The rangers were founded in 1823 when Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of Texas, employed ten men to act as rangers to protect 600 to 700 newly settled families who arrived in Mexican Texas following the Mexican War of Independence. While there is some discussion as to when Austin actually employed men as “rangers”, Texas Ranger lore dates the year of their organization to this event. The Texas Rangers were formally constituted in 1835, and in November, Robert McAlpin Williamson was chosen to be the first Major of the Texas Rangers. Within two years the Rangers comprised more than 300 men.
The Colt Walker was created in the mid-1840s in a collaboration between Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817â1847) and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814â1862), building upon the earlier Colt Paterson design. Walker wanted a handgun that was extremely powerful at close range. The Colt Walker holds a powder charge of 60 grains in each chamber, more than twice what a typical black powder revolver holds. It weighs 4 & 1â2 pounds unloaded, has a 9-inch barrel, and fires a .44 caliber conical and round ball.
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