While inventing a silencer that removed the sound of a gunshot had been attempted by many, the first commercially successful varieties were developed by Hiram Maxim.
There are only a few firearms whose legendary status is derived from the fact they can be defined by a single cartridge. One such handgun is the Smith & Wesson Model 29, which was never chambered for anything other than the .44 Mag.
A scene in an old Kirk Douglas movie has the actor playing an aging Sicilian don explaining an old tradition of the homeland to his son. Full of emotional respect for a particular firearm, the don explains where the gun came from and why it was made.