1851 Round barrel, iron frame, rolled cylinder - ITS A COLT!

Well, my 5" Navy has a round barrel. Hmm, interesting, but mine's a .44 and a brasser so shoots the authenticity all to hell right there. LOL.

I wonder if that version may have been of a "special order" to Colt in the day. Old Col. Colt was known to make a special run of weapons if the money was right I'm told. There were several Colts that were made for certain companies that paid well and thus got special treatment for the weapons ordered. (This came from my old master gunsmith I apprenticed under for years. He was once employed in the Custon Shop for Colt back in the late 40's and early 50's and had access to this knowledge)

Just a thought....

Wade

"...A few barrels of this type were also found on the Dragoons..."

Since it is a Dragoon styled barrel, round barrel with the octagon breech, I would be surprised if it wasn't found on all the Dragoons.

Colt made several one of a kind items. Not sure I'd get all that worked up over it. I ownder which 50's is the writer referencing?

Making the grips with wood from the "Charter Oak" was only done on a few presentation pieces, not on the everyday revolver.

The revolver in question is a prototype that was originally in the Colt Company collection. The collection also included some ordinary 1851 Navy revolvers with shortened barrels. Apparently none of them were cataloged for regular sale, but on a custom basis the company would make a customer almost anything they wanted within reason - if they were willing to pay the price. An example would be an 1849 Pocket Model with a 3" barrel and attached bullet rammer that for practical purposes would seem to be useless. But they did sell a very small number to individuals that were willing to put up the bucks.

Might it be that this is Colts take on the Austrian Navy revolvers we disgussed some time back? It was suggested that the 1851 Navy may well have been influenced by the Austrian liscensed & produced guns which were basically scalled down Dragoons. Perhaps this is a proto type for the 1851 Navy based on the Austriuan Revolvers design.

Or maybe Sam Colt was playing with the design to see if folks would go for a different shaped "tail fin" on a new model.

Or maybe someone said "Hey Sam, make me a shortened barreled Navy with a round barrel. Here is some cash, I'll give yout the rest next Tuesday" and Wimpy never got arround to paying off the debt so the pistol never left the factory.



-kBob

Or maybe someone said "Hey Sam, make me a shortened barreled Navy with a round barrel. Here is some cash, I'll give yout the rest next Tuesday" and Wimpy never got arround to paying off the debt so the pistol never left the factory.

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Unless the customer was well known to them, custom guns were made after they had the money-in-hand.

The factory collection contained a fair number of one-of-a-kind prototypes and experimental revolvers. They included one 1851 Navy that would seem ordinary except it was .40, not .36 caliber. Also the revolver that is the subject of this thread is not the only Belt Model with a shortened barrel. They might have been shown to some key distributors who didn't get excited, and that was the end of it. During the mid-1800's short-barreled revolvers were not particularly popular as they are now, with the exception of pocket models - usually in .31 caliber.

Somewhere I have a color pic of this revolver which shows how really lovely the grips and finish are, but I can't find it. So here at least is a better scan of the page from Haven & Belden's History of the Colt Revolver.

Hopefully you can see that, unlike the dragoon, the entire top of the barrel is round from end to end. The reference to the '50s is based on the grips carved of wood from the historic Connecticut Charter Oak, which blew down in 1856.

Berkley, while I see the top side is round it looks to me like it has "flats" along the side of the barrel. Does it look the same to you .... or is this an illusion brought on by lighting?

I think it's mostly a lighting effect, but never having seen the actual gun or even a pic taken from the muzzle end I can't say for sure.
Lighting can cause strange effects - this scan of a Pietta Dance Brothers barrel looks flat on the side, but the actual barrel is perfectly round.