This has always been one of my pet peeves also. There are many westerns I otherwise enjoy which show a blatant disregard for historical accuracy when it comes to firearms. Of course, many westerns are more about mythology than fact, but I've never understood how John Ford, and John Wayne for that matter, both of whom had such an obvious love for the West, could pay so little attention to such essential props. The number of Winchester 1892s and 1894s being wielded by cowboy and Indian alike in tales supposedly taking place in the late 1860s and 70s is amazing. I suspect the practical explanation is that there were so many of those rifles and Colt SAAs lying around the studios, and so few cap and ball revolvers and other guns with lower production numbers, and where manufacture ceased at a much earlier date. A much wider variety of accurate reproductions has probably helped matters in more recent years. It makes you appreciate all the more the movies that do pay attention to the guns, although they are few and far between. TT
