I have trouble seeing the starboard loading gate as anything but a design and tooling vestige of Sam's percussion revolvers.
It is, just not for the reason you think. In the early years, Colt lived and died by the military contract. Do you really think he would've designed his guns for 11% of the population? The SAA was purpose-built for the military. Do you really think the Army would not have ordered it on the left side if that was best for their application? This nonsense about it being because Sam Colt was left-handed is a myth that needs to die.
Hmm... So, when the military went to swing out revolvers, why didn't they insist they open to the right?
I cannot sell myself on the idea the military
always orders what makes the most sense, thinking for example of the charging handle location on the M16.
Regardless of the exact cause, situating the gate on the right on the SAA was a mistake: It's not a feature, it's a bug. What was the cause of the mistake? It was a carry over from the percussion Colts. Why was the scallop cutout, for capping, there on the cap n' ball Colts?
It is fact, not conjecture, that Sam Colt was left handed, but whether that had anything to do (unconsciously perhaps) with where the scallop ended up would seem as hard to disprove as to prove. Your 'handedness' influences the way you look at things, surely, and not always in ways you are aware of.
There is the famous story about Colt's first revolver design, carved by hand from wood. Certainly your 'handedness' influences the way you hold things, and whittle. Does anyone know if he continued to design by modeling? It was common practice at one time: Hand build a prototype and then take the production dimensions off of that.
So if the early Colts were hand modeled by a lefty, some of that influence may have crept in. I do not insist on the theory. I just heard of it, for the first time, in this thread. A plausible alternative theory about the SAA is that cavalry revolvers were left handed weapons anyway: Your right hand was for your saber. I'm not sure that makes sense either...
The Army also bought Schofields, which of course did not open to either side, but upward.
