Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers

The family of Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers evolved from the earlier commercial revolvers marketed by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, NJ. The smaller versions of Colt's first revolvers are also called "Baby Patersons" by collectors and were produced in .24 to .31 calibers. The .31 caliber carried over into Samuel Colt's second venture in the arms trade in the form of the "Baby Dragoon"-a small revolver developed in 1847-48. The "Baby Dragoon" was in parallel development with Colt's other revolvers and, by 1850, it had evolved into the Revolving Pocket Pistol that collectors now name "The Pocket Model of 1849. It is a smaller version of the "Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber" introduced the same year and commonly designated by collectors as the "1851 Navy". In 1855 Colt introduced another pocket percussion revolver, the Colt 1855 Sidehammer, designed alongside engineer Elisha K. Root.

The Pocket Model came with and without attached loading levers and with barrel lengths from 3-6 inches. Those without loading levers are frequently called the "Wells Fargo Model" although Wells Fargo records show no .31 caliber revolvers ever purchased by that company. All variations included, it was the single largest selling of the Colt revolvers until well into the 20th century (ibid Wilson.) Civilian demand for the original .31 caliber revolver remained substantial from 1850 until cartridge revolvers entered production in the early 1870s and they remained popular even after introduction of the 36 caliber Pocket Navy and Police Models.

In 1860, after much experimentation aimed at reducing the size of the .44 Colt Holster Pistols, Colt took advantage of stronger mass-produced steel by rebating the frame of the Navy revolver to hold a larger diameter 44/100-inch chambered cylinder. The Colt factory applied the same technology to the .31 Caliber revolvers, configuring them to accept five shot cylinders of .36 caliber. Other changes including lightweight fluted cylinders, round barrels and a ratcheted loading lever resulted in the Police Model of 1862. The Pocket Navy retained the octagonal barrel and traditional loading lever of the earlier pocket model but was up-sized to .36 caliber just like the Pocket Police. Between 1862 and 1873, Colt records document production of 19,000 of the Pocket Navies and over 20,000 Pocket Police revolvers. Relative to the .31 Pocket Revolvers, the period of manufacture was short and overall numbers were further limited by a fire at the Colt Factory in 1862 and War production concerns.