Colt Manufacturing Company LLC has been supplying high-powered guns since its 1855 founding by inventor Samuel Colt, who successfully designed and marketed America's first wildly popular revolvers. His weapons fostered the shift from the single-shot pistol during the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Here are seven facts about the company, including examples of how the name Colt .45 has seeped into popular culture.
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1. The Mexican-American War and the Civil War provided huge boosts in the early years of the company. Capt. Samuel H. Walker, having seen a prototype submitted to the U.S. government in 1846, suggested that Colt make the weapon in a larger caliber. The result was "The Walker." The company received an order for 1,000 pistols. Colt pistols were also the preferred weapons during the Civil War.
2. The Colt Single Action Army handgun, better known as the Colt .45, arrived in 1873, 11 years after Colt's death. Dubbed "The Peacemaker" and "The gun that won the West," the Colt .45 was the standard-issue revolver for the U.S. military from 1873-92, according to the
History channel.
3. In the novel "True Grit," 14-year-old Mattie Ross used a Colt Dragoon, a .44-caliber, 1848 model designed for the U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles, also known as "Dragoons." She switched to a Colt Walker in the 1969 film starring John Wayne, and then went back to a Dragoon for the 2010 Coen brothers' remake.
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4. The Houston Astros originally entered Major League Baseball as the expansion Houston Colt .45s, in 1962, and played in Colt Stadium. The name was changed three years later to reflect the city's role in the U.S. Space Program, according to
MLB.com.
5. Colt .45 was the name of a 1950 Western starring the legendary Randolph Scott. The plot centers on a gun salesman who hunts down a thief who stole new Colt .45 pistols, "the finest guns ever made," then went on a robbery and killing spree. For the film, .44-caliber Colts were used.
The movie also loosely served as the basis of a television series starring Wayde Preston, which ran from 1957-60.
6. The "Colt 45" is one of the finishing moves of professional wrestler Colt Cabana,
and is described as a "double underhook backbreaker."
7. The Colt 45 brand of malt liquor, introduced by the National Brewing Company (now part of
Pabst Brewing Co.) in the spring of 1963 is not named for the revolver but after Baltimore Colts running back Jerry Hill, who wore No. 45.
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