The Colt Walker is the more successful followup to the Colt Paterson 1836, created by Samuel Colt in partnership with Samuel Walker for the Mexican-American War. Designed as a pistol for cavalry, who kept their pistols on their horse, for use against horses, the Colt Walker is physically large and made for a powerful load that is still the most powerful handgun ever issued by the US (even after the invention of smokeless powder). Only a little over a thousand were produced, but the high power combined with the fragile design led to only 191 being turned in at the end of the war with only 82 in serviceable condition (these numbers may have been inflated by soldiers misreporting their status to steal the expensive pistols). The Colt Walker would be succeeded by the far more successful, and much smaller, Colt Dragoon. In 2021 the Colt Walker would be named the state firearm of Texas.
The historical importance, relatively low production run, high loss rate, and power mean original Colt Walkers are rare and extremely valuable (one sold for 1.84 million USD in 2018), though reproductions are readily available. The most obvious external difference in these reproductions is the blued cylinder, which was in the white on the originals. A few 19th century European copies of the Walker were produced, and some of these have appeared in older films.
