What happened to Richard Boone's gun from have gun will travel?

Answer 1

http://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-408211.html

gak May 1, 2010, 09:17 AM

I believe it is a Colt Single Action Army (SAA) - aka 1873 or informally "Peacemaker" - of 7.5" or "Cavalry" length--probably in .45 Colt (aka .45 Long Colt or LC). Although--over the years and currently--most are/were purchased in the other/shorter standard 4-3/4" and 5-1/2" lengths, 7.5" is not uncommon. It was the initial length adopted by the US Army in 1873 for the gun. This basic gun (w/o the fancy grips) is still produced by Colt--or obviously in the used market--for about $1200, available through Colt (new) and any number of vendors or private parties (new/used), or American-made replicas by USFA www.usfirearms.com. from $700-1200 (various finish levels) and Italian-made (Uberti via www.cimarron-firearms.com or www.taylorsfirearms.com among others or Pietta via www.emf-company.com and others)--for $400-700. Gripmakers such as www.gunfighter928.com and others can replicate the grips with the signature silver "knight" inlay. And a number of gun leather makers have "Paladin" or "Have Gun Will Travel" replica rigs.

More than you asked for, but .

Later Edit: Unless someone knows specifically otherwise, there is a chance that the specific gun used by "Paladin" for TV purposes was a Great Western, a US-made replica of the Colt SAA. GW came about originally in the mid-fifties to fill a void--especially for Hollywood--left by Colt which had ceased SAA production at the start of WWII. A lot of westerns (movies and TV) used these GWs. Colt re-started production in 1956, and by the early 60s, GW was history-- though I'm sure some guns lived on on Hollywood movie sets. (The name "Great Western" was resurrected by EMF for its Pietta-made guns several years ago). In any event, the Paladin gun was--or was "intended" to be--a Colt.

Water-Man

May 1, 2010, 09:21 AM

That is correct. It was a .45 Colt SAA custom made.

DPris May 1, 2010, 12:56 PM

"The" Paladin gun was actually more likely four Colts, and possibly a fifth.

There's info available that indicates four Colts were used on the show, one sold several years ago that traced back to Boone himself, and there's a fifth one in the Cody museum in Wyoming. The Cody gun may possibly have been one of the four.

Most of the people who could tell us which was what are dead.

But, safe to say that any & all were First Gen Colts, in various conditions.

Denis

aarondhgraham May 1, 2010, 02:55 PM

I met him when I was doing Cowboy Action Shooting in Riverside, CA in the early 90's.

He was a wrangler/stuntman for Have Gun Will Travel, The Deputy, and a few other shows I can't remember,,,

He said that on the HGWT set, there was one young kid whose responsibility was to follow Richard Boone around, pick up his gun, and hand it back to him whenever he dropped it,,,

Which apparently happened a lot.

He did say it wasn't Boone's fault so much as the extreme cutaway holster they had made for the show.

He had some great stories about the filming of those old series',,,

He even had an original Arvo Ojala gunbelt and holster set,,,

He said it was one of the rigs made for James Arness,,,

It did have Mr. Ojala's maker mark tooled on it,,,

And also has a J. A. on the lining in pen.

One time I think he was taking grief from the non-believers of his stories,,,

He brought a huge photo album with a much younger him,,,

And just about every 1950's cowboy star I ever saw,,,

I loved having a beer with him after the shoots.

DPris May 1, 2010, 03:20 PM

Info from someone who worked in a shop in California dealing with TV & movie guns at the time was that two of the four that came through were "A" guns (nice) and the other two were beaters. The A guns would have been used for close-ups & so on, the other two for long camera shots, backups & scenes where Paladin deliberately dropped the gun.

Denis

Answer 2

If I remember right it's on loan to the NRA museum in Virginia.