Colt 1851 Navy

by madams117 » Tue Jan 31, 2023 8:45 pm

Absolutely gorgeous! I'm not a revolver guy, but the older revolvers, like your Colt, and old west six shooters have always interested me. So cool.

by WE4PONXYZ » Fri Jul 29, 2022 12:11 pm

Beautiful!

by Hawkeye » Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:06 am

Great info. I like to know about the history of firearms. I knew the Navy was popular, but it sounds like it was real big deal at the time.

by Ancient Order » Thu Jul 28, 2022 9:17 pm Hawkeye wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:03 pmIt's still really nice find. Maybe it was the colt army that was the 44 cal. I read somewhere that S&W lost the government contract because their model was in 36 cal. and the military wanted a bigger caliber. This happened when the first brass cartridges came out. The S&W was faster and easier to reload but the Colt had a bigger cal. and could be used in carbines. I think the rolling blocks where in a 50 cal. Yes, the Colt 1860 Army was 44 cal. Same frame as the Navy and they sold a ton of them to the government. I don't believe S&W ever had a government contract during the war, but a lot of Model 1's (22 short) were privately purchased as backup guns. They were much faster to load having metallic cartridges, but you'd probably be better off throwing rocks. It was in production until 1873 when it was replaced by the Colt Single Action Army, aka Colt 45 using metallic cartridges. Famous "Navy" users included Wild Bill Hickok, William Buffalo Bill Cody, John Henry "Doc" Holliday, Richard Francis Burton, Ned Kelly, Bully Hayes, Ben Pease, Blackbirders, Metis, Seth Kinman, Emir Abdelkader, Boer Commando, Richard H. Barter, Charlie Goodnight, Robert E. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, John O'Neill, Frank Gardiner, Ulysses S. Grant, Quantrill's Raiders, Tom Bell, Kootenay Brown, Ivan Turchin, John Coffee "Jack" Hays, "Bigfoot" Wallace, Frederick Townsend Ward, Ben McCulloch, Addison Gillespie, John "Rip" Ford, "Sul" Ross and most Texas Rangers prior to the Civil War. Use continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers were introduced. According to Wiki.

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by Hawkeye » Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:03 pm

It's still really nice find. Maybe it was the colt army that was the 44 cal. I read somewhere that S&W lost the government contract because their model was in 36 cal. and the military wanted a bigger caliber. This happened when the first brass cartridges came out. The S&W was faster and easier to reload but the Colt had a bigger cal. and could be used in carbines. I think the rolling blocks where in a 50 cal.

by Ancient Order » Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:05 pm Hawkeye wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:22 amWOW Now that is a jewel. She looks like all original. What cal. are they? I don't remember 44. cal. Do you know the date this beast ran wild in the fronter? 36 cal. Handed down from my Dad. He was a huge collector of unique and interesting firearms. This one came to me after he passed. Mom found it tucked away in a closet. There was a note from dad inside the box that said "never fired". He had detailed records and receipts for everything, except this one. Probably got it in a trade. It's all genuine Colt, and I'm pretty sure it was a commemorative run, probably sometime in the '60s or '70s.

by Hawkeye » Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:22 am

WOW Now that is a jewel. She looks like all original. What cal. are they? I don't remember 44. cal. Do you know the date this beast ran wild in the fronter?