Cap Gun Monday: NICHOLS PINTO (and Paint)

This 3 1/2-inch beauty made the scene back in 1959 on the heels of the Nichols Dyna-Mite Derringer. The plastic holster was designed to be worn on belt, though I never it done. Like the Marx Miniatures, it was a cap gun I could (and did) take to school in my pocket.

The Pinto used the bullets and caps designed for the Nichols Stallion .38, the same ones used in last week's Halco Marshal. You inserted a cap in the shell, added the slug, and loaded the cylinder. The hole in the slug runs all the way through, allowing smoke to roll out the tip.

I read somewhere that the Pinto was rolling merrily along until the Ford Motor Company introduced a car of the same name and asked Nichols to desist, resulting in the renamed Paint. That story is a little hard to swallow, especially since the Ford Pinto (which you may recall was a lemon) was not introduced until 1970. But for whatever reason, the nearly-identical Paint was produced, based on the same mold.

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