The Colt Revolving Belt Pistol or Navy Pistol, sometimes erroneously referred to as "Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber" or "of Navy Caliber" (Naval is heavy gun and Navy Size Caliber was termed later for another Colt model), is a
cap and ball
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
that was designed by
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of r ...
between 1847 and 1850. Colt first referred to this Revolver as the Ranger Size model, and then Revolving Belt, but the designation "Navy" quickly took over.
After the Civil War, revolvers using fixed metallic cartridges came into widespread use. The Colt Navy remained in production until 1873, being replaced in the Colt line with what would become one of the manufacturer's most famous handguns, the
Colt Single Action Army
The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...
(also known as the ''Peacemaker'' and ''Colt 45'').
Total production numbers of the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver were exceeded only by the Colt Pocket models in concurrent development, and numbered some 215,000 domestic units and about 42,000 produced in the Colt London Armory.
Characteristics
The six-round .36 caliber Navy revolver was much lighter than the contemporary
Colt Dragoon Revolver
The Colt Model 1848 Percussion Army Revolver is a .44 caliber revolver designed by Samuel Colt for the U.S. Army's Regiment of Mounted Rifles. The revolver was also issued to the Army's "Dragoon" Regiments. This revolver was designed as a solution ...
s developed from the .44
Walker Colt revolvers of 1847, which, given their size and weight, were generally carried in saddle holsters. It is an enlarged version of the .31 caliber
Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers
The family of Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers evolved from the earlier commercial revolvers marketed by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, N.J. The smaller versions of Colt's first revolvers are also called "Baby Patersons" by co ...
, that evolved from the earlier
Baby Dragoon, and, like them, is a mechanically improved and simplified descendant of the
1836 Paterson revolver. As the factory designation implied, the Navy revolver was suitably sized for carrying in a belt holster. It became very popular in North America at the time of
Western expansion. Colt's aggressive promotions distributed the Navy and his other revolvers across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The cylinder of this revolver is engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second
Texas Navy
The Texas Navy, officially the Navy of the Republic of Texas, also known as the Second Texas Navy, was the naval warfare branch of the Texas Military Forces during the Republic of Texas. It descended from the Texian Navy, which was established ...
at the
Battle of Campeche on May 16, 1843. The Texas Navy had purchased the earlier
Colt Paterson
The Colt Paterson revolver was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United St ...
Revolver, but this was Colt's first major success in the gun trade; the naval theme of the engraved cylinder of the Colt 1851 Navy revolver was Colt's gesture of appreciation. The engraving was provided by
Waterman Ormsby
Waterman Lily Ormsby (September 9, 1809 – November 1, 1883) was an American engraver and inventor who founded the Continental Bank Note Company and invented a pantographic engraving machine called the grammagraph to produce "roll-die" engraving o ...
.
Despite the "Navy" designation, the revolver was chiefly purchased by civilians and military land forces.
The .36 caliber (0.375–0.380 inch) round lead ball weighs 80 grains and, at a velocity of 1,000 feet per second, is comparable to the modern
.380
The .380 ACP (9×17mm) ( Automatic Colt Pistol) is a rimless, straight-walled pistol cartridge developed by firearms designer John Moses Browning. The cartridge headspaces on the mouth of the case.Wilson, R. K. ''Textbook of Automatic Pist ...
pistol cartridge in power. Loads consist of loose powder and ball or bullet, metallic foil cartridges (early), and combustible paper cartridges (Civil War era), all combinations being ignited by a fulminate
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
applied to the nipples at the rear of the chambers.
A very small number of Navy revolvers were produced in .34 caliber, and are so marked. Another rarity in the 1851 Navy production is the .40 caliber model, only 5 were made in 1858 for testing by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance.
Identifying features of the First Model Squareback (Serial 1 to ~1250) are the wedge screw beneath the wedge and the wedge notch on top of the cylinder pin (Photo Serial No. 2).
Sighting consists of a tapered brass cone front sight pressed into the muzzle end of the top barrel flat with a notch in the top of the hammer, as with most Colt percussion revolvers. In spite of the relative crudity of the sighting arrangement, these revolvers and their modern replicas generally are quite accurate.
Colt 1851 Navy conversions
The first metallic cartridge revolver made by Colt was the Thuer-Conversion Model Revolver, a design that would not require a cylinder with cylindrical chambers so as not to infringe on the
Rollin White
Rollin White (June 6, 1817 – March 22, 1892) was an American gunsmith who invented a single shot bored-through revolver cylinder that allowed paper cartridges to be loaded from the rear of a revolver's cylinder. Because the open breeches were ...
patent. A small number (about 1000–1500) of Model 1851 Navy revolvers were converted, using front-loaded, slightly tapered cartridges to fit the chambers of the cylinder reamed to a slight taper.
After the expiration of the Rollin White patent (April 3, 1869), Colt 1851 (and 1861 Navy) Revolvers were converted or newly made to fire .38 rimfire or centerfire cartridges, the ''Colt Model 1851 Richards- Mason Conversion'' by the Colt factory.
Use
Famous "Navy" users included
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement ...
, William
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
Cody,
John Henry "Doc" Holliday,
Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
,
Ned Kelly
Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
,
Bully Hayes
William Henry "Bully" Hayes (1827 or 1829 – 31 March 1877) was a notorious American ship's captain who engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s.James A. Michener & A. Grove Day, ''Bully Hayes, South Sea Buccaneer'', in ''Rascals in Parad ...
,
Ben Pease
Ben Pease or Benjamin Pease, was a notorious Blackbirding, blackbirder, engaged in recruiting and kidnapping Pacific Islanders to provide labor for the plantations of Fiji.
Pease was born in 1834 in Edgartown, Massachusetts. He was youngest of s ...
,
Blackbirders,
Metis
Metis or Métis may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...
,
Seth Kinman
Seth Kinman (September 29, 1815 – February 24, 1888) was an early settler of Humboldt County, California, a hunter based in Fort Humboldt, a famous chair maker, and a nationally recognized entertainer. He stood over tall and was known for h ...
,
Emir Abdelkader
Abdelkader ibn Muhieddine (6 September 1808 – 26 May 1883; ar, عبد القادر ابن محي الدين '), known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abdelkader El Hassani El Djazairi, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggl ...
,
Boer Commando
The Boer Commandos or "Kommandos" were volunteer military units of guerilla militia organized by the Boer people of South Africa. From this came the term "commando" into the English language during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 as per Costica ...
,
Richard H. Barter
Richard H. Barter (1833 – July 11, 1859), known as "Rattlesnake Dick", was born in Quebec, Canada. Around 1850, he came to California and tried his luck at mining. Turning outlaw during the California Gold Rush, he joined a gang that was known fo ...
,
Charlie Goodnight,
Robert E. Lee,
Nathan B. Forrest,
John O'Neill,
Frank Gardiner
Frank Gardiner (1830 – c. 1882) was an Australian bushranger who gained infamy for his lead role in the a robbery of a gold escort at Eugowra, New South Wales in June 1862. It is considered the largest gold heist in Australian history. Gard ...
,
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
,
Quantrill's Raiders
Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as "bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank.
Ea ...
,
Tom Bell,
Kootenay Brown
John George Brown (10 October 1839 – 18 July 1916), better known as "Kootenai" Brown, was an Irish-born Canadian polymath, soldier, trader and conservation advocate.
Early life
John George Brown was born and educated in Ennistymon, County Clar ...
,
Ivan Turchin
Ivan Vasilyevich Turchaninov (rus. Иван Васильевич Турчанинов); December 24, 1822 – June 18, 1901) better known by his Anglicised name of John Basil Turchin, was a Union Army brigadier general in the American Civ ...
,
John Coffee "Jack" Hays,
"Bigfoot" Wallace,
Frederick Townsend Ward
Frederick Townsend Ward (; November 29, 1831September 22, 1862) was an American sailor and soldier of fortune known for his military service in Imperial China during the Taiping Rebellion.
Early life and education
Ward was born in Salem, Massa ...
,
Ben McCulloch
Brigadier general, Brigadier-General Benjamin McCulloch (November 11, 1811 – March 7, 1862) was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger Division, Texas Ranger, a Major general (United States), major-general in the Texas militia and t ...
,
Addison Gillespie,
John "Rip" Ford
John Salmon Ford (May 26, 1815 – November 3, 1897), better known as "Rip" Ford, was a member of the Republic of Texas Congress and later of the State Senate, and mayor of Brownsville, Texas. He was also a Texas Ranger, a Confederate colonel, d ...
,
"Sul" Ross and most
Texas Rangers prior to the Civil War.
Use continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers were introduced.
The Ottoman Empire used the revolver as late as the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 even though it was quite antiquated compared to the Russians'
Smith & Wesson Model 3
The Smith & Wesson Model 3 is a single-action, Cartridge (firearms), cartridge-firing, Revolver#Top break, top-break revolver produced by Smith & Wesson (S&W) from around 1870 to 1915, and was recently again offered as a reproduction by Smith & W ...
.
Fictional movie character
The Man With No Name
The Man with No Name ( it, Uomo senza nome) is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few Dollars More'' (196 ...
also uses a Navy conversion in ''
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...
''.
File:Cartridgebox.jpg, Combustible paper cartridges; six to a box
File:Colt pegs.jpg, Safety peg between cylinder chambers
File:Coltdiag.jpg, Post 1851 Colt Revolvers
File:Loadseq.jpg, Loading sequence for percussion revolvers
File:Colt Navy 51 Squarebeck.JPG, Early Colt Navy Mod 1851, Second Model squareback trigger guard
File:Colt Navy 51 engraved.JPG, Colt Navy 51, Gustav Young
Gustav Young (September 10, 1909 – March 19, 1969) was a prominent civil rights leader in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1932, Young was one of only three blacks in East Baton Rouge Parish registered to vote. He was a member of the board of director ...
engraving
File:Colt Navy 51 Conversion - Colt Open Top 1872.JPG, Top: Navy 51 .38 Conversion, below Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top
File:Lincolns-guns-gifted to abdelkader.jpg, A pair of Colt 1848 Dragoon sent by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
to Emir Abdelkader
Abdelkader ibn Muhieddine (6 September 1808 – 26 May 1883; ar, عبد القادر ابن محي الدين '), known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abdelkader El Hassani El Djazairi, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggl ...
for having protected Christians in the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war
The 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus (also called the 1860 Syrian Civil War) was a civil conflict in Mount Lebanon during Ottoman rule in 1860–1861 fought mainly between the local Druze and Christians. Following decisive Druze ...
.
References
Bibliography
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External links
The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 NavyThe Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 Navy with Johnson-Holbrook Shoulder Stock DeviceThe Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 NavyThe Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 NavyThe Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 Navy
{{USCWWeapons
American Civil War weapons
Revolvers of the United States
Colt revolvers
Weapons of the Confederate States of America
Single-action revolvers
Black-powder pistols
Early revolvers
Guns of the American West
Weapons of the Russian Empire
Revolvers of the Russian Empire
Weapons of the Ottoman Empire
Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom
Texas Ranger Division
Police weapons
Military revolvers
Revolvers of the United Kingdom