Old West soul meets sci fi hardware. Five guns that carry cowboy attitude into tomorrow while staying fun, functional, and unapologetically weird.
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Meet the Space Cowboy Guns Old West Style With Future Flair
Some people call me the space cowboy. That is what we are talking about today. The gun industry is small but massive enough to satisfy seemingly every small niche. This includes meshing old with new to give us something unique. Today, we will look at the meshes of old and new that give us something that would arm a space cowboy.
What is a space cowboy? It is literally what it sounds like. A fictional mesh of sci fi and the Old West. The guns on this list call to mind that vibe or motif. They do not always make the most sense and might not be the most optimal gun for modern self defense. Several are expensive, and some are just fun gun novelties, but they inspire that space cowboy motif.
Chiappa Rhino Bottom Chamber Bite and Low Bore Axis
The Italian made Chiappa Rhino perfectly invokes the idea of the Space Cowboy. It is a revolver unlike any other. Even at first glance, the gun invokes a futuristic appearance that perfectly encapsulates old and new to create a unique little gun. The looks are the angles and corners that make it unique.
It is more than a look. The name Rhino comes from the height of the front sight and integrated barrel rib that is necessary for a sight picture. The Chiappa Rhino barrel aligns with the cylinder’s bottom chamber. This is one of the few times low bore axis makes sense. It is placed so low that the recoil does not flip up as much as it propels backward.
The Rhino series comes in .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .40 S&W, and 9mm. Depending on the barrel length, you can get a rail or two. On the four inch models, you get a light or laser rail. On the 6 inch variants, you get an optic rail. The Chiappa Rhino is a double action revolver with a false hammer. The exposed hammer is a linkage to activate the internal, unseen hammer.
The Rhino series is the perfect sidearm for the cowboy exploring the moon, searching through Mars’s mines, or cleaning up a sleepy town on Saturn.
Standard Manufacturing DP-12 Double Barrel Bullpup Power
When you think of cowboys and shotguns, what do you picture? It is likely some form of coach gun. I picture Doc Holliday’s short double barreled from Tombstone. The running theme is short and two barrels. With that in mind, the space cowboy needs a Standard Manufacturing DP-12. The DP-12 gives you a short shotgun with two barrels, making it perfect for protecting the hover coach on the plains of Mars.
The DP-12 is a double barrel bullpup pump action shotgun. Each manipulation of the pump action loads two rounds into two chambers. The user can fire a rapid double tap before having to work the action. The trigger fires the right barrel first, then the left barrel.
The bullpup design makes it shorter than any barebones coach gun. The overall length is only 29.5 inches with 18.5 inch barrels. It is admittedly hefty at 9.3 pounds. To give you plenty of shots, the gun uses two tubes. Each tube holds seven rounds of 2.75 inch shells. You will be able to dispatch terminids, space highwaymen, and more.
Like most space cowboy guns, there is a rail for optics, accessories, and more. You can step into the future of moon trench warfare in style with the DP-12. Here on Earth, the DP-12 is a novelty or a meme gun. Its weight is not a selling point, but off world the lack of gravity makes the weight a non issue.
POF Tombstone Lever Action 9mm With Box Mags
The cowboy rifle of choice varies. You can argue it is a plains gun and that Quigley from Quigley Down Under had it right. However, most of us agree that the lever action rifle dominates cowboy mythology. Modern lever guns are everywhere and have become popular in the last few years. The POF Tombstone takes things to the next level.
The POF Tombstone does more than embrace the modern lever gun motif. It features a box magazine and chambers the 9mm cartridge. The magazine comes from POF’s own Phoenix subgun. These magazines come in 10, 20, and 35 round capacities. That is a lot more lead than your dad’s lever action rifle.
The POF Tombstone offers a lever actuated rifle perfect for dealing with literal moon dust. Semi autos are great, but that kills our space cowboy motif. The Tombstone rifle gives you a hammer fired, lever action gun without the limited magazine capacity and clumsy reloads. A spacesuit would make it tough to thumb rounds into a loading gate.
The POF Tombstone also has all the features we know and love about modern lever guns. It is optics ready and has an M LOK handguard. There is a brake to reduce recoil, and the gun uses a Magpul SGA stock that is adjustable for length of pull and sling ready. The POF Tombstone gives us a light, handy, ergonomic, modern platform to get our lever action thrills on.
Taurus Judge Home Defender Close Range Firepower
The Taurus Judge Home Defender meets the legal definition of a handgun, but it is a bit more than that. The Judge Home Defender took the Judge and gave it the stretch treatment. It is still a .45 Colt and .410 revolver, but unlike the Judge, it is a fairly competent weapon. The old Judge kind of sucked, but the Home Defender is surprisingly decent as a .410 firing weapon.
The Judge Home Defender takes the place of the sawn off shotgun in the Space Cowboy’s arsenal. You know, the short barrel, cut off stock design. It fills the same role of extremely close range firepower in a very small package. This time, it is in the traditional revolver layout.
Revolving shotguns and rifles were not common, but were not rare in the Old West. It would be a great sidearm for dealing with both Saturn’s serpents and Pluto’s polar bears. Standard buckshot tends to pattern fairly well from the Judge Home Defender, and a 3 inch load can give you five pellets of 000 buckshot.
The Judge Home Defender allows the modern space cowboy to use modern accessories. An optics rail across the top and a rail at the bottom of the handguard offer us the perfect spot for a light or laser to aim and illuminate the dark crevices of Uranus.
Heritage Tactical Cowboy Threaded Rimfire For Plinking
If you have a Junior Space Cowboy in your life, he or she might not be ready for the centerfire show, but we have a rimfire option. The Heritage Manufacturing Tactical Cowboy might not have space in the name, but it might as well. The Tactical Cowboy series of Heritage Manufacturing brings us a threaded barrel and an optics rail on top.
The Tactical Cowboy comes with a higher than average fiber optic sight that allows you to use the Picatinny rail slot as a rear sight if you are afraid of red dots. If you are not, the rail allows you to enter the red dots world. Since it is a revolver, you can use any size optic you want. Toss a long eye relief magnified optic on there.
READ MORE HERE: Double Action vs. Single Action Revolver Guide
The threaded barrel allows for muzzle devices. You probably do not need one with a .22LR, but imagine how ridiculous and awesome a Barrett style brake would look on the Tactical Cowboy. The Heritage uses the classic Colt style single action design and can fire .22LR, but with a cylinder swap, you can shoot the more powerful .22 WMR.
It is the perfect plinker and fun gun for shooting poly steel bean cans after a long day on the moon cow ranch making moon milk. Tossing a red dot on the gun helps extend the range and makes it a very effective pest and small game getter.
Quick Picks Table Space Cowboy Shortlist
| Model | Category | Why It Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Chiappa Rhino | Revolver | Low bore axis. Futuristic angles. |
| Standard Manufacturing DP-12 | Shotgun | Bullpup. Two barrels. Big grin factor. |
| POF Tombstone | Lever Action 9mm | Box mags. Optics ready. Space ranch ready. |
| Taurus Judge Home Defender | .410 and .45 Colt | Close range punch in a stretched wheelgun. |
| Heritage Tactical Cowboy | .22 Rimfire | Threaded barrel and rail for budget space fun. |
The Space Cowboy And His Guns Your Turn To Gear Up
These are my picks for Space Cowboy, whether he is walking through the saloon airlock on a dusty moon planet on the next frontier or chasing cattle across the plains of Mongo. What would you arm your space cowboy with? Let us know below.
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