Peacemaker Name

[Reverend Recoil]

How did the Colt 1873 single-action Army revolver come to be called the Peacemaker?  Was it named by Colt?

[Scibaer]

Yep it was named by Colt. It was the best and newest design at the time, and preformed flawlessly so they figured it would stop any fight, if used in a gun battle, threre fore the peace maker ...

i saw that on Guns of the World TV series

[whbonney26]

Yep it was named by Colt. It was the best and newest design at the time, and preformed flawlessly so they figured it would stop any fight, if used in a gun battle, threre fore the peace maker ...

i saw that on Guns of the World TV series

Colt never actually named it the Peacemaker. Its actual name is the 1873 Single Action Army.

[Reverend Recoil]

"Colt never actually named it the Peacemaker. Its actual name is the 1873 Single Action Army. "

That's what I thought.  Who then, came up with the Peacemake name?  Does anybody know?

[whbonney26]

"Colt never actually named it the Peacemaker. Its actual name is the 1873 Single Action Army. "

That's what I thought.  Who then, came up with the Peacemake name?  Does anybody know?

I think it just got the name due to its popularity with law enforcement and the punch the .45 packed over most of the other calibers in the period.

[kid buckskin]

In a book that is in my partners store it was about single action pistols and long rifles of the 1800's it starts in 1847 with the paterson and ends sometime in the late 1890's, this book has 16 chapters and all but 6 are about samule colt, in the book it has quotes from sam him self also quotes him saing I will call the single action army 1873 the model p (peacemaker)

[Fingers McGee]

In a book that is in my partners store it was about single action pistols and long rifles of the 1800's it starts in 1847 with the paterson and ends sometime in the late 1890's, this book has 16 chapters and all but 6 are about samule colt, in the book it has quotes from sam him self also quotes him saing I will call the single action army 1873 the model p (peacemaker)

Nope, I don't think so.  Col Colt died in Jan 1862, long before the SAA was even dreamed up.

IIRC collectors started calling the SAA the Model P because the production records for the 1st Gens were entered in the P labeled ledger at Colt.  The company started identifying them using a P prefixed model number with the second Gens.

[shunka]

Funny you should ask -
I was reading about this very thing in the Fall 2010 issue of "Guns of the Old West"

in the article by Bob "Jayhawker" Argenbright titled "1892 Colt SAA .45 LC" he writes about the "Colt Allies"

paraphrasing his article -
the "Colt Allies" was a consortium of 5 very large retailers that became Colt's 5 Major Distributors. The Colt Allies received special pricing and in return produced all of Colt's major adverting at no cost to Colt. Large deliveries of Colt firearms were delivered directly to these "Allies" who then sold and delivered them to retailers all over the country.

Apparently the names Peacemaker (for the 1873 SAA) ,  Rainmaker (.32 1877 DA), Lightning (.38 1877 DA),  Thunderer (.41 1877 DA),  and Omnipotent ( .45 1878 D.A. in), etc were names given to Colt guns by the Colt Allies in their adverts.

I found the following here http://rock-island-auction.ammoland.com/3670.html about the Omnipotent:

""OMNIPOTENT" designation was created by Benjamin Kittredge of Cincinnati, Ohio who had Colt apply the marking to .45 caliber Model 1878 revolvers sold by his firm. The "Omnipotent" etched panel deserves distinction as the only non-caliber marking ever etched on any Colt model other than the famous "Colt Frontier Six Shooter" which referred to the 44-40 caliber.Colt shipped .45 caliber Model 1878 DA revolvers with "OMNIPOTENT" markings to Kittredge from August 1878-May 1882 and this revolver was in the first of 5 nickel plated revolvers shipped to Kittredge in August of 1878. An estimated 154 Model 1878 DA .45 caliber revolvers were manufactured with these unique markings. Surviving "OMNIPOTENT" marked Model 1878 revolvers are rare and very desirable. The acid-etched "OMNIPOTENT" marking is in an oval panel on the left side of the barrel"

It seems Kittredge was responsible for other terms as well.

The "allies" apparently disbanded sometime around 1880. After that many of the major hardware stores purchased firearms directly from Colt then resold to smaller stores.

an internet search finds they were
Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, New York
H & D Folsum, New York
J.P. Moore's & Sons, New York
Spies & Kissam, New York
B. Kittredge & Company, Cincinnati

yhs
shunka

[.22-5-40]

Howdy, Coulda been because when somethin got shot with that big slug....It got peaceful real quick!