civil war government navy contract for 3rd model 1851 revolvers

One of the best and most famous pistolero's of the Old West was James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok. Most fastest on the draw type shoot outs of the old West would have been within this distance of 25 yards and 910 f.p.s muzzle velocity, it would drop an opponent with one shot. The muzzle velocity meant a flatter trajectory and offered greater accuracy, especially over the distances it would be fired, usually not exceeding 25 yards. The Navy 1851 can have a full charge of 26.5 grains of black powder and this will render a muzzle velocity of 910 f.p.s (feet per second) which is quite impressive for such an 'old' gun. Recent controlled tests have shown that this revolver was capable of putting three shots into a 3inch group at 25 yards. The Colt Navy 1851 has quite an appealing look and feel to it, it was a well made gun and in the right hands it was very accurate. A genuine revolver from the 1850's would cost many thousands of dollars as they are now antiquities, so an ideal compromise is one of the faithful Italian reproductions. These reproduction Old West revolvers have become popular with modern day shooters in gun clubs. Percussion Pistols were not very reliable guns in that if the powder or percussion caps got damp or were not married up properly, a misfire would result and often did, but its ok as your oppositions guns did the same !īelow is pictured a modern Italian copy of the 1851 Navy. It took quite some time to actually load up a cap and ball percussion revolver, about 3 minutes in skilled hands but many users of the gun would have several pre-loaded cylinders and when all 6 shots had been fired a new cylinder was inserted.

This exclusive image shows that the barrel has been cut down as far as it is possible, so there their is still some use from the under-lever mechanism. There are quite a few variations of the Navy including the Sheriffs version and a long barrelled shoulder stocked version.Īnd below is proof that snub-nosed revolvers a.k.a snubbys were also in demand in the 1850's with another version of the 1851 Sheriff.

The 1851 Navy was the most favoured revolver of the Union Army Officers for its great handling and accuracy, also like other Colt revolvers it had fully interchangeable parts and was easy to disassemble. Rear Sight.Notched 'v' into top of the Hammer.Īmmunition.21 -28 grain of Black Powder, percussion cap and ball shot Overall length.1 foot, 1 and 1/8th inches. 44 inchīarrel.Generally 7½ inches, octagonal forged. Another middle 4th model 1851 Navy was from the outlawscolts collection serial no, 1544xx made in 1863.Ĭaliber.Available in 0.36 inch or 0.

Civil war government navy contract for 3rd model 1851 revolvers