History has often been kind to the meanest men in the West - some even became national heroes. But in the Wild West, outlaws and gunmen spoke with smoke and lead, an dthe average person often lived on the edge of danger. In the frontier environment, anything that could give you an advantage was worth its weight in gold. A new weekly series on THE HISTORY CHANNEL examines the tools and tricks used by the baddest men in the Old West, and by others who lived by their wits in those days.

From "outlaw technology" to "gold rush technology," from advances in transportation to breakthroughs in communications, the series gives viewers an inside look at how the West worked. WILD WEST TECH revisits classic tales of the Old West and looks at how technological advances helped to create the legends that made history. Train tech, cowboy tech, and gambling tech are just a few of the topics covered in the new series. WILD WEST TECH shows how weapons such as Colt Navy revolvers, the Winchester and the Henry rifle were used... explains the techniques of train robbery and blowing safes that were used by the likes of Butch Cassidy... shows how bad guys adapted technology to commit crimes, and how the good guys countered with improved technology to catch them.

Computer graphics, animation, reenactments and practical demonstrations by Wild West experts and historians explain in lively detail how the newfangled technology functioned, and the type of skill it took to master it.