Colt Single Action Army

The Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Peacemaker, is an American six-shot revolver designed by William Mason and manufactured by Colt's Manufacturing Company beginning in 1873, adopted the same year as the standard sidearm of the United States Army and chambered originally for the powerful .45 Colt cartridge. Its simple, rugged single-action mechanism, requiring the hammer to be manually cocked before each shot, and its reputation for reliability under harsh field conditions made it enormously popular with soldiers, lawmen, outlaws and settlers across the American West in the decades following its introduction, cementing its status as the archetypal firearm of that period in popular memory. Colt has manufactured the Single Action Army, with interruptions, for well over a century, and the design remains in production today for collectors, cowboy action shooters and enthusiasts of its historical form.