POTD: Hollywood’s Hero Gun – Buster Scruggs Screen Used Uberti 1873

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a Single Action Army that never went west, it went to a movie set. This is a Taylor’s & Co. Uberti Model 1873 Cattleman in 45 Colt, documented as the hero gun Tim Blake Nelson carried as Buster Scruggs in the Coen Brothers’ 2018 film.

Here’s the part people miss about Western films: almost none of the revolvers on screen are Colts anymore. Original Single Action Armies are too valuable, too old, and too hard to replace when a prop gets dropped. Uberti has been building 1873 clones in Gardone Val Trompia since the 1960s, and by now they are the default for anything with cowboys in it. Rent them by the pair, one hero gun for close ups and a backup, and hand them to an armorer.

The armorer for this segment was Joey Dillon, a professional gun spinner who works in film and coached the flashy handling in the cantina scene. That kind of work gets rehearsed with a real revolver in hand, and this one was set up for it. The ejector rod head has been ground down slightly, and it shows that way on screen. Guns that get spun and twirled tend to pick up little modifications like that.

The dead man’s hand Scruggs refuses to play, aces and eights, comes from Wild Bill Hickok’s last poker game in Deadwood in 1876. The Coens did their homework on that one.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“‘Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ Hero Gun Uberti Single Action Army.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/112/ballad-of-buster-scruggs-hero-gun-uberti-single-action-army. Accessed 31 July 2026.

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