When Hugh O’Brian played Wyatt, the guns were Buntline Specials. Guess real life was different.
Wyatt Earp was Not a Gunslinger—he was a Lawman and a good Republican. He did have a long barreled Colt pistol he used more to club people over the head than shoot—He called it the Buntline Special but no evidence that Ned Buntline ever heard of it (if he had he would have used it in one of his dime novels). Now Doc Holiday—The Dentist from Hell—was a gunsinger! Only curtailed his murderious habits out of his deep friendship with Wyatt. But at OK Corral he was deputized.
From what I read years ago, Buntline gave several of the lawmmen from Dodge City the long barreled pistols.
After Buntline left, the pistols were so cumbersome the men had the barrels cut down to 4 3/4 inches to make them easier to handle.
Anyone remember what Bat Masterson used to do when he left Dodge for New York? He had so many requests for one of his guns, he started buying all he could find in NY pawn shops and would give them away as the “one he used in Dodge”.
That was before the Sullivan Law went into effect.