or another allow him to escape, or for his buddies to come bail him out -- either with cash or with lead.