Colt Revolving Rifle - History

History

Revolving rifles were an attempt to increase the rate of fire of rifles by combining them with the revolving firing mechanism that had been developed earlier for revolving pistols. Colt began experimenting with revolving rifles in the early 19th century, and made the revolving rifles in a variety of calibers and barrel lengths. Colt revolving rifles were the first repeating rifles adopted by the U.S. Government, but they had their problems. They were officially given to soldiers because of their rate of fire, after your six shots the shooter had to take an excessive amount of time to load another six shots. Also on occasion they had a tendency to discharge all the rounds into the gun and the shooters hand. However an early model was used in the Seminole Wars in 1838.

Various models were made: the Colt Patterson in the 1830s. Total quantity produced c. 1838–41 was approximately 950.

In March, 1836, Colt formed the Patent Arms Company and began operation in an unused silk mill along the banks of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. His first product was a ring-lever revolving rifle, available in .34, .36, .38, .40, and .44 caliber, in which a ring located forward of the trigger served to cock the hammer and advance the cylinder for each shot. This was soon followed with a revolving pistol. These five-shot "Paterson" revolvers featured folding triggers, and were available both with and without loading levers in .28, .31, and .36 caliber. Patent Arms also produced smoothbore revolving carbines and shotguns. The outbreak of war between the U.S. government and the Seminole tribe provided Colt with his first break. Seminole warriors had learned that soldiers were vulnerable while reloading their single-shot firearms, and they developed a tactic of drawing fire, then rushing the temporarily defenseless soldiers and wiping them out before they could fire a second volley. Colt's revolving rifles were quite effective against this, and the Army purchased his products for use by troops in the Florida campaign.

In 1855, Colt introduced a spur trigger revolver that featured a fully enclosed cylinder. These sidehammer, or "Root" revolvers, were named for Elisha K. Root, a noted inventor and holder of the sidehammer patent, who at that time was employed as Colt's factory superintendent and Chief Engineer. Colt also produced the sidehammer Model 1855 rifles and carbines for military and sporting use, as well as a revolving shotgun. In failing health, Colt expanded his factory on the eve of the Civil War, and began production of a new, lightweight .44 caliber Army revolver, followed a year later by a .36 caliber Navy version.

Dragoon carbines – other than the Belgian copies and experimental carbines, there are not many known examples; most likely they were only available as a special order.

The most widely produced revolving rifle was the Model 1855. An estimated total of only 4,435 were manufactured in the Hartford factory c. 1856–1864.

This was produced in a rifle version as well as a shortened carbine. In 1855 it became the first repeating rifle to be adopted for service by the U.S. Military, but problems with the design prevented its use until 1857. The principal problem was that gunpowder would sometimes leak from the paper cartridges in field conditions, lodging in various recesses around the firing cylinder. Hot gas leaking from the gap between the firing cylinder and the barrel would ignite this powder, which would in turn, ignite all of the powder in the chambers waiting to be fired. This is known as a "chain fire" and was a relatively common failure with early percussion revolving firearms. When this happened with the Colt Revolving Rifle, a spray of metal would be sent forward into the left arm and hand of the user.

This fault resulted in an understandable distrust in the weapon. Commanders attempted to get around the problem in a number of ways. The rifle had to be properly and thoroughly cleaned, since sloppy cleaning would leave residue behind that would increase the risk of a chain fire. Some commanders instructed their men to fire the weapon only while supporting it directly in front of the trigger guard or by holding the lowered loading lever, which moved their left hand out of the path of danger during a chain fire. Other commanders instructed their men to load only a single chamber, preventing any chain fires from occurring. Loading a single chamber at a time also reduced the weapon to a single shot weapon, effectively defeated the entire purpose of having a repeating rifle.

Brevete Colt Dragoon revolving rifles were made in Belgium under licence from Colt during the 1850s to 1860s

1873 Buntline was a special order; they were among the first effective repeating rifles. Many manufacturers offered special-order carbine versions of their popular single action revolvers, despite the popularity of the new lever-action rifles. The Colt Buntline 1873 single action target revolver has become one of the icons of the Old West. Tradition has it that dime novelist Ned Buntline presented special-order 1873 Colt revolvers with extra-long barrels, target sights, and detachable wire shoulder stocks to a select group of Old West celebrities including Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Based on this story, the long-barreled Peacemakers came to be called Buntline Specials. Only 31 of the originals were ever produced, and only 18 of those are around today.