I always thought that using a Colt Revolver was mythology in western movies. Interesting to read that the butt has numerous dents from using it as a hammer.
The article reminds me of story told long ago about a teen friend’s beater car. Everything was worn out and had to be replaced. His Dad advised, “Son, you’d best overhaul that car by jacking up the radiator cap and driving a new one underneath.”
The movies built a mythology about everyone in the old west carrying a Colt revolver, especially a Colt Single Action. Nothing could be further from the truth. Probably only about 15% of the guns used in the old west were Colt Single Actions. With less than 200,000 manufactured between 1973 and 1900 (and 44,000 of those being made for the US Military), they were a minority of the guns used in the old west.
Many people preferred the Colt Thunderer and Lightning or the Smith & Wesson double action revolvers, or the stronger Remington or faster loading S&W Schofield Single Actions. A large majority could not afford these expensive large bore guns and opted for the smaller caliber guns made by Harrington & Richardson and other lesser known makers in .22 rimfire to .38 S&W, Remington, and Colt Calibers. Even catalog sales did a large business in store brand guns made by various makers. A cheap firearm could be had for as low as $2 from mail order, while a basic Colt SAA would be $14.95 to $19.95 depending on options. A lot of people made do with the older percussion models left over from the Civil War, or paid a few dollars to have them converted to cartridge.
A factory worker was paid around a dollar a day, so your looking at almost three weeks of a standard workers' wages to buy a premium handgun, or two days for a cheap one. (It's not so much different today, so the amount of labor one has to put in to buy a premium handgun is still about the same!)
The smaller guns were certainly cheaper to push ammo through than the heavier bore guns. . . and they were lighter to carry. Their down side was stopping power in blackpowder loadings and barrel lengths.
The ideal horseman's/cowboy's combination was a Winchester rifle in .44-40 WCF (Winchester Center Fire) with a revolver in the same caliber so you did not have to buy and carry two different type of ammunition. However, there were different makes offering similar solutions in various calibers. You did need to be aware of what were popular calibers that might be stocked in general stores or gun shops in the areas you might be traveling through. Period hand loading sets were available in some calibers so the obscure cartridges could be reused.
One HUGE myth Hollywood created was the cool looking gunslinger's drop down holster with the thong tied around the thigh and the hammer thong that keeps the gun from falling out as the hero does his fights and falls. That NEVER existed in the Old West. . . such fancy fast draw holster rigs were a creation of the Hollywood movie studio costume departments in the 1930s.
Old time holsters were usually high up on the waist at the belt-line, seldom low slung, and usually pretty sloppily hung, and hardly ever tied down to the thigh. Why? Very few people EVER fought a quick draw gun fight! The holsters were usually on a single belt, the one the gunman used to hold up his pants. If they did have a secondary gun belt, it was usually a straight belt that was merely longer than his waist measurement. They were unlikely to be tooled. Many holsters were old modified military holsters repurposed to civilian use with the weather flaps cut off.
When I was in high school around 50 years ago or so. . . my history teacher was a scholar of the old west. He brought in a newspaper from Dodge City, Kansas, from 1886 in which a typical gunfight was described in an editorial.
It seems that two cowboys came into town to spend their week's earnings in a night of gambling, ladies of the evening, and drinking. At some time during the festivities the two got into a very heated argument about some subject that could only be settled by gunfire. They were going to go at it right there in the saloon, but one of the ladies they were consorting with, with the help of the bartender, persuaded them to take their dispute out into the street.
These two heatedly faced off, standing just ten feet apart, and proceeded to "argue" their differences with multiple discussions from their limited arsenal vocabulary using their revolvers, stopping only intermittently to reload when they ran out of bullets.
Sixty-seven shots later, having settled the matter to their mutual satisfaction, if not having run out of ammunition, or perhaps forgot what they had been arguing about in the first place, the two decided to reel back inside inside the saloon and continue their carousing. In the Saloon is where the constabulary found them singing in each other's arms companionably to arrest them for disturbing the peace and also for the collateral damage they had done during their argument.
Although neither inebriated gunfighter sustained any damage in the melee of flying bullets, two horses, the general store windows across the street, the façade of a dry goods shop, a milliners, a new hardware store sign, and a cow were unintended casualties of their black powder discussion. The owners of said property were very displeased.