Haven't watched an episode of Bonanza in many years, although I see it is still on some cable channels? Watched it as a kid, never really paid much attention to whether or not the firearms were "period correct" back then. Didn't become a pedant until much later. ;O)
Now and then I'll be flippin' around the dial and catch a few minutes of some old western. Always makes me chuckle when they're not using the right arms, but that's how it was in the golden years of TV and B movie westerns.
One a few months ago, had Randolph Scott as a government agent during the Civil War and IIRC, looked like all of the movie lead slingers were using SAAs. And just about every cavalry vs injuns flick back then, had the troopers using M92s. There were exceptions, though. Apparently some movie directors did elect to go with the right equipment.
Near's I can tell, it was mostly the spaghetti westerns of the late 60s/early 70s that saw more attention paid to period correct firearms?
Probably because they doubled as Uberti ads?
Got my first Italian copy of the .36 caliber 1851 Navy Colt, around 1970. Still have it and it still works fine.
