“Well, you gonna pull those pistols or whistle ‘Dixie’?” Moments after delivering this line in the 1976 film “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, Clint Eastwood (playing the titular character) deftly draws a brace of Colt revolvers and opens fire. With assistance from his Cherokee friend, Lone Waite (played by late Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Dan George), Wales employs his pair of Colts to dispatch a group of Union soldiers who are hesitatingly preparing to attempt to take the infamous outlaw into custody. One of the guns in this iconic scene was an 1847 Walker which is set to be sold at an auction that will be held next month, August 26th-27th.

“Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.”

According to a press release from the auction company, the Prop Store, they anticipate that this iconic Josey Wales firearm will likely sell for somewhere between $40,000 and $60,000. They describe it as a “Screen-Matched Blank-Firing Hero Colt Walker-Style Revolver”, with screen-matching meaning that it has been definitively confirmed to be an actual prop that was used in the film and even the minute details can be compared to frames from the movie to verify this. From the photos here, you can clearly see that this particular model does indeed feature many exquisite small details.

A closeup of the Colt’s cylinder highlights the intricate detailing needed to make a “hero”-grade prop convincing on screen.

A look at the other side of this notable Colt Walker prop.

The Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDB) has this to say about the silver screen magic behind Wales’ Colt Walker:

…While not supposed to be known by the audience, the guns are converted to fire metallic cartridges instead of firing percussion cap and ball, since this it is safer to use blanks than firing blackpowder blank shot. While some of the guns are anachronistically seen with conventional metallic conversion kits with ejector rods and loading gates, these guns lack these features to try to hide its conversion. In some scenes though, the guns are non-firing models which do have percussion nipples so the audience can be tricked into thinking the guns are a percussion only. The famous image in which Wales poses with his Colt Walkers is a good example.

Eastwood/Wales’ famous pose referenced by IMFDB, which prominently features his Colt revolvers.What do you think, movie buffs and Western aficionados? Would you like to own this piece of film history? Do you have roughly sixty grand laying around that you don’t need, and do you plan to bid on this revolver? If so, please let us know! And even if not, hopefully, you still find it interesting, and maybe it inspires you to go back and re-watch old Westerns or some of Eastwood’s other iconic films. And if your gun budget is a bit more reasonable than this Josey Wales prop requires, thankfully there are plenty of other, less expensive wheelgun options for you to choose. See you at the range!

Photos courtesy of Prop Store.