The story of the Sharps Percussion Pocket Revolver is shrouded in some degree of mystery and not a lot is known about the revolvers from a developmental standpoint. Even specific production dates and the total numbers of the revolver that were built are unclear, with most of the published information being the result of conjecture and supposition.

The Sharps Percussion Pocket Revolver was marketed as the Sharps Six-Shooter and was apparently produced circa 1857-1860. The lack of complete surviving factory records makes it difficult to make many definitive statements about the production of these guns. However, it is known that the six-spindle drill needed to cut the cylinder chambers was not acquired until October 2, 1856, making late 1856 the earliest time that production of the guns could have commenced. Surviving specimens and their serial numbers suggest that about 2,000 of the guns were produced. However, their lack of availability on the collector market suggests that production may well have been lower and like some other gun makers of the period, Christian Sharps may have skipped some serial numbers when producing the guns to create the illusion that more of the guns had been produced than were really made. Additionally, it has been noted that there are significant gaps in the serial numbers of extant examples, again suggesting that some serial number ranges were simply skipped during production. The guns were produced under the C. Sharps & Co. name which was utilized by Christian Sharps’ company in Philadelphia circa 1857-1859. This firm is not to be confused with the Sharps Rifle Company of Hartford, CT. Although that company produced the famous Sharps rifles and carbines of the Civil War era and that saw use in the Old West by buffalo hunters, Christian Sharps had been forced out of that company by other partners and struck out on his own in Philadelphia. In 1860 Sharps added William Hankins to his Philadelphia firm and make him a named partner in 1862, forming Sharps & Hankins. As a result, we can place the production of these revolvers in the period between the adoption of the “C. Sharps & Co.” name in 1857 and creation of Sharps & Hankins in 1862.

Sharps had been considering the production of handguns, particularly multi-barrel pistols, for some time. The original design was for a four-barreled percussion pistol that utilized a rotating firing pin disc that Sharps would later employ in his very successful line of four-barrel cartridge pepperbox revolvers. Only two prototypes of the percussion pepperbox were produced, and production did not proceed for numerous reasons, not the least of which was that this bulky handgun was not able to compete with the Colt Pocket Model percussion revolver. It was likely that Sharps turned his attention to a more conventional design at this point in time.

The revolver that Sharps designed was very similar to the Smith & Wesson Model No 1 then in production but was a percussion design rather than a cartridge handgun. This choice was likely made to avoid running afoul of the bored-through cylinder patent of Rollin White, which was controlled by Smith & Wesson. The Sharps revolver was a tip up design a hinged barrel section that could be released to tip up, allowing the removal of the cylinder from the frame. The gun was a single action, spur trigger affair with a square butt that looked very much like an oversized Smith & Wesson Model No 1. The cylinder was revolved via a ratchet that was contained in the frame, and which engaged the rear face of the cylinder via a pin. This same system had been used to rotate the cylinders of Colt’s Paterson revolving firearms, was used on the Smith & Wesson Model No 1 design and had been used by Massachusetts Arms, Springfield Arms Company and a variety of other American revolver makers during the 1850s. It was simpler to machine and not as expensive to produce as the machined ratchet on the rear face of the cylinder which was standard on Colt firearms from the Walker onwards. The downside to the system was that with only a single, off-center point of contact between rotating ratchet and the cylinder, the action did not always deliver the torque needed to rotate the cylinder, particularly if the revolver was fouled. This issue was apparently something Sharps attempted to address, as an attempt to use an integral ratchet on the rear face of the cylinder was attempted but apparently abandoned. According to Frank Sellers’ research, only two examples of an integral ratchet Sharps percussion revolver are known to exist, and one is incomplete.

The Sharps Percussion Pocket Revolver was produced in .25 caliber with a six-chambered unfluted cylinder and a 3” ribbed octagonal barrel. The standard finish was blued with a color casehardened hammer and smooth two-piece grips of either rosewood or walnut. A brass post was utilized for the front sight and no rear sight was included in the design. Rifling was six-groove with a right-hand twist. Two types of cylinder stops were utilized. In both cases the actual mechanism was located in the topstrap of the revolver as it was with the Smith & Wesson designs of the era. The most common version allowed the percussion cap recesses to do double duty as cylinder stop slots, with the stop stud from the topstrap engaging this recess to align the chambers and the barrel. This was a somewhat sloppy system and did not always result in the tightest lock up. Some guns were produced with machined stop slots in the cylinder, but they are not common and were apparently only produced in small numbers. The standard markings were C. SHARPS & CO PHILA PA either in small letters on the top of the barrel rib or in larger letters on the left flat of the barrel. A small number of variants are known marked WM BRYCE & CO NEW YORK. This was the mark of one of the two distributors of Sharps revolvers, William Bryce. The other distributor was F.G. Wheeler, also of New York. Like most revolvers of the time which were assembled with at least a modicum of hand fitting, the major parts were typically serial numbered, including the frame, cylinder, barrel and grips.

The example of the Rare Sharps “Six Shooter” Percussion Pocket Revolver offered here is in about GOODcondition. The revolver is serial number 961, placing it in the middle of the production of these guns, if the estimated production figures can be believed. The ribbed 3” octagonal barrel is marked in a single line on the left flat:

C. SHARPS & Co PHILA. PA.

The revolver is otherwise unmarked, with the exception of the serial number 961, which is found on the bottom of the butt, on the side of the cylinder, on the rear face of the barrel web and stamped inside the right grip. The gun retains no finish and has a dull smoky gray patina on the barrel which hints at the blue on the barrel web, and a more silvery, dull pewter patina on the frame. The metal was likely cleaned in the past and the barrel marking is a little weak but remains fully legible. The metal shows some scattered oxidized surface discoloration, as well as some areas of lightly scattered pitting. The revolver utilizes the standard cylinder stop system, which engages the cap recess. This allows some play in the cylinder when it is indexed, and the hammer is cocked. Despite this play, the action of the revolver functions as it should and the revolver times, indexes and locks up as it should. The bore is fair at best, moderately oxidized and with moderately pitted along its length, with visible rifling. The grips show moderate wear, with the left grip being an old, well-made replacement from walnut. The right grip is the original factory rosewood grip and is numbered to the gun. The grips show scattered bumps, dings and mars that are typical of a 150+ year old revolver.

Overall, this is a solid example of a fairly scarce Sharps firearm, the Sharps “Six Shooter.” The guns were produced in small numbers and for a relative short period of time and do not appear to have ever achieved any real traction in the market. Production was no doubt abandoned to concentrate on the very successful Sharps four-barrel pepperbox designs and to produce Sharps & Hankins long arms during the American Civil War. This is one of those scarce guns that even advance Sharps collectors often do not have in their collections. It would fit well in a Sharps collection or any collection of percussion pocket revolvers from the Civil War era.

ON HOLD