In 1857, the firm of E. Remington & Sons of introduced their first percussion revolver. Since the founding of the firm in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington, the company had concentrated on the production of gun parts, primarily rifle barrels, and then long arms. In 1856, with the addition of Remington’s three sons to the business, the firm officially became E. Remington & Sons. The following year, their first revolver was ready for sale, the Remington-Beals Pocket Revolver. This was the invention of Remington employee Fordyce Beals. Beals had been instrumental in the production of the Jenks carbine contract, and he had actually been acquired from Ames, as had the machinery, as part of the negotiated arrangement between Remington and Ames. Beals’ design was a compact, single action, .31 caliber revolver that bore a resemblance to the “Walking Beam” revolver then in production by Whitney. This should come as no surprise as the Whitney revolver was based upon Beals’ 1854 patent which evaded Colt’s patent protection of his pistol’s mechanism. In 1856, Beals patented the features that were salient to his new Remington revolver, and in 1858 patented the cylinder pin and loading lever system that would define the silhouette of all the large-frame Remington handguns for some three decades, through the Model 1875 which would remain in the product line through 1889.

Beals’ 1858 patent (#21,478) was granted on September 14^th of that year and covered the winged cylinder arbor pin that secured the cylinder to the frame, which was retained by the loading lever located under the barrel and could be withdrawn from the frame only when the lever was lowered. Thus, began the evolution of the second most used US marital revolver of the American Civil War. The first guns were produced in .36 caliber and production started to roll off the assembly line during late 1860 or early 1861. The .36 caliber “Navy” revolver was followed by a .44 caliber “Army” variant soon thereafter. By the time Beals-Navy production ended in 1862, some 15,000 of the handguns had been produced, while only about 2,000 of the larger “Army” revolvers were manufactured, before the William Elliot “improved” Model 1861 pattern Remington revolvers (also known to collectors as the “Old Model”) superseded the Beals model. 

The Beals Navy Revolver was Remington’s first large frame, martial handgun to make it into production. The earlier Beals “Army”, a scaled-up version of the pocket model, was only produced as a prototype and it is believed that less than 10 were manufactured. The Beals Navy was a single action, 6-shot revolver with a nominally 7 ½” octagonal barrel that was screwed into the solid frame. While most references list the barrel length as nominally 7 ½” some of the earlier examples measure closer to 7 3/8” in length. The guns were blued throughout, with brass triggerguards and a color casehardened hammer. The gun had two-piece smooth walnut grips, secured by a screw that passed through German silver escutcheons. The rear sight was a groove in the topstrap of the frame and a cone shaped German silver front sight was dovetailed into the top of the barrel near the muzzle. There were a number of differences between the Beals model and the later production “Old Model” 1861 and the final “New Model” 1863 revolvers. The most obvious visual differences were the “high spur” hammer and the fact that frame concealed the barrel threads at the rear of the barrel. Shortly after the “Old Model” 1861 went into production, these features were eliminated. A relief cut in the frame revealing the threads at the barrel’s end was added to reduce the possibility of cylinder lock up due to fouling and a lower spur hammer was eventually adopted to reduce the potential for breakage. The system of retaining the cylinder arbor pin via the loading lever evolved as well. While the Beals revolver required the lever to be lowered to withdraw the pin, the Elliot’s Model 1861 included a relief cut in the top of the lever that allowed the pin to be pulled forward with the lever in its upright and locked position. This was considered an improvement, and the feature was patented by Remington employee William Elliot, who would be responsible for a number of successful Remington firearms designs. This “improvement” proved to be a failure in the field, as the arbor pin could slide forward in the relief cut under recoil. When this happened, the cylinder often locked up, making the revolver useless. An eventual “fix” was developed for this potentially fatal flaw. A filister head screw was added to the inside of the loading lever’s groove that acted as a stop against the cylinder pin. This meant that the lever again had to be lowered to remove the pin, essentially returning the design to the original Beals concept and nullifying Elliot’s improvement. 

The Beals models did not have safety notches on the rear of the cylinder that would allow the hammer to be safely dropped and locked between cylinder chambers. This feature was added to the Model 1861 and 1863 revolvers. Other minor evolutions occurred as well, including making the loading lever slightly larger and more robust. As the Beals was the first of the large frame martial Remington revolvers it underwent some changes and improvements during its production. 

The US government had been relatively pleased with the original Beals Navy design and had obtained some 11,249 of the 15,000 Beals Navy revolvers that were produced. The purchases had been a combination of direct contract with Remington combined with open market purchases of some 7,250 revolvers that would not pass through a government inspection process. In June of 1862, the Ordnance Department let a contract for 5,000 additional “Navy” caliber revolvers to Remington. The guns delivered under this contract appear to have been a combination of late Remington Beals Navy revolvers and the new Model 1861 Elliot revolvers. The serial numbering of the Model 1861 revolvers continued from the Beals Navy revolvers, with the numbers mixing somewhat randomly at the end of Beals production and the beginning of Model 1861 production. This can probably be attributed to the using up of older parts on hand, thus the existence of “transitional” Remington Navy revolvers that include a mix of older and newer features. Between August and December of 1862, a total of 5,001 .36 Remington Revolvers were delivered under this contract. Due to reports of issues in the field with the new Elliott Model 1861 revolvers, modifications and improvements occurred during the production of the “Old Model” Navy revolvers, which eventually morphed into the “New Model” or Model 1863 revolvers. Interestingly after finally getting the Remington Navy design to its pinnacle, no additional .36 caliber revolvers would be purchased from Remington by the Ordnance Department after the final December 1862 deliveries. Instead, the US military decided to concentrate on the acquisition of .44 caliber percussion revolvers and a large number of the New Model 1863 Army revolvers would be acquired between 1863 and 1865. In fact, roughly 80,000 New Model Army revolvers were purchased during the last two years of the war, while Remington would only produce about 22,000 New Model Navy percussion revolvers from the time of their introduction until the summer of 1871 when percussion production of that model came to a halt. In all some 148,000 “Army” sized Remington revolvers of all variants were produced with only about 48,000 of the “Navy” sized guns produced during the same period.

With the end of the Civil War, the US military found itself in possession of hundreds of thousands of percussion revolvers that it no longer needed, and almost immediately started the process of selling off nearly all of the “secondary” percussion revolvers, those not produced by Colt or Remington. The Ordnance Department also realized that the day of the percussion revolver was over, and that metallic cartridges had made percussion arms obsolete. The success of the Spencer Rifles and Carbines, as well as the Henry Rifle had proven the reliability of metallic cartridges, but a patent controlled by Smith & Wesson had essentially prevented military caliber metallic cartridge revolvers from being developed. Smith & Wesson held the rights to Rollin White’s patent on the bored-through cylinder, a concept that was the very heart of metallic cartridge revolver design. Smith & Wesson aggressively defended the patent, and it was their legal efforts that had prevented companies like Allen & Wheelock and Merwin & Bray (Moore’s Patent Revolvers) from marketing cartridge revolver designs that had the potential to be quite successful. As the US Ordnance Department started looking for ways to modernize and alter their stock of percussion revolvers to cartridge at the end of the Civil War, they also started looking for a new cartridge revolver design. However, the Rollin White patent had effectively tied the hands of the major handgun contractors like Colt and Remington in developing the next generation of military handguns. Colt attempted to circumvent the patent with their front-loading Thuer conversion of Colt percussion revolvers, but Remington took the path of least resistance. In 1868, they agreed to pay a royalty to Smith & Wesson for the right to use the Rollin White patent. Remington would continue to pay this royalty until the expiration of White’s patent protection in April of the following year. During that time, Remington would produce 4,574 cartridge revolvers with bored-through cylinders, getting a jump on Colt in the cartridge revolver market.

Remington would go on produce three primary variations of their New Model Army Revolver, altered to metallic cartridge. These were also their earliest alteration revolvers, as the desire to receive US military contracts encouraged the firm to concentrate on the production of .44 caliber guns rather than .36-.38 caliber guns. The first two variations of the Army alteration were rimfire revolvers, a 5-shot .46 caliber gun and then a 6-shot .44 caliber gun. The final version would be a 6-shot .44 centerfire cartridge, based upon the Martin patent, which Remington brought to market circa 1870 and remained in production through the introduction of their Model 1875 Army Revolver, Remington’s cartridge revolver developed to compete with Colt’s Model 1873 Single Action Army. However, a much smaller number of the Remington Navy revolvers, both “Old Model 1861 Elliot Revolvers and New Model Navy revolvers were either altered to cartridge from percussion or, in the case of the New Model Navy revolvers, actually produced as cartridge revolvers. 

The production of cartridge altered Remington New Model Navy Revolvers started between the summer of 1871 and early 1873 and appears to have started around serial number 36,000. These alterations continued through about serial number 42,000 and after that the guns were produced as cartridge revolvers and were not alterations. Production of the guns continued through about serial number 48,000 when the manufacture of New Model Navy revolvers ended. The cartridge guns were chambered for the .38 rimfire cartridge and retained the original percussion bore that was nominally .357” in diameter. This is why modern “38 caliber” cartridges still use .357” bullets. The “38” caliber designation was a reference to the diameter of the cartridge casing and not the bullet itself. The guns had their percussion cylinders machined to remove the percussion portion at the rear, leaving the cylinder ratchet in place and creating bored through chambers. New safety notches were machined in the upper rear of the cylinder where the nose of the modified rimfire hammer could rest. A new recoil plate was added to the rear of the frame and a loading gate was added as well. Finally, an ejector rod was added on the right side of the gun, with a sleeve added to the frame that secured an L-shaped rod that was tensioned with a spring and had a checkered tab at the operating end. The rod was secured against the bottom of the barrel when not in use with the web of the loading lever machined to retain the ejector rod. The altered guns retained their original serial numbers but had an additional set of alteration assembly numbers added under the barrel, on the edge of the left grip frame under the grips and sometimes in the grips themselves. In addition to assembling New Model Navy percussion revolver parts as cartridge revolvers and altering unsold New Model Navy percussion revolvers to cartridge, some guns that had previously been sold as percussion gun were returned to the factory for conversion to cartridge as well.

The Engraved Remington Elliot “Old Model” Navy Cartridge Conversion Revolver offered here is in about FINEcondition overall. The gun is serial number 20,973, towards the end of Model 1861 Elliot Navy production, as the production of New Model Navy revolvers started around serial number 23,000, and the New Model revolvers were numbered consecutively with the earlier model. Research indicates that the only conversions to cartridge of previously produced percussion Beals and Elliot Navy revolvers occurred circa 1875, when the US Navy sent 1,000 Beals and Elliot Navy revolvers to Remington to be converted to .38 centerfire by Remington’s “improved design”, which included the loading gate and ejector rod modifications. The only commercial sales of cartridge converted Remington Navy revolvers were of the New Model Navy revolvers. Thus, this gun was part of the 1,000 sent to Remington for alteration in 1875. A close examination of the revolver reveals “B” sub-inspection marks on the left side of the barrel and frame, confirming that this gun has previously been a US military revolver. These marks are somewhat light due to the refinishing of the revolvers that took place at the Remington factory during the alteration process.

The revolver is 100% complete, correct, and original in every way. It retains the factory Remington cartridge cylinder, the Remington ejector rod system and the Remington recoil shield and back plate with loading gate that were used on the cartridge revolvers. The gun retains much of its original factory applied blued finish from the refurbishment during the conversion process. As noted, the gun is serial number 20973 and that number is found on the left side of the frame, under the grip and under the barrel. The grips have illegible pencil serial numbers that likely mate them to the gun. There are no conversion mating numbers on the gun, which is not uncommon on Remington Navy alterations. As mentioned, martial sub-inspection “B” marks are present on the barrel and on the frame. The top of the octagonal barrel is marked in two lines:

PATENTED DEC. 17, 1861

MANUFACTURED REMINGTONS’ ILION N.Y.

This is the standard “Old Model” barrel marking and reference’s Elliot’s patent in the patent date. The marking is slightly weak, particularly the second line, due to the polishing prior to the factory refinishing as part of the conversion process.

As noted, the gun retains a large amount of its original applied factory blued finish. The barrel retains about 90%+, with scattered surface oxidation, some freckles of discoloration and some small areas of minor surface roughness. Most of the finish loss on the barrel is due to thinning, fading and high edge wear, along with some minor flaking. The cylinder retains about 85%+ of its factory blue, again showing some thinning and fading, some small areas of flaked loss and some wear like a turn ring through the cylinder stop slots. The frame retains the least amount of blue, with moderate amounts of flaked loss. It retains about 70%+ of its finish, with the backstrap and gripstrap retaining only tracs of blue and having developed a moderately oxidized brownish-gray patina. Overall, the gun rates about 80%+ in terms of remaining period finish. While the revolver is free of any real pitting, some of the areas of oxidation do show some moderate roughness. There is also a moderate amount of freckled pinpricking and light pitting at the muzzle. The hammer retains about 70%+ of its original mottled case coloring, with a dulled and muted mottled bluish-gray mottled appearance. Most of the screws retain at least strong traces of their original fire blued finish, while some of the screws retain the majority of that blue. The screwheads remain relatively crisp with only some light slot wear noted. The brass triggerguard has a lovely dull golden patina. As noted, some of the markings are weak due to the factory refinish but still remain mostly legible. The bore of the revolver is in VERY GOOD condition and is mostly bright, with excellent rifling present. The bore shows a moderate amount of scattered oxidation along its length with some light to moderate pitting here and there. The action of the revolver is mechanically excellent, and the gun times, indexes and locks up exactly as it should. The original Remington factory cartridge ejector system is in place and functions as it should. The grips are in FINE condition. They are smooth oil finished walnut, standard for military revolvers, rather than the varnished grips typical of civilian guns. The grips were probably replaced during the conversion and refurbishment, so if they were cartouched when the gun was originally acquired by the Ordnance Department, they would not show those marks now. The grips show a number of scattered minor bumps, dings and mars, but are free of any breaks, cracks or repairs. They are also free of any significant chips, although there are a couple of tiny chips missing at the sharp lower, leading edges. A small tack hole is present in the right grip, below the screw escutcheon and may have held an identification or collection tag at some point in time.

Overall, this is a really very nice condition example of a rare Factory Converted Remington Old Model Elliot’s Patent Navy Revolver. The gun is 100% complete and correct, remains extremely crisp, is mechanically functional and has a lovely bore. None of the cartridge converted Remington Navy revolvers were produced in any great numbers, but most that are encountered are of the New Model Navy variety. Only the 1,000 mixed group of Beals’ and Elliot’s patent Remington Navy revolvers sent to Remington by the Navy in 1875 were altered in this fashion, so they are extremely rare. It is worth remembering that Remington produced about 3 of the “Army” size revolvers for every “Navy” they manufactured, and the US Government acquired 100,000 more “Army” revolvers from Remington than they did “Navy” revolvers. These Navy altered Navy revolvers rarely appear on the market for sale and when they do, they are rarely in such nice condition. It is not clear how long these guns ended up remaining in the Navy’s small arms arsenal after the alteration, but it is likely they remained in service like their .38 Long Colt converted Colt Model 1851 and 1861 Navy revolvers did, until the adoption of the Colt Model 1892 Double Action Revolver. For any serious collector of early cartridge military guns, these cartridge conversion revolvers provide a fertile field of study and numerous variations to collect, and this would be a great gun for such a collection. For an advanced Remington collector this would be a fantastic addition to their collection, as less than 1,000 Remington Old Model Navy revolvers were so altered. No matter your area of specialization, I am quite convinced you will be extremely pleased with this gun in terms of rarity and condition, and you will be very proud to display it.

ON HOLD/LAYAWAY