A retired dairy farmer's lifelong interest in the legendary lawmen and outlaws of the old West translated into a fascinating corner of the Tauranga Arms and Militaria Show.
Con Egan's collection of Colt pistols and rifles collected from around New Zealand and the United States traces back to one of his earliest memories when his mother dressed him up in a cowboy outfit.
He never looked back and 22 years later started to collect sidearms of the sort that were once used with deadly effect by outlaws such as Jesse James and Billy the Kid and lawmen such as Wyatt Earp and Pat Garrett.
He scoured New Zealand and the US to build up a major collection, which included the actual Colt used by a Kiwi policeman who hunted the killers involved in the Maungatapu murders of 1866 when a gold convoy from the West Coast was robbed.
The rest of his collection, which included 80 pistols, were historic examples of the firearms used to terrorise and ultimately tame the old West.
