The Guns That Made America’s Most Notorious Outlaws So Dangerous

America’s outlaw era has always carried a strange mix of history, violence, folklore, and fascination. While the crimes themselves were brutal and often devastating, figures like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, John Dillinger, and Machine Gun Kelly became closely linked to the weapons they carried. Their guns were not just tools used during robberies, shootouts, and escapes. They became part of the larger mythology that turned criminals into notorious names in American history.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the most infamous outlaws in U.S. history and the firearms most associated with them. From revolvers and lever-action rifles of the Old West to the Tommy guns and automatic weapons of the Prohibition era, these firearms help explain how each outlaw operated, why they became so feared, and how changing weapons technology shaped crime and law enforcement across different eras.

Using the same Colt Action Army revolver or “Peacemaker” as many other American outlaws, Pearl Hart believed in the gun’s stopping power. Pearl Hart used her Peacemaker during a 1899 stagecoach robbery, which is often cited as one of the notable crimes during the closing years of the Wild West era. She stole $431 and went on to rob a Tucson saloon in 1898, where she took $50. Hart’s unique approach to outlaw activity made her a Wild West legend.

Shirley Reed Star or Belle Starr was associated with the James-Younger gang and other outlaws. A fan of the Colt Single Action Army revolver or “Peacemaker,” the .45-caliber gun was her weapon of choice. Known as the “Bandit Queen,” Starr used her Colt to rob horses and hold lawmen at gunpoint in 1882 while harboring the James-Younger gang in Oklahoma.

One half of the gang with Sundance Kid, Butch Cassidy utilized his Winchester 1894 rifle during several heists. Dynamiting a safe in Wilcox, Arizona, the gang got away with $2,000 in cash, and then again in Colorado, where the group robbed a bank for $10,000.

Cassidy was heralded for approaching his crimes with non-lethal goals and the duo would inspire the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” It’s estimated that the group stole significant amounts of money, with varying accounts suggesting different totals.

Favoring the Colt Single Action Army revolver, Harry Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid, used it for its quick-draw capability and often wielded two of them. Sundance was on the map as an outlaw partly due to a bank robbery in Montpelier, Idaho, where he got away with $7,000. He also participated in a train robbery in Montana, where Kid and his gang stole $40,000, and he became infamous for his use of dynamite.

With at least 27 confirmed kills and 42 claimed, John Wesley Hardin was known for his love of revolvers, including the Colt Walker and Colt Dragoon, and it’s believed he would practice drawing these guns daily as well as learning to fire through his coat.

He would go on to study law and write an autobiography while in prison, for which he was sent after killing a deputy in May 1871 on the street, as well as another man in a Waco, Texas saloon for snoring too loudly.

Crawford Goldsby, better known as Cherokee Bill, was a big fan of the Winchester Model 1873 rifle, a weapon he used repeatedly with the Cook Gang in the 1890s. The group famously robbed the Lincoln County Bank in Chandler, Oklahoma, stealing $500, as well as a train robbery in 1894, when Bill used the rifle to kill a resisting bystander. Hanged at 20 years of age, Bill’s outlaw career ended so quickly that it’s become part of Wild West history.

The brother of Jesse James, Frank James, preferred the Remington Model 1875 revolver for use in the James-Younger gang robberies. This includes the 1874 Kansas City fair heist, during which the group robbed over $10,000 in broad daylight. James surrendered in 1882, was acquitted due to heavy public sympathy, and lived a mostly quiet life before passing away in 1915.

Pretty Boy Floyd was known for using the Colt M1911A1 pistol, a design by John Browning featuring a 7-round magazine. Using it in bank robberies and shootouts during the 1930s, he was shot and killed by FBI agent Melvin Purvis while holding this weapon. Floyd was a prime suspect in the “Kansas City massacre,” in which four members of law enforcement were killed, which set off the FBI manhunt.

Although a famous rapper borrows his name today, the real Machine Gun Kelly, aka George Kelly Barnes, was a notorious American criminal. Using his Tommy Gun, Kelly kidnapped oil tycoon Charles Urschel in Oklahoma City and received $200,000 as a ransom before they were captured.

This was a major success for the FBI, which used new forensic evidence collection techniques to track Kelly’s identity. Kelly’s love for the machine gun also helped pass the 1934 National Firearms Act.

The other half of the “Bonnie & Clyde” outlaw gang, Clyde Barrow, was a Browning Automatic Rifle man who loved his Colt Model 1911. With at least 13 known kills taking place during the couple’s infamous two-year crime spree, it was in 1933 when they robbed banks in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas. Clyde’s gun was thought to have been stolen from a National Guard armory.

One part of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo, Bonnie Parker, loved her Remington Model 11 sawed-off shotgun. A 20-gauge model, Parker and her outlaw boyfriend Clyde are known to be responsible for bank robberies, as well as robbing rural gas stations when they needed money. The group has famously been portrayed in movies, where it’s shown that they killed at least nine police officers and four civilians.

One of the more famous American outlaw names, John Dillinger, was “Public Enemy Number One” during the 1930s. Having escaped prison twice, Dillinger is responsible for the death of an Indiana police officer, his only known homicide. Dillinger preferred the Thompson submachine gun, or “Tommy Gun,” and its heavy firepower in over a dozen different bank robberies between 1933 and 1934.

Better known as Baby Face Nelson, Lester Gillis was a famous member of the Dillinger gang. Nelson was known for having a preference for heavy firepower, so he focused on a Thompson machine gun and a Colt Monitor. The gang famously exchanged gunfire with FBI agents in Barrington, Illinois, in November 1934, when even after he was shot 17 times, Nelson still killed two FBI agents before passing away.

Billy the Kid, aka Henry McCarty, famously loved his Colt revolver, the “Peacemaker” .44-40 weapon, and his Winchester rifle. Using his alias William H. Bonney, Billy the Kid was an American outlaw and gunfighter in the Old West who can be positively tied to at least nine separate murders. However, he claimed as many as 21 kills, two of which stem from his escape from the Lincoln County Courthouse in April 1881.

Jesse James, one of the Wild West’s most notorious bank and train robbers, loved his Smith & Wesson Schofield Revolver or .45 Schofield. As the leader of the James-Younger gang, James put his Schofield to use during the 1871 Corydon, Iowa bank robbery and the group’s infamous 1876 Northfield, Minnesota raid, where most of the James gang was captured.