I Have A Navy Problem

[Ephraim Kibbey]

When I saw all the beautiful guns on the new 1851/1860 Club, I was inspired to dig out all of mine.

I had not looked at my original 1851 in some time and I was reminded of something about it that has always escaped my understanding.

It has a 7 1/2 inch barrel with the third type of address and its serial number puts its manufacture during 1864 which matches the time frame for that type of address according to Flayderman's.

The total length is a little over 13 inches.

ALL of the SN's match numerically as well as in size and font.

The barrel still has good rifling visible and measures .36 caliber as do the six chamber mouths in the cylinder.

The cylinder engraving is gone but "Colts Patent" and the last four digits of the serial number are still visible in a single line.

So far so good right?

So WHY is the trigger guard clearly marked 31 Cal???

I have an original .31 caliber Colt 1849 pocket pistol with a 6 inch barrel and its trigger guard and grip are dwarfed by this pistol's. They would in no way fit this frame.

Is this as simple as someone at Colt with a hang-over picking up the wrong stamp or am I missing something?

 

[Tommygunn]

I think your guess is correct.

IIRC the .31 caliber revolvers used a smaller frame than the .36 Navy types. That means the trigger guard from a .31 would not fit on the .36.
The wrong stamp must have been used.

 

[Jim K]

And while there were .31 frame guns with .36 cylinder and barrels, the reverse was not done. Somebody, a long time ago, goofed. Tell Sam to fire him.

(FWIW, I have a Colt Commander in 9mm (9x19). But the barrel is marked ".30 LUGER". I wrote to Colt; they replied that they never made the Commander in .30 Luger and that I could send the gun back for correction. Sure I did. And they did make them in .30 Luger for Italy, where 9mm is a military caliber and guns in that caliber are banned for civilians. They re-bored and re-chambered some surplus barrels from that lot, but didn't change the marking.)

Jim

 

[Old Fuff]

In 1864 there was a war going on.

So occasionally a revolver might be mismarked if someone forgot to change the stamp. It might have been noticed (or not) but given the circumstances they'd let it go through.

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

It was a "Monday -Friday" manufactured revolver.

 

[Mictlanero]

Interesting

 

[Curator]

Yup, Monday morning mistake. At one of the museums where I helped with the preservation/curating their firearms collections was a 1849 Colt pistol marked "36Cal" on the trigger guard. Also "wartime" made based on the serial number. Remember, the Colt factory burned in February of 1864. Colt probably had difficulties after getting back into production later that year.

 

[Panzerschwein]

A uniquety! It's sort of like the wartime guns of the WW2, sometimes a little off but still great! I'd treasure it!

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

A mistake in the stamp world could be worth in the 6 figure range approaching the 7 figure mark. The famous upside down Jenny airplane is an example that comes to my head, it was printed on Friday. I would wonder how that transfers over to the gun world though.

 

[BHP FAN]

how many shots does it hold?

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

Six

 

[Jim K]

Guns aren't stamps and I don't think that mistake increases the value of the gun by any significant amount, if at all. Now if a bunch of Navy Colts turned up marked "Smith & Wesson"...

Jim