Original U.S. Indian Wars Era Colt Model 1860 Army .44cal Percussion Revolver Made in 1867 - Serial 164004

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice .44 caliber percussion, 6 shot round cylinder, 8" barrel Model 1860 Colt Army revolver, made shortly after the U.S. Civil War ended. Gun is in very good used condition showing a lovely patina of age from service and cleaning. This revolver saw extensive service in the "Old West", most likely being used in the Indian Wars on the earliest days of the Western Frontier, sure to delight any Americana Collector. Nice honest used examples like this are getting harder and harder to come by!

The barrel, frame, trigger guard, and grip frame all bear matching serial number 164004. This means that it was produced during Colt’s 1867 production, which ran from approximately #162,000 to #170,000. Produced just a few years after the Civil War, it almost certainly saw use during the post war period into the Indian Wars period in the 1870s. The cylinder and barrel wedge are marked with shortened serial number 4004, however the cylinder arbor pin is marked with 3094, so it looks like it was swapped out at some point. That makes this a very nice "Mostly Matching" example, which had some parts swapped out during service.

The Colt single line address on top of the barrel is present but very worn, with only a few words still fully legible:-

[- ADDRESS COL. SAML] COLT NEW[-YORK U.S.] AMERICA. -

The COLTS PATENT marking is still fully visible on the front left of the frame, and unlike most we see, the markings on the cylinder are actually relatively well retained! The COLT'S PATENT No. marking is almost completely legible next to the serial number. These early Colt revolvers did not have the additional patent dates listed on the frame. The "Naval Engagement Scene" is worn, but still probably retained at 60%, showing overall wear, which is very good, considering most were completely worn away. The 44 CAL marking on the left side of the trigger guard is still crisp. The original walnut grip is still in very good condition, showing wear from service, with the original shape well retained. It does look to have been refinished at some point, and there are some wood filler repairs on the front toe on both sides, a very common place for damage to occur.

The pistol is complete, and actually functions great with accurate indexing and a solid cylinder lockup. We did not notice any of the usual finicky behavior we see on revolvers of this vintage, and there is just a bit of slop due to wear. The revolver still breaks down properly with removal of the barrel wedge, though the barrel to frame connection does have a bit of wobble. The bore is in very good condition, showing clear lands and grooves with a partly bright finish. The "progressive rifling" is still easily discernable, and the revolver looks to have seen moderate use, with cleaning at times to remove fouling and oxidation. All 6 cap nipple cones are present and clear, showing wear and oxidation from use, but no major damage.

This is a very nice service used example of the classic side arm used during the early western frontier days, ready to display!

Specifications:

Year of Manufacture: 1867
Caliber: .44cal
Ammunition Type: Percussion Cap and Ball
Barrel Length: 7 7/8 inches
Overall Length: 14 inches
Action: Single
Feed System: 6 Shot Revolver

The Colt Army Model 1860 is a muzzle-loaded cap & ball .44-caliber revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces.

The Colt 1860 Army uses the same size frame as the .36 caliber 1851 Navy revolver. The frame is relieved to allow the use of a rebated cylinder that enables the Army to be chambered in .44 caliber. the barrel on the 1860 Army has a forcing cone that is visibly shorter than that of the 1851 Navy, allowing the Army revolver to have a longer cylinder. Another distinguishing feature of the Colt 1860 Army, first introduced on the Colt 1855 Sidehammer Revolver, is the "creeping" loading lever.

More than 200,000 were manufactured from 1860 through 1873. Colt's biggest customer was the US Government with no less than 129,730 units being purchased and issued to the troops. The weapon was a single-action, six-shot weapon accurate up to 75 to 100 yards, where the fixed sights were typically set when manufactured. The rear sight was a notch in the hammer, only usable when the revolver was fully cocked.

The Colt .44-caliber "Army" Model was the most widely used revolver of the Civil War. It had a six-shot, rotating cylinder, and fired a 0.454-inch-diameter (11.5 mm) round spherical lead ball, or a conical-tipped bullet, typically propelled by a 30-grain charge of black powder, which was ignited by a small copper percussion cap that contained a volatile charge of fulminate of mercury (a substance that explodes upon being subjected to a sharp impact). The percussion cap, when struck by the hammer, ignited the powder charge. When fired, balls had a muzzle velocity of about 900 feet per second (274 meters/second), although this depended on how much powder one loaded it with.

The unfluted cylinder was 'rebated,' meaning that the rear of the cylinder was turned to a smaller diameter than the front. The barrel was rounded and smoothed into the frame, as was the Navy Model. The frame, hammer, and rammer lever were case-hardened, the remainder blued; grips were of one-piece walnut; and the trigger guard and front grip strap were of brass while the backstrap was blued."

A distinguishing feature of the Model 1860 was that its frame had no top strap, or no component running above the cylinder. Instead, its strength came from the lower frame and the massive fixed cylinder pin. This made the gun slimmer and lighter than its main competitor, the Remington Model 1858, but with a possible loss of strength. The fixed cylinder pin also meant that the barrel had to be removed in order to remove the cylinder, unlike the Model 1858, which only required you to remove the cylinder retaining pin.

History

By April 1861, 2,230 of Colt's earliest production went to dealers south of the Mason-Dixon line. The United States Navy ordered 900 fluted cylinder revolvers in May 1861 later issued to ships enforcing the Atlantic and Gulf blockade. United States Army orders also began in May, and 127,157 had been delivered before a 5 October 1864 fire put Colt's factory out of operation for the duration of hostilities.

Operation

Loading is a somewhat lengthy process, with each of the six chambers drilled into the revolving cylinder being loaded from the front, or "muzzle" end. A measured amount of black powder is poured into a chamber. Next a lead ball is placed at the opening of the chamber and seated by firmly pressing it in with the pivoting loading lever which is attached beneath the barrel of the revolver. For sealing each chamber, an over-size 0.454-inch-diameter (11.5 mm) lead ball is trimmed slightly by the rim of the chamber as the rammer forces it inside. Cap and ball shooters also often place a lubricated wad between balls and powder, or, alternatively, pack lard or a commercially-sold bore lubricant at the mouth of each chamber in an attempt to prevent powder in an adjacent chamber from being ignited by when the gun is fired, which is known as a chainfire.

When the Colt Model 1860 was used by 19th century soldiers, they most often loaded the gun using paper cartridges. These cartridges consisted of a pre-measured load of black powder and a ball, wrapped in nitrated paper (paper that had been soaked in potassium nitrate and then dried, to make it more flammable). To load each chamber, one only had to slip the cartridge into the front of the chamber and seat the ball with the loading lever ram. Then a percussion cap was placed onto the raised aperture, called a nipple, at the back end of the chamber.

The Colt 1860 cost approximately $20 per revolver. This was rather expensive during the 1860s, both for the United States Army and private citizens. Colt had been criticized by this high price, and by 1865 the revolver was reduced to $14.50.

The Colt "Army" revolver is to be distinguished from the Colt "Navy" revolver of which there were two models, the octagonal barrel Model 1851 Navy, and the round-barreled Model 1861 Navy, both Navy models being in the smaller .36-caliber.

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