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It was wielded by famous lawmen like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Bill Tilghman, as well as outlaws such as Henry McCarty (a.k.a Billy the Kid) and John Wesley Hardin. It was easily the most popular pistol in the American West. Still, it was widely praised for its balance, ergonomics, simplicity, and the excellent stopping power of the. The SAA had some drawbacks it was much slower to reload than the contemporary Smith & Wesson Schofield revolver (a top-break design), and difficult to fire rapidly due to its single-action mechanism. Colt also offered the pistol on the civilian market. The Army promptly adopted the new revolver as the new standard-issue sidearm. It utilized an improved single-action mechanism coupled with a greatly-improved frame design.
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In 1873, Colt submitted a new pistol to the U.S. Beginning in 1865, the conversion kit was applied to guns on the assembly line, resulting in the Colt Open-Top revolver. During the American Civil War, Colt began offering the after-market Richards-Mason Conversion Kit for the 1860 Army, which allowed the pistol to fire the recently-invented metallic cartridge. Numerous black powder designs saw great success over the next 25 years, including the Paterson, Dragoon, 1851 Navy, and 1860 Army models. Colt's Patent Firearms Company first began manufacturing single-action revolvers in 1841.