Arms collecting and nostalgia

[Jim McDougall]

In collecting arms and armor, while all of us have many different reasons for what we collect, whether by field, category or other variation, there are often cases where we are drawn to an item simply from a fond memory or interest in our lives.

As a young lad in about 1955, like most boys my age, the 'new' phenomenon of television brought the venerable westerns and movies into the home, and the long remembered TV series such as 'Gunsmoke', 'Rawhide' and others created a genre and images that remain in our memories.

In these productions of course, the gun was of course the most prevalent trope present, and the ubiquitous 'six gun' was seemingly used by EVERY man.
While these Colt 'peacemakers' became the standard, there were certain exceptions that took things into another dimension. Examples such as the 'mares leg' cut down Winchester used by McQueen in "Wanted Dead or Alive"; the Winchester with loop ring lever action used by Chuck Conners in "The Rifleman" and the legendary "Buntline Special" allegedly used by Wyatt Earp in various productions.

For me however, always drawn to the odd or unusual, I was intrigued by the flap holstered Army pistols seen worn by the army soldiers in the west, with the case in mind of the series "Rin Tin Tin" (1954-59). These were so unusual as they did not look like the Colts of course, so had a unique charisma, and I found they were REMINGTONS.

In the offers made in cereal box sales gimmicks, in one case there were tiny pewter miniatures of the guns of the wild west. I cut out the coupon from the cereal box (to my dads dismay as the cereal poured out the back of the cut out) mailed my quarter and got one of these sets.

There in these tiny guns was the REMINGTON! It was my very favorite!
Several years ago, one of my brothers presented me with some of these tiny pewter guns apparently found among family stuff stored long ago.

This tiny piece of my childhood compelled me to find a REAL example of one of these Remington pistols. It was a tall order, these apparently somewhat scarce, and commanded prices far out of my budget. But one day, I found one which was not in the condition demanded by most collectors, but it served my purpose....not only historically, but nostagically.

The images are of the Remington, the tiny pewter gun of 70 years ago, and the reference book written on these, a limited run and apparently singular one on this topic.
Please note of course, 'Hollywood historicity' is not always 'reliable', but its fun to look at the 'uniforms'.


What I'd like to see is similar stories by others who might have been compelled by such weapons seen in movies, literature or other events in their past which inspired the desire to find such a weapon to have in possession.