The Colt Model 1889 was a revolver produced by the

Colt Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the succ ...

in the late 19th century.

History

In the mid 19th century, Colt manufactured revolvers for the Army and Navy that were based on a design by

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

and Carl J. Ehbets. William Mason left Colt in 1882 to work for Winchester, but Ehbets remained at Colt, and continued to refine the design that they had collaborated on. These refinements led to the Model 1889. Colt was the first manufacturer to produce a revolver with a swing-out cylinder. Smith & Wesson followed seven years later with the Hand Ejector, Model 1896 in .32 S&W Long caliber. This was an improvement over the Colt 1889 design since it used a combined center-pin and ejector rod to lock the cylinder in position. The 1889 did not use a center pin and the cylinder was prone to move out of alignment.

Design features

The Colt Model 1889 was the first

double-action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. *Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action f ...

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 ...

with a swing-out cylinder, released by a sliding latch. This design had two advantages over previous designs as it enabled fast loading but also maintained the strength of a solid frame. The Model 1889 was chambered for the

.41 Long Colt The .41 Long Colt cartridge was created in 1877 for Colt's double-action " Thunderer" revolver. History and description The .41 Long Colt was a lengthened version of the earlier centerfire .41 Short Colt, which was made to duplicate the dimensi ...

.38 Long Colt The .38 Long Colt, also known as .38 LC, is a black powder cartridge introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875. In 1892, it was adopted as a standard military pistol cartridge by the United States Army for the Colt M1892 revolver. The ...

and

.38 Short Colt The .38 Short Colt, also known as .38 SC, was a heeled bullet cartridge intended for metallic cartridge conversions of the cap and ball Colt 1851 Navy Revolver from the American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 � ...

cartridges. The Navy version was blued, and had a six-inch barrel. It was manufactured with hard rubber grips. Civilian versions had either a blue or nickel finish, and had walnut grips. Sometimes it can have ivory grips. The Model 1889 differed from earlier Colt revolvers in that its cylinder rotated counterclockwise instead of clockwise. This seems to have originated with U.S. Navy requirements, however, the direction of rotation worked against the cylinder lock and tended to force the cylinder out of alignment with the barrel. This weakness allowed the cylinder to rotate while holstered or even while the shooter was pulling the trigger.

Use

The Model 1889 and variants were adopted by the

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

and used prior to the introduction of the

M1911 pistol The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...

. The Model 1889 was also sold commercially as the Colt New Army and Navy. Approximately 31,000 Colt Model 1889 revolvers were produced.

References

{{Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt revolvers Guns of the American West

History

Design features

Use

See also

References