Peacemaker

The Colt Peacemaker is the popular name for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, the most iconic and historically significant handgun of the American West and one of the most recognizable firearms in world history. Introduced in 1873 and adopted by the United States Army as its standard service revolver—replacing the earlier percussion revolvers with a design chambering the modern .45 Colt centerfire cartridge—the Peacemaker earned its nickname through its widespread adoption by lawmen, settlers, cattlemen, gamblers, and outlaws on the American frontier during the decades following its introduction.

The Peacemaker’s single-action mechanism requires the hammer to be manually cocked before each shot, a design that rewards practiced, deliberate use. The loading gate on the right side of the frame allows cartridges to be loaded one at a time into the cylinder, and an ejector rod mounted below the barrel punches spent cases out individually. While this loading system is slow by modern standards, it was adequate for the era and the practical demands of frontier use, and the pistol’s mechanical simplicity made it extremely reliable and easy to maintain in field conditions far from skilled gunsmiths.

The Peacemaker’s ergonomics are exceptional by any standard—the characteristic plow-handle grip fits naturally in the hand, the balance is superb, and the mechanical purity of the design allows a skilled shooter to fire rapidly and accurately in a way that the double-action revolvers of the same era could not quite match in expert hands. These qualities, combined with the pistol’s historical associations with figures including Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid, have made it the defining artifact of American frontier mythology.

Colt has produced the Single Action Army continuously since 1873, with the exception of a period during World War II and its aftermath, and it remains in production today as both a working revolver and a collector’s icon.