Here Are Ten Guns That Were Significant In The History Of The Old West

I really can’t think of any kid growing up in the United States (at least in my generation) that didn’t just love stories and films about the Old West. When I was a small child, I remember my folks buying me a set of cap guns and a set of matching holsters, it was awesome!

Playing ‘cowboys and indians’ was a favorite thing to do with most children during the 1950’s and 60’s . And what made it really fun, were the (toy) guns we used to play with, it made every time we played, seem that much more real just like in the ‘Old West’!

About the Old West:

The American frontier, also known as the Old West, popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few western territories as states in 1912 (except Alaska, which was not admitted into the Union until 1959).

This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as “Manifest Destiny” and the historians’ “Frontier Thesis”.

The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining periods of American national identity.

The archetypical Old West period is often cited by historians to have occurred between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the 1890 U.S. census.

In the video below, you will see some of these guns that were used from just prior to the Civil War and of the many years afterwards. Firearm technology advanced rapidly from 1860 on up to the end of the 19th century. Most of these types of firearms (or ‘Cowboy Guns’ as they are called today)  are still popular in the 21st century, that’s what kind of impact they had on the world.

I hope you will enjoy the video as much as I did!

H/T – Wikipedia