Say “Old West six-gun” and most folks picture a single-action Colt on a cavalryman’s hip. That image isn’t wrong – but it’s incomplete. The late 1800s were an arms-race of ideas, and double-action (DA) revolvers were very much part of the frontier.
American makers were chasing European trends, remastering percussion-era DA concepts for the cartridge age, and selling them to cowboys, lawmen, gamblers, and anyone with cash for a sidearm.
Three models rose to the top in notoriety and numbers: Colt’s lithe Model 1877, Colt’s huskier Model 1878, and Smith & Wesson’s Frontier Double Action (the DA New Model No. 3). Together, they explain how the West actually shot.
Colt 1877: The Lightning And The Thunderer
Colt’s first DA cartridge revolver arrived in, naturally, 1877. Dealers quickly popularized nicknames: “Lightning” for the .38 Long Colt and “Thunderer” for the .41 Colt.
The frame was compact, the lines elegant, and the marketing irresistible.
In an era hungry for speed, a trigger you could stroke twice for two shots sounded like the future.
It sold like crazy for a reason: the 1877 pointed well, wore nicely on the belt, and promised faster follow-ups than any single-action.
Delicate Beauty, Fussy Mechanism
Then reality set in. The 1877’s action was a watchmaker’s puzzle – tiny parts, hair-thin springs, interlocking levers, and timing that drifted if you looked at it cross-eyed.
Many 1877s you see today are out of time, broken, or only “mostly working.” That wasn’t just the ravages of age; it was the design. Even period gunsmiths grumbled about how often they had to coax these little Colts back to life.
And yet, Colt turned out well over 160,000 of them between 1877 and 1909. The lesson? Most handguns are carried much, shot little – and the 1877 was easy to love until you started running it hard.
Who Carried The 1877?
Despite its fragility, serious men did carry it. Names like Tom Horn, Texas Ranger John B. Jones, Billy the Kid, and John Wesley Hardin are all tied to 1877s, which tells you some examples held up in real use.
Frontier folklore added embroidery, too. One oft-repeated yarn says a .41-caliber Thunderer was bored out to .44-40. In truth, the 1877’s petite frame simply isn’t big enough to swallow that cartridge safely.
Romantic tales aside, the 1877 was a phenomenon because it was light, fast in the hand, and fashionable – a pocket thoroughbred for the trail or the saloon.
Colt 1878: The Frontier Workhorse
Colt learned quickly and came back in 1878 with a very different animal. The Model 1878 is beefy, straightforward, and vastly more robust – a true DA companion to the famed Single Action Army (SAA).
Its nickname in period ads, “Omnipotent,” wasn’t entirely hyperbole. Chamberings mirrored the SAA’s menu – .45 Colt, .44-40, and other frontier staples – and production ran into the tens of thousands through 1905.
If the 1877 was a delicate thoroughbred, the 1878 was a ranch horse that ate whatever was in the trough and still worked before dawn.
Built Like A Peacemaker
The 1878’s kinship with the SAA wasn’t just conceptual. Cylinders were the same size; barrels and ejector-rod housings even interchange with the Peacemaker.
Loading and unloading felt familiar, too: swing open the gate, feed rounds one at a time, poke empties with the rod. Old hands followed the same safety ritual – load one, skip one, then load four – so the hammer rested on an empty chamber.
For a single-action crowd dabbling in double-action, the 1878’s “Peacemaker manners” were a feature, not a bug.
On The Firing Line: How The 1878 Shoots
The 1878’s double-action pull can be surprisingly smooth for its age, and the gun rewards a straight, continuous stroke with honest accuracy.
No, it’s not a target revolver by modern standards, but it points naturally and recovers fast – two qualities that matter infinitely more when a fight is measured in heartbeats.
More to the point, it keeps running. If you wanted a DA you could actually shoot hard on the frontier, this was the Colt to buy.
Smith & Wesson’s Frontier Double Action: The Top-Break Speedster
Meanwhile, Smith & Wesson went its own way with the DA New Model No. 3 – often called the Frontier Double Action.
Made from 1881 into the early 20th century, it lived most often in .44 Russian (the company’s house cartridge), though a healthy run was built in .44-40 for customers who wanted ammunition commonality with their Winchesters.
The S&W looks downright Victorian to modern eyes, all graceful sweeps and latchwork, but on a dusty street it had a killer advantage: speed.
Faster To Load, Tougher To Shoot
Unlike the Colt gate-loaders, the S&W is a top-break. Thumb the latch, hinge the gun open, and an automatic star ejector flings all six cases at once.
Reloads are a handful of cartridges and a snap of the action away – lightning quick compared to poking out empties one by one. The trade-off is the trigger: many examples have a heavier, longer DA pull than a good 1878. On a square range you’ll notice; with adrenaline thundering in your ears, you likely won’t.
Either way, as a fighting tool, the S&W’s fast ejection and reloading could be worth their weight in gold.
What Cowboys Actually Chose
Numbers tell an interesting story. The dainty 1877 outsold the sturdier 1878 by a wide margin. That seems backward – until you remember the buyer. Many frontier handguns lived in desk drawers, saddle bags, or vest pockets, carried “just in case.”
For the infrequent shooter, the 1877’s compact size and racy reputation were irresistible. Working lawmen, express guards, and hard travelers tended to prize sturdiness and stopping power, which points you toward the 1878 or the S&W DA in .44-class cartridges.
Availability mattered, too; local hardware stocks and ammo commonality with rifles nudged choices at least as much as magazine ads and barroom chatter.
The End Of The Line: Why These Designs Faded
By century’s end, both companies pivoted. The solid-frame, swing-out-cylinder revolver (think Colt New Service, S&W Hand Ejector) proved stronger, simpler to keep in time, and easier to service.
Top-breaks were elegant but mechanically busy; delicate DAs were fast but unforgiving of grit and wear.
The new breed dominated the 20th century for police and military use. Our three frontier DAs slid into nightstands and nostalgia—useful, beloved, but evolutionary cul-de-sacs.
Choosing Your Old West Double-Action Today
For shooters and collectors now, these guns demand different kinds of respect. A mechanically sound 1878 in a common chambering can still make a satisfying range companion with sensible loads.
The S&W Frontier DA is a joy to run simply for the top-break magic – there’s nothing like seeing six empties geyser out together. The 1877, meanwhile, is best treated as a fragile heirloom; many are non-functional or one trigger pull from becoming so.
If you’re shopping, factor parts availability, smithing know-how, and ammunition realities (.44 Russian can be a handloader’s game) into the price tag.
Why These Three Still Matter
Beyond steel and springs, these revolvers capture a turning point. The West was modernizing – railroads, telegraphs, barbed wire – and so were its weapons.
Double-action promised speed, convenience, and a glimpse of tomorrow, even as single-action tradition held stubbornly on. The Colt 1877 flirted with innovation’s edge and paid the price; the Colt 1878 harnessed brawn and familiarity; the S&W Frontier DA bet on fast handling and logistics.
Together they map the frontier’s messy, human compromise between what’s ideal on paper and what actually works in mud, dust, and fear.
The Trio Every Cowboy Knew
If you were riding herd, guarding payroll, or dealing faro under a kerosene lamp, chances are you knew at least one of these double-actions – by sight, by reputation, or by the weight on your belt.
The 1877 was the pretty one that promised speed. The 1878 was the big-boned partner that kept its promises. The Smith & Wesson was the gentleman sprinter that reloaded before anyone could count to three.
Call them the three double-action revolvers every Old West cowboy “owned,” if only in the shared culture of the frontier. They were the other six-guns of the West – feisty, flawed, fast – and they helped write the story as surely as any Peacemaker ever did.
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Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.