When did double action revolvers become common?

[cosine]

Newbie question, thanks for your patience:

When did double action revolvers become commonly used? I read that the handgun of the west was the single action revolver.

When was the double action revolver invented, and when did it become commonly used?

 

[Cosmoline]

There were actually a lot more double action revolvers in the "old west" than the Hollywood image. The early Colt lightnings and similar primitive double actions were very popular. The break-top double actions were dominant towards the end of the century. Like most other firearms, double action revolvers went through a flurry of innovations during the 1890's and early 20th century. Smokeless powder allowed them to pack more punch but also jacked up the pressure quite a bit, so they had to be made tougher and with more recoil-resistant parts.

The S&W Hand Ejector of 1896 was arguably the first modern double action revolver to gain widespread popularlity. It became the military & police and later the Model 10. These were beefed up with the advent of the .38 Special at the end of the century. By WWI the double action revolver was the dominant military and law enforcement sidearm. It was eclipsed by semi-autos in most military forces by WWII but remained the standard sidearm for police until the 1980s.

 

[Bart Noir]

That will be a tough one to answer. The concept existed before the US Un-Civil War (WONA to you Southerners) especially in England and other Euro countries. There were both double and single action versions of the Starr pistol used in that war. S&W started making a double action version of the Model 3 (.44 caliber breaktop) in the 1880's. Colt's had DA sixguns in the late 1870's but they had a reputation as being fragile.

The modern side opening sixgun, a Colt in double action, was adopted by US Military in 1892, I think. It took S&W several years to come out with their answer to that gun. But to answer "when did it become common" you have to get your hands on the total numbers for DA sales versus SA sales, for each year.

Bart Noir

 

[cosine]

There were actually a lot more double action revolvers in the "old west" than the Hollywood image.

That's what drove my question. I found some old Bonanza westerns on the Internet and have watched a few of them over the last couple of days, and everyone, I mean everyone who carries a revolver has a single action.

But to answer "when did it become common" you have to get your hands on the total numbers for DA sales versus SA sales, for each year.

I'm not that interested in knowing an exact year, but rather just general estimate of the time when double action revolvers were gaining popularity.

Thanks for the answers!

 

[Jim Watson]

Adams advertised the advantages of their double action cap & ball revolvers vs the single action 1851 Colt in the Crimean war, 1854-1856.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Some of the earliest revolvers were what were called "Pepperboxes." These had no separate cylinder, just a cluster of rotating barrels. Most of them were double-action only.

In Mark Twain's "Roughing It," which is a (more or less) non-fictional account of his trip to Nevada in 1861 and his life in the west, one of his travelling companions, "Mister Beemis" is armed with an Adams "Pepperbox." The adventures of Mister Beemis and his "Old Adams" are well worth reading.

 

[ABTOMAT]

IIRC Colt's 1851 revolver was introduced in England at the same show as the Adams double action. The Colt initally was more popular over there for two reasons. One, the Adams hadn't started widespread production yet. Two, the first Adams guns were DA-only, so not as accurate. But that was soon fixed and they had more stopping power than the .36 Colts, anyway.

 

[Cosmoline]

OK, here are some stats. Colt made the first lightning in 1877 and had made 73,500 by 1890 and 115,500 by 1900. Colt made 24,600 Model 1878's by 1890 and 43,000 by 1900. The New Army line started in 1892 and by 1900 they'd already made 131,000

To compare, Colt made the first SAA in 1873 and had made 130,000 by 1890 and 192,000 by 1900. So the total of Colt's double action revolver production easily exceeded their SAA production.

Handguns in 19th century America were far less common than they are today, due to their high cost. This didn't change until the inexpensive little break-top .32's broke into the market at the end of the century.

 

[jondar]

I have a 1858 Remington Belt Model revolver and double actions were made before that.

 

[Majic]

I found some old Bonanza westerns on the Internet and have watched a few of them over the last couple of days, and everyone, I mean everyone who carries a revolver has a single action.

You have to understand that everything Hollywood put out wasn't historically accurate. The vast majority of westerns show actors using the Colt SAA when in reality the SAA was a very expensive revolver and few had the money to buy one.

 

[Jim K]

To put what Majic says in perspective, during the "Old West" era, the Colt SAA sold for $16-18 in the mail order catalogs, more at gun stores.

The average "cow poke" made $.50 a day, plus his bunk and food. So he had a choice whether to spend a whole month's pay on a gun, or buy a $2.50 revolver and have enough left for a cleanup, good food and drink, and some female "company" when he got to town. You figure it out.

Jim

 

[CajunBass]

That's what drove my question. I found some old Bonanza westerns on the Internet and have watched a few of them over the last couple of days, and everyone, I mean everyone who carries a revolver has a single action.

Single Actions were also favored for the movies because they allowed the use of easy to handle blank loads, whereas using the more authentic cap and ball guns would have been a real PIR for prop men.

 

[kjeff50cal]

Jim Keenan-

To put what Majic says in perspective, during the "Old West" era, the Colt SAA sold for $16-18 in the mail order catalogs, more at gun stores.

The average "cow poke" made $.50 a day, plus his bunk and food. So he had a choice whether to spend a whole month's pay on a gun, or buy a $2.50 revolver and have enough left for a cleanup, good food and drink, and some female "company" when he got to town. You figure it out.

+100

The average farmer(sod buster) would have a shot gun (usually a singlebarrel or a cheap double in twelve or sixteen gauge) no pistol. The avg. towney IF he carried at all would have a small low priced weapon, H&R (est. in 1871), Iver Johnson, or maybe one of the original saturday night specials imported from Europe (alot came from Britain and Belgium). These guns may have also been chambered in a 'mid-bore (.32 cal) rimfire round.

Heck, in law enforcement the town marshall (or BG) just as likely to have a cap and ball revolver than a Colt or S&W using metallic cartridges.

The Colt Single Action Army Revolver was that the US Army's side arm and it was priced as such. Any one who had one out side of service was either well heeled, a calvary deserter or stole it. It was only after the army selected (poorly) the .38 Colt Double Action Army Revolver (1890s) that the Colt SAA was sold as surplus in any numbers at a price the avg westerner could afford.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Double action revolvers gained wider-spread acceptance in Europe before they did so in America, I believe. The British had adopted a double action, break-top Webley by the early 1880s, and they were prettymuch double action from then on until the the 1940s when they stopped producing revolvers.

 

[Shear_stress]

Single Actions were also favored for the movies because they allowed the use of easy to handle blank loads, whereas using the more authentic cap and ball guns would have been a real PIR for prop men.

Not sure why action type would make a difference when it comes to firing blanks from a revolver. My money would be on the fact that the Colt SAA was one of a relative few "old-timey" wheelguns still in production when the cowboy genre surged in popularity.

 

[MCgunner]

One of my Favorite westerns, "Coniger", Sam Elliot carried a Smith and Wesson top break. In "Pale Rider", Eastwood carried a Remington cartridge conversion with multiple cylinders and a Colt pocket .31 stuffed in his belt. Some of the later westerns are more gun aware.

 

[22-rimfire]

More modern double action handguns really followed the development of the metallic cartridge in 1855 by S&W. There were double actions produced in Europe prior to the Civil War. S&W had the patents on the 22 rimfire and the rimfire design which was widely accepted. The Civil War was a mix of cartridge use for the most part. The Union forces were typically better armed and by later part of the war they were equiped with metallic cartridge firearms.

If you read about the development of handguns in America, Colt and Smith & Wesson were the two dominant forces in terms of development and marketing. As was said, the DA Colt Lightning was introduced in 1877 and Smith had their double action around 1880. The early double action revolvers were fragile and not "modern" by 20th Century standards. Deringers and pocket pistols were quite common in the late 1800's. The truly modern double action was introduced as the Colt New Army in 1892 and it essentially is the same revolver design produced by Colt for many years. Smith followed with their modern design in 1896. Remember, each had patents and other manufactures could not copy them exactly. Colt didn't introduce a 22 rimfire until Smith's patents expired.

The period between 1860 and 1900 was a very exciting time for firearms manufactures. Double actions in my opinion really became popular in the 1890's. The Browning automatic design (1897 Patent) was introduced in 1900 I believe. Exciting times for gun buffs!!

The single actions were considered more reliable. A practiced shooter can shoot a single action army almost as quickly as a double action revolver. The key as it remains today, is accuracy and the willingness to do what has to be done efficiently.

The old westerns popularized the Colt SAA as the gun that won the west. My guess is that a double barreled shotgun actually won the west from a law enforcement perspective. Rifles remained the dominant fighting weapon for wartime use.