In several of John Wayne's westerns I noticed that he seemed to carry the same 6 gun. It had a yellowish colored hand grip. Is this my imagination or did he have a favorite gun prop?

Answer 1

Actually there is information on this very question in a recent American Rifleman article. The grips were made of Calalin, I believe it is Bakelite. The article says that Wayne liked them so much he actually tea stained them himself to replicate old ivory. Although he did use other Colts from Stembridge, the supplier of movie firearms, and at least one had those type of grips, in most movies he used his own Colt with the Catalin yellow grips. He also had finger grooves in the left grip. The interesting thing about the gun is that it was a combination of several Colts. Originally a Bisley, it had been altered by adding a regular SAA grip and the triggerguard had been enlarged, probably to better fit the Duke's large finger and make it easier to twirl. And actually it is not a .45 as thought, but a .44-40. He gifted this gun and his holster and belt to an employee and it is now in a private collection. It really is an interesting look when you see a good picture of it. I would like to build one to go with my own Duke gun rig. I suspect the Duke's own Colt would be worth 6 figures.