Moviegoers of 1950 enjoyed a motion picture with a unique plot twist. Rather than a tale of the trials and tribulations of a hero, we were treated to the travels and transfers of a gun. A big-budget Western starring Jimmy Stewart leading a large cast of well-known actors, “Winchester ’73” treated the gun as though it were a character. Its behavior (accuracy) established in the opening scene, succeeding scenes showed the gun used and misused, bought and sold, as it moved from owner to owner. An interesting story and well told, the film was fictional—the gun was not.