The single best, and most economical arm for hunting and defense in the Old West was the side by side, double-barreled shotgun. Scores of thousands of these sidehammer scatterguns were a mainstay to settlers, miners, ranchers, gunfighters, and virtually anyone who needed a weapon. In times of civil unrest, many lawmen considered the scattergun as the best town tamer and express companies especially realized the value of these smoothbores and armed their messengers with them. They each knew the threat of scattered shot from a shotgun's blast had a greater chance of dissuading an unruly crowd or a road agent, than would the single projectile from a rifle or pistol. Cimarron's 1878 Coach Gun, inspired by an original in Cimarron's collection, features a 20-inch barreled model, capable of handling 3-inch shotshells, with the traditional exposed side hammers, a pistol grip stock and schnabble forearm, blued barrels and a color case hardened receiver. When you ride shotgun, ride with a Cimarron 1878 Coach Gun.