C96

The Colt Buntline Special is one of the most legendary and mythologized firearms in American history, a long-barreled variant of the Colt Single Action Army revolver whose very existence has been the subject of considerable historical debate. The legend holds that dime novelist Ned Buntline—pen name of Edward Zane Carroll Judson—commissioned five special long-barreled Single Action Army revolvers with 12-inch barrels and detachable shoulder stocks as gifts to famous lawmen of the frontier era, including Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and others, in appreciation for their cooperation in providing material for his stories. This story, widely accepted as fact for much of the 20th century, has been questioned by some researchers who could find no factory records confirming the order.

Regardless of the precise historical truth of the Buntline legend, the Colt Single Action Army with an extra-long barrel—typically 12 inches, though other lengths have been produced—has become one of the most recognized and romanticized firearms configurations in American popular culture. Wyatt Earp’s association with the Buntline, whether historically precise or not, was cemented in popular consciousness through Stuart Lake’s 1931 biography and subsequent films and television programs that depicted Earp carrying the distinctive long-barreled revolver.

Colt has produced Buntline Special variants of the Single Action Army periodically throughout the model’s modern production history, both as standard catalog offerings and as special edition commemoratives, catering to the enormous popular fascination with this particular configuration. The long barrel theoretically provides a longer sight radius and improved velocity compared to standard barrel lengths, though practical use of such a long-barreled revolver is challenging.

For collectors, a genuine early production long-barreled Colt SAA with documentation is a piece of profound historical and sentimental significance, while modern Colt Buntline productions are valued as aesthetic pieces and expressions of Western mythology.