Colt Walker - History

History

The Colt Walker was the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made. It was created in the mid-1840s in a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817–47) and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814–62), building upon the earlier Colt Paterson design. Walker wanted a handgun that was extremely powerful at close range.

Samuel Walker carried two of his namesake revolvers in the Mexican–American War. He was killed in battle the same year that his famous handgun was invented, 1847, shortly after he had received them. Only 1100 of these guns were originally made, which makes originals extremely difficult and expensive to obtain. On October 9, 2008, one specimen that had been handed down from a Mexican War veteran sold at auction for US$920,000.

The Republic of Texas had been the major purchaser of the early Paterson Holster Pistol (No. 5 model), a five shot cal .36 revolver, and Samuel Walker became familiar with it during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was engaged in the Mexican-American War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles. He approached Colt, requesting a large revolver to replace the single-shot Aston Johnson holster pistols then in use. The desired .44-.45 caliber revolver would be carried in saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers. The Colt Walker was used in the Mexican-American War and on the Texas frontier.

Medical officer John "R.I.P" Ford took a special interest in the Walkers when they arrived at Vera Cruz. He obtained two examples for himself and is the primary source for information about their performance during the war and afterward. His observation that the revolver would carry as far and strike with the same or greater force than the .54 caliber Mississippi Rifle seems to have been based on a single observation of a Mexican soldier hit at a distance of well over one hundred yards. The Walker, unlike most succeeding martial pistols and revolvers, was a practical weapon out to about 100 yards.