Inventor. Business Tycoon. Innovator. Manufacturing Pioneer. Sam Colt is an icon of American history. And so is his storied and legendary company whose numerous design and manufacturing achievements include “The Peacemaker,” the Single Action Army Revolver often referred to as “The Gun That Won the West.”

The list of famous Colt owners reads like a who’s who of history legends, including the likes of Wild Bill Hickok, ‘Doc’ Holliday, Robert E. Lee, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett, Buffalo Bill, Teddy Roosevelt, General George Patton, the Texas Rangers, the Confederate and Union Armies of the American Civil War, the US Calvary and private citizens and pioneers settling the American frontier.

The company endured the death of its visionary founder and went on to weather the storms of national economic downturns, civil and world wars, labor disputes, The Great Depression, a devastating factory fire, patent disputes and the never-ending evolution of technology and public perceptions of firearms.

All of this, only to emerge as a legendary American entrepreneurial success story. What was true in the days of the Old West is still true today—Colt firearms are the standard of quality, craftsmanship and accuracy other manufacturers attempt to copy but never replicate.