POTD: The Colt Model 1878 – When Colt Built Shotguns

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have something most folks don’t picture when they hear “Old West Colt.” This is a Colt Model 1878, a side-by-side hammer shotgun, and yes, the same Hartford company famous for the Peacemaker spent about a decade building high-end double guns too.

The Model 1878 ran from 1878 to 1889 and sat at the very top of Colt’s catalog as the most expensive thing they made. This was Colt going straight at the premium Parker crowd: Damascus barrels, a casehardened receiver covered in scrollwork, and just about any grade or option you wanted by special order. Around 22,000 were built, sold mostly through the big arms wholesalers of the day. This one is a Grade 6, a high-grade gun that shipped through Hartley and Graham in New York.

Here’s the irony. Colt and Winchester had a quiet understanding that each would stay out of the other’s lane, Colt with handguns and Winchester with repeaters, so a Colt shotgun was a bit of a side venture to begin with. And in the end the 1878 got beaten not by Parker but by cheaper competition. Buyers kept choosing lower price over Colt quality, and by 1889 Colt walked away from the shotgun business for good.

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!

“Factory Engraved Colt Model 1878 Grade 6 Double Barrel Shotgun with Factory Letter.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/487/factory-engraved-colt-1878-grade-6-shotgun-with-factory-letter. Accessed 3 July 2026.

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