Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott is at times a wishy–washy conservative but he does know how to provoke the Twitterati, even if that wasn’t his original intention. Recently, Abbott signed a resolution naming the 1847 Colt Walker pistol as the official handgun of Texas.
That should have been good news to gun–grabbers nationwide, since one of the many unique features of the Colt Walker is, according to Wikipedia, it’s “the most expensive single firearm ever sold at auction” with a price of $1.84 million for the only known Walker that was complete with its original case. Other examples without the case go for the relative bargain price of $920,000.
A weapon that expensive isn’t going to be stuck inside anyone’s waistband and we doubt if it will ever leave the house of its owner.
Only 1,100 pistols were ever produced. When you combine cost with scarcity and the fact it only holds six rounds, the Colt Walker is one of the few handguns of which gun control advocates should approve.
Naturally, they don’t, so we will leave them to stew in their own juice while we examine the handgun’s fascinating background.
The Colt Walker is a collaboration of three history–makers in the early USA. Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers contacted Sam Colt and requested he modify an earlier design to incorporate changes Walker wanted. Colt agreed and designed a six–shot black powder revolver to the captain’s specification that was produced by Eli Whitney, Jr. while he still worked for Colt and before Whitney invented the cotton gin.
Walker wanted a multi–shot handgun that was accurate and extremely powerful. He got his wish. The Colt Walker holds the record as the most powerful handgun ever issued by the US military. In the civilian market the pistol was “regarded as the most powerful commercially manufactured repeating handgun from 1847 until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935.”
Walker’s Colt has also been carried in the movies. In the remake of ‘True Grit’ (better Rooster, worse Mattie) the over–sized Colt Walker is lugged around by an under–sized Mattie. In the Academy Award–winning ‘Unforgiven’ one of the handguns recreates a problem with early Colt Walkers when it explodes in the hand of a gunman. And in ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ Clint Eastwood carried two Colt Walkers, although those particular guns may have been Hollywood 12–shooters.
The only unfortunate part of this saga — unless you were on the receiving end of a Colt Walker — involved Capt. Walker. During the Mexican War Walker served as a captain in the US Mounted Rifles and we presume he was pleased when his unit was issued the pistols he played such a large part in procuring. The sad part was he didn’t get to use his pistol very long. Capt. Walker was killed in the Battle of Huamantla in Tlaxcala, Mexico shortly after his handgun was issued.
Fortunately, his reputation the and the reputation of the handgun he designed live on. Even better, you can buy a copy of the Colt Walker for significantly less than $1 million. Excellent replicas are made by Uberti Firearms for less than $500.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.