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The
Colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
M1892
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
and
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
was the first general issue double-action revolver with a swing out cylinder used by the U.S. military.


Overview

In 1892, the revolver was adopted by the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
chambered for
.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 ...
cartridges, and was given the appellation "New Army and Navy". Initial experience with the gun caused officials to request some improvements. This would be an ongoing condition, resulting in Models 1892, 1894, 1896, 1901, and 1903 for the Army, as well as a Model 1895 for the
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
and a Model 1905
Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
variant.


Features

The revolver featured a counter-clockwise rotating cylinder, which could be opened for loading and ejection by simply pulling back on a catch mounted on the left side of the frame behind the recoil shield. It was easily manipulated by the thumb of the right hand, and upon release the cylinder could be poked out sideways with the shooter's forefinger. Empty cases were removed by simply pushing back on an ejector rod to activate a star extractor. The six-shooter could then be quickly reloaded and the cylinder clicked back into place.


Sights

Sights were the basic rounded front blade and topstrap notch. The finish on all military revolvers was blue, though civilian guns could be nickeled or with other special finishes and embellishments.


History and usage

The M1892's counter-clockwise cylinder rotation tended to force the cylinder out of alignment with the frame over time, and this was exacerbated by relatively weak lockwork used to "time", or match individual chambers to the barrel. In 1908, Colt improved and strengthened the lockwork, and changed the cylinder rotation to a clockwise movement. A Model 1892 revolver was recovered from the USS ''Maine'' after it exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898. It was presented to then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, who would later become President of the United States. Roosevelt brandished this pistol to rally his Rough Riders during the famed charge up San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. This revolver was on display at Sagamore Hill and was stolen from there in 1963, recovered and then stolen again in 1990. It was recovered in 2006 and returned to Sagamore Hill on June 14, 2006. This revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints arose from the military concerning the revolver's cartridge chambering. Beginning in 1899, combat reports arose from the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
campaign regarding the poor performance of the M1892's .38-caliber ammunition. Specifically, users complained that the .38 bullet repeatedly failed to stop charging Filipino rebels at close ranges, even when hit multiple times. The complaints caused the U.S. Army to hurriedly issue stocks of .45 caliber revolvers, and played a central role in its decision to replace the M1892 with the .45 Colt M1909 New Service revolver in 1909. In the rush to furnish arms to the rapidly expanding Army and Navy after the United States entered
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, surplus stocks of these old Colts were inspected, refurbished as needed, and then issued to rear-echelon Army troops and Navy officers as a substitute standard
side arm Sidearm, side-arm or Side Arm(s) may refer to: *Sidearm (weapon), a backup weapon *Sidearm (baseball), a baseball throwing technique *Sidearm, a flying disc (Frisbee) throw *'' Side Arms Hyper Dyne'', a 1986 arcade game *AGM-122 Sidearm The ...
.


Modifications and variants

During its service life, the M1892 series received modifications to the basic design, including cylinder lockwork, the addition (in 1894) of an interlock between the cylinder latch and the trigger and hammer, different barrel markings, the addition of a lanyard ring in the Model 1901, and a reduction of bore diameter in the Model 1903 in an effort to increase accuracy.


References


Bibliography

* Official U.S. Army description of the original Army Model 1892 revolver and its
.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 ...
ammunition. * Revised U.S. Army description of the M1892 series of revolvers and their ammunition. (Note the ballistics and trajectory data values in this description, except for muzzle velocity, are ''unchanged'' from the 1893 description, which has a lower muzzle velocity from an older cartridge; therefore this data must be considered as only approximate for the newer revolvers and cartridges.)


External links


The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1903 New Army and Navy
{{commons category, Colt M1892 series New Army and Navy Colt revolvers Revolvers of the United States Double-action revolvers Military revolvers