Wyatt Earp biographer Stuart N. Lake popularized the myth of the Buntline Special.
In his highly fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, published in 1931, he wrote that Earp and four other lawmen—Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett and Neal Brown—were each presented with a customized revolver with a 12-inch-long (300 mm) barrel.
However, according to some other accounts, on October 26, 1881, the day of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp carried an 1869 .44 caliber Smith & Wesson American Model with an 8-inch barrel.
Wyatt Earp biographer Stuart N. Lake popularized the myth of the Buntline Special. In his highly fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, published in 1931, he wrote that Earp and four other lawmen—Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett and Neal Brown—were each presented with a customized revolver with a 12-inch-long (300 mm) barrel. However, according to some other accounts, on October 26, 1881, the day of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp carried an 1869 .44 caliber Smith & Wesson American Model with an 8-inch barrel.
Colt Single Action Army