What do you think the most iconic revolver is?

The Model 10 was in most policeman's holsters for about 50 years. It went to war in World War Two and Korea. Hundreds of thousands of civilians owned them. Funny, it was Hermann Goering's favorite handgun. Think what you like of his politics, but he was a connoisseur of fine art.

I have each of these guns. The Python is the best shooter. I voted the SAA as the most iconic because it is.

Chiappa Rhino..... just kidding. Colt SAA ftw.

Long after the others are forgotten by most people the Colt .45 caliber Single Action Army will be what springs to mind whenever cowboys and gunfighters are thought of. The other three revolvers have no where near the significance in the imagination of Americans and other nationalities.

The Colt Single Action Army all the way. Nothing else comes close to the mystique, myth and legend that surrounds the SAA. The M&P is proflic but few people lay awake at night thinking about them. If they want one, they just go buy one. Like it or not, movies and TV have always had a great influence on people. Just like stories by gunwriters like Skeeter Skelton and Elmer Keith. The Colt SAA was made legend, a little by history, a little by the famous company that produced it and a little by Hollywood. The SAA represents the Old West. It was made famous through countless western TV shows and movies, from the earliest silent films like "The Great Train Robbery" to the plethora of TV series like "Bonanza" to the remake of "3:10 to Yuma". Nothing else comes close. The model 29 has Dirty Harry, the Python has The Walking Dead and I don't remember the M&P ever getting much press at all.

The SAA has been in almost continuous production since 1873 and has been replicated by companies like Great Western and Uberti since the 1950's. If a shooter is fortunate enough to own one, it is likely the crown jewel of his collection.

The SAA is also probably the most adorned handgun ever made. No other handgun has been the subject of so much engraving, custom stocks, fancy finishes and other custom touches.

The SAA is the most written-about handgun ever. I have yet to see a book dedicated to the model 10, model 29 or Python. Yet my personal library is rife with books about the Colt SAA.

Sorry but nothing else on the list can come close to all that.

That list makes it very difficult to choose one. I have a S&W model 10 and 2 Colt Pythons. I don't have a Colt SAA but I do have an original model Ruger Vaquero and that is close enough for my budget. The only one I don't have but do want is the S&W 29. If I absolutely had to choose it would be the Colt SAA, and a very close second the S&W model 10. I watched my share of westerns, played a lot of cowboys and Indians when I was a kid, considered joining SASS. I have carried my model 10 doing armed security work as well as my 6" Colt Python.

This poll should have been divided into SA and DA for better results.

The Colt SAA is very recognizable and a true icon, but so is the S&W K frame (10, 15, 19, etc.). Having to vote for one or the other doesn't tend to give accurate results.

I would vote SAA and K frame if there were two catagories.

Many correspondents allude to the S&W Model 10 Military & Police as if it were the epitome of DA revolvers, yet equally as well used was the Colt Official Police, in its various forms, Army Special, Model 1892, etc. To the uninitiated, one would have difficulty distinguishing between the two. So the S&W M&P doesn't have that distinctive appearance when compared to a Colt DA of the same era.

But no other revolver of the period closely resembles the Colt Single Action Army, the closest being the Remington rod ejector cartridge models.

Bob Wright

CornCob said:

.....................Funny, it was Hermann Goering's favorite handgun. Think what you like of his politics, but he was a connoisseur of fine art

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Among other things.

Bob Wright

No love for Webleys? They've been in service, in various incarnations, for 76 years.

Keep in mind that most of the folks responding to this Poll grew up in the USA watching US cowboy/gangster/police/war movies & TV shows. To many of them, Webleys don't look iconic, they just look odd.

No doubt about it, the Colt SAA is the most recognizable handgun on the planet IMHO.

While I really like both the S&W Model 29 and the Colt Python which I foolishly voted for without thinking "Iconic" I would have to say the Colt SAA.

Ron

I agree with one post here the Colt SAA, The P08 (Luger,) and the Colt 1911.

Although the snub nose detective specials are in lots of movies, a lot of different companies made and still make snub nose revolvers. The same can be said for the Model 10 like revolvers. With the exception of the distinctively recognizable S&W Model 29 (definately an icon) .44 magnum (with the long barrel,) and only because of the movie Dirty Harry, to the average person that knows little or nothing about guns my guess is most double action revolvers look like any other gun.

I do know for sure that although not a revolver the ugly Glock is definately a quickly recognized icon and represents the birth of modern high capacity tupperware (in general terms only of course.)

Nuth'en like a Colt SSA.. Colt 1911.. Colt DS.. and S&W Registered Magnum..


Man I like them oldies!

Deaf

How could it be anything other than the Peacemaker? I don't know anyone of my generation who grew up wanting a Model 10 or a Model 29 ... I grew up watching mostly Westerns (as I suspect most of us who came of age anytime between the '40s and the '60s).

While the Model 10, the 29, the Python are all institutions, for many more years the Colt SAA was THE revolver everyone recognized. If that's not the most iconic, I don't know what is. Yeah, we all saw Bogart with a Detective Special, the LA cop shows of the '50s and '60s with Model 10s, Dirty Harry and his Model 29, but everyone knew the "cowboy pistol."

The bloom came off the rose for me when Harry admitted to using a "light special" load in Magnum Force.

No love for Webleys? They've been in service, in various incarnations, for 76 years.

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& no Webely-Fosbery

Show a "non-gunny" most any brand of single action revolver - Colt, Ruger, Uberti, Remington, whatever - and ask him what it is, he'll probably say "Colt Peacemaker" or "Colt .45."

The other revolvers mentioned? Maybe "police special" or "Dirty Harry Gun" but I'm pretty sure after appearing in hundreds (or thousands?) of Westerns, the Colt SAA has become more iconic than any other revolver.

I voted Colt SAA. It is iconic because it is featured in nearly every western ever produced.

Without a doubt my vote is for the SAA. Really love shooting my Blackhawk and am very accurate with it. Over the years have shot a few old Colt SAA and there is nothing like it. Do love my 1911's also!

Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum and it's predecessor the Model 27.

Dang, all are certainly iconic. For me, I just have to go Model 29. And not just because of the Dirty Harry pictures, which are modern classics. It is a solid piece anyway you slice it and a fine example of a classic wheelgun. The .44 Magnum, while now dwarfed by other handcannons, is a very potent cartridge.

Beyond that, the SAA is actually likely more iconic here in the US of A. The other two have earned their place in the culture too. The Model 10 was the police revolver for a very long time indeed.

Oh and someone mentioned the Webley. Yah, I'm thinking that needs to be on the list too some place.

I'd put all S&W revolvers under the same category.