The revolver and the automatic pistol are now such commonplace guns that it seems unthinkable there was ever a time when they did not exist. Yet until the middle of the 19th century the pistol was regarded as no fit weapon for a soldier - suitable only for acts of highway robbery or affairs of honour. Its unreliability left many a would-be robber empty-handed and many a duellist unscathed. All this changed with the legendary Colonel Colt and the revolver, but contrary to the stories in the Westerns, he was not alone in bringing about this revolution in the design of what was to become every soldier's close companion.