Colt 1851 Navy Revolver

Colt Navy Revolver
Colt 1851 Navy
Type	Single Action Revolver
Place of origin	United States (Also made in Colt's London Armoury, near Vauxhall Bridge, London, England)
Service history
In service	1850–1873
Used by	Australia United States Confederate States United Kingdom Canada Austria-Hungary Russian Empire Ottoman Empire Poland Prussia captured from Russia Native Americans
Wars	American Civil War American Indian Wars Austro-Prussian War January Uprising Russo-Turkish War
Production history
Designer	Samuel Colt
Designed	1850
Manufacturer	Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Conn.
Produced	1850–1873
Number built	272,000
Variants	Squareback trigger guard Navy, serial number 1-~4200
Specifications
Weight	2.6 lb (1.2 kg)
Length	13 in (330.2 mm)
Cartridge	.38 Rimfire / .38 Centerfire (conversions)
Caliber	.36
Action	Single-action revolver
Muzzle velocity	840 ft/s (256 m/s)

The Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber (i.e., .36 cal), later known as the Colt 1851 Navy or Navy Revolver, is a cap and ball revolver that was designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850. Colt first called this Revolver Ranger model; but the designation Navy quickly took over. It remained in production until 1873, when revolvers using fixed metallic cartridges came into widespread use. Total production numbers were exceeded only by the Colt Pocket models in concurrent development, and numbered some 250,000 domestic units and about 22,000 produced in the Colt London Armory.

Characteristics

The .36 caliber Navy revolver was much lighter than the contemporary Colt Dragoon Revolvers developed from the .44 Walker Colt revolvers of 1847, which, given their size and weight, were generally carried in saddle holsters. It is an enlarged version of the .31 caliber Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers, that evolved from the earlier Baby Dragoon, and, like them, is a mechanically improved and simplified descendant of the 1836 Paterson revolver. As the factory designation implied, the Navy revolver was suitably sized for carrying in a belt holster. It became very popular in North America at the time of Western expansion. Colt's aggressive promotions distributed the Navy and his other revolvers across Europe, Asia, and Africa. As with many other Colt revolvers, it has a six-round cylinder.

The cylinder of this revolver is engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche on May 16, 1843. The Texas Navy had purchased the earlier Colt Paterson Revolver, but this was Colt's first major success in the gun trade; the naval theme of the engraved cylinder of the Colt 1851 Navy revolver was Colt's gesture of appreciation. The engraving was provided by Waterman Ormsby. Despite the "Navy" designation, the revolver was chiefly purchased by civilians and military land forces.

The .36 caliber (.375–.380 inch) round lead ball weighs 80 grains and, at a velocity of 1,000 feet per second, is comparable to the modern .380 pistol cartridge in power. Loads consist of loose powder and ball or bullet, metallic foil cartridges (early), and combustible paper cartridges (Civil War era), all combinations being ignited by a fulminate percussion cap applied to the nipples at the rear of the chamber.

A very small number of Navy revolvers were produced in .34 caliber, and are so marked.

Sighting consists of a tapered brass cone front sight pressed into the muzzle end of the top barrel flat with a notch in the top of the hammer, as with most Colt percussion revolvers. In spite of the relative crudity of the sighting arrangement, these revolvers and their modern replicas generally are quite accurate.

Colt 1851 Navy Conversions

The first metallic cartridge revolver made by Colt’s was the Thuer-Conversion Model Revolver, a design of a metallic cartridge revolver that would not require a cylinder with cylindrical chambers to not infringe on the Rollin White patent. A small number (about 1000-1500) of Model 1851 Navy revolvers was converted, using front-loaded, slightly tapered cartridges to fit the chambers of the cylinder reamed to a slight taper.

After the expiration of the Rollin White Patent (Apr. 3, 1869), Colt 1851 (and 1861 Navy) Revolvers were converted or newly made to fire .38 rimfire or centerfire cartridges, the Colt Model 1851 Richards- Mason Conversion by the Colt factory.

Use

Famous "Navy" users included Wild Bill Hickok, John Henry "Doc" Holliday, Richard Francis Burton, Ned Kelly, Bully Hayes, Richard H. Barter, Robert E. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, John O'Neill, Frank Gardiner, Quantrill's Raiders, John Coffee "Jack" Hays, "Bigfoot" Wallace, Ben McCulloch, Addison Gillespie, John "Rip" Ford, "Sul" Ross and most Texas Rangers prior to the Civil War and (fictionally) Rooster Cogburn. Use continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers were introduced.

Canadian issue 1851 Colts (London made) are stamped in the wooden grip "upside down" with letters U_C (for Upper Canada, now Ontario, Canada) or L_C (for Lower Canada, now Quebec, Canada), a letter code for the unit, and the number of the weapon in that unit. e.g.

U_C
 D
21

This decodes as Upper Canada, D = Toronto Cavalry Troop, 21st pistol.

The Ottoman Empire used the revolver as late as the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 even though it was quite antiquated compared to the Russian's Smith & Wesson Model 3

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  Combustible paper cartridges; six to a box

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  The cylinder arbor serves as a bullet seater on models without loading levers

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  Safety peg between cylinder chambers

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  Post 1850 Colt Revolvers

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  Loading sequence for percussion revolvers

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  Early Colt Navy Mod 1851, Second Model squareback trigger guard

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  Top: Navy 51 .38 Conversion, below Colt Open Top 1872

See also

• Colt Army Model 1860
• Colt Dragoon Revolver
• Colt M1861 Navy
• Remington Model 1858
• Colt's Manufacturing Company
• Colt Paterson
• Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers
• Colt Single Action Army
• Saturday night special for history of attempts to ban handguns other than Army and Navy models such as M1851 Navy
• Walker Colt

External links

• The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 Navy
• The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 Navy with Johnson-Holbrook Shoulder Stock Device
• The Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 Navy
• The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 Navy
• The Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 Navy
• Smithsonian Article on the M1861 Navy
• Shooting Characteristics of the M1861 Navy