There is probably no more iconic revolver from the American Civil War era than the US Model 1860 “Army” Percussion Revolver produced by the famous Colt Patent Firearms Company. More Colt “Army” model .44 caliber percussion revolvers were purchased by the US military during the course of the war than any other model. Many of the thousands of Model 1860 Army Revolvers sold commercially during and immediately before the war saw service in the field as well, in the hands of both northern and southern soldiers. 

The revolver was developed by Colt to provide a smaller, lighter, and more streamlined replacement for the .44 caliber “Dragoon” series of revolvers. The revolver essentially utilized the smaller Model 1851 “Navy” revolver frame, coupled with a larger, iron backstrap and grip, a brass triggerguard, an 8” .44 caliber barrel and a rebated, six-chambered cylinder that allowed the .44 cylinder to fit on the .36 caliber frame. While some early production Model 1860 Army revolvers had non-standard features like 7 ½” barrels and fluted cylinders, these guns were produced in very limited quantities and are typically only encountered under serial number 5500 or so. Other minor design modifications took place during the production of the Colt Army revolver, including changing the number of frame screws from four to three, changes to the machining of the frame and other minor improvements. The 1860 Army introduced Colt’s “creeping” loading lever design, which was an improvement over the original toggle link loading lever found on earlier Colt designs. Standard finish was blue on the barrel, cylinder and backstrap, with color casehardened frames, loading levers and hammers. The cylinders were decorated with the same roll engraved scene of the battle between the Texas and Mexican navies that was used on the Model 1851 “Navy” revolver. The blued metal finishes were available in three different grades including a “military finish”, the standard “commercial” finish and “extra finish”. The “military” blue was duller than the standard commercial finish, which was the result of less polishing and final metal preparation prior to finishing, as well as paying somewhat less attention to the actual bluing process. The “extra” finish revolvers received additional polishing and metal surface preparation which helped to achieve a deeper, richer blue finish than the standard commercial finish, but also resulted in less crisp cylinder roll scenes because of the polishing.

Colt produced some 200,500 Army revolvers between 1860 and 1872, making it one of their most successful handgun designs of the 19^th century. During the course of the American Civil War, the US Ordnance Department acquired some 127,157 Colt Model 1860 Army revolvers by direct contract with Colt. These guns were delivered between 1861 and 1863, with no deliveries in 1864 or 1865. Delivery totals for 1861 were 14,500, with 53,702 and 58,955 delivered in 1862 and 1863, respectively.  Many of these US military contract guns were delivered with the duller “military” blued finish. An additional 2,027 Model 1860 revolvers were acquired on the open market by the Ordnance Department from Joseph C Grubb & Co (963) and B. Kittredge & Co (1,064). The initial Ordnance Department contract listed the Colt Army revolvers at a per unit price of $25 each. Subsequent orders were at the much more reasonable prices of $14.50 and $14.00 each, respectively. The fire at the Colt plant on February 4, 1864, and the fact that Remington offered to deliver their “Army” revolvers at a price of just under $12.00 each, were the determining factors for the Ordnance Department deciding not to issue any further contracts to Colt for their 1860 Army revolver after the end of 1863. Even so, the Ordnance Department acquired nearly 65% of the total Colt Model 1860 Army production. More Colt .44 caliber revolvers were acquired by the US military than any other revolver during the course of the war, although the 115,557 .44 caliber revolvers delivered by Remington places that company’s revolver a very close second.

The Spectacular 1862 Production Military Finish Four-Screw Colt US Model 1860 Army Revolver offered here is a spectacular condition example that is a textbook example of what the “military” blued finish looked like when the revolvers were delivered to the government. The gun is a fairly early war production “martial” revolver, manufactured at the beginning of 1862 according to the serial number. The revolver is well marked throughout and has all matching serial numbers, including the wedge. The revolver is serial number 25005, which indicates that it could well have been produced on the first workday at Colt in 1862, as published 1862 production serial numbers ran from approximately #25,000 to #85,000. It is one of the 53,702 revolvers delivered by Colt to the US military under contract during 1862, which means that some 89% of all Colt 1860 Army production was part of government contracts in 1862. The serial number appears in full on the bottom of the barrel, frame, triggerguard and butt, with the last four digits on the cylinder, the wedge, the cylinder arbor pin, and inside the backstrap groove of the grip, written in period ink. The backstrap serial number is only partially visible. A search of the Springfield Research Service Serial Number Books did not find this particular revolver and in fact revealed almost no revolver serial number records close to it. The closest number was #25219, which was issued to Company K of the 11^th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. It is worth noting that Charlie Pate, author of the exhaustive study on these guns, entitled The Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver, suggests that only about 15% of the total US government delivered Colt Army revolvers survive today. That means that only about 19,000 government contract Colt Army revolvers exist today. He further notes that only about 6,000 serial numbers have been located that directly link any specific Colt Army revolver to a specific regiment or person. That means that only about 4% of the government contract Colt Army revolvers can be “identified”. By extrapolation, if only 4% of all of the government contract revolvers can be identified and if only about 19,000 of those contract guns survive, the number of surviving guns that have the potential to be positively identified by serial number to a specific unit or person is only about 900.

As noted, this revolver is a spectacular example of an early war procurement US Ordnance Department delivered Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver. The gun is in truly EXCELLENT condition and retains the large majority of its dull “military” blue finish. The gun was likely part of the 17 September 1861 contract for 25,000 Army revolvers between the Ordnance Department and Colt. The revolver has an early production four-screw frame, a feature that was phased out above about serial number 50,000 in favor of a new three-screw frame. All of the markings remain extremely crisp and sharp, including the cylinder scene. The barrel address is clearly legible and reads in a single line: 

— ADDRESS COL. SAML COLT NEW – YORK  U.S. AMERICA —

The cylinder is marked COLT’S PATENT No 5005 over PAT. SEPT. 10^th 1850. The cylinder retains about 95%+ of the original roll engraved Mexican War naval battle cylinder scene and is extremely crisp. Even the legend ENGAGED 16 MAY 1843 at the front edge of the cylinder remains completely visible and legible. This mark is often worn and barely, if at all legible on fine condition revolvers. The lower left-hand portion of the frame is crisply marked COLT’S/PATENT in two lines. The revolver shows the usual assortment single letter of military sub-inspector marks throughout. The very nice script PB cartouche of principle arsenal sub-inspector Pomeroy Booth is present on the left side of the grip. Booth inspected Colt Army revolvers in the serial number range of 10,7XX through 59,XXX. While a two-cartouche final inspection system had been standard from the 1830s through the beginning of the American Civil War, with a principle civilian sub-inspector providing one cartouche and a US Army Ordnance Officer providing the second or “final acceptance” cartouche, this system was not feasible during the early part of the Civil War. By mid-1862 a dual cartouche inspection system using two civilian sub-inspectors was becoming standard, but early war revolvers were typically delivered with only a single inspection cartouche. A small sub-inspection L is also present on the bottom of the grip.

As noted, the gun is in EXCELLENT condition. The barrel and cylinder retain about 95%+ coverage of the dull military blue finish with some minor thinning and fading and some very minor high edge wear. There is also a very light turn ring through the cylinder stops. The backstrap retains about 75%+ thinning blue, with a streaky appearance due to wear and loss in that location. The frame retains about 95%+ of its vivid mottled case coloring and is very striking. The loading lever has toned to a rich bluish gray color with only some traces of mottled colors on the web and along the lever itself. The hammer has toned in a similar manner but still retains about 30% of the mottled colors, which have dulled and faded. The metal is almost entirely smooth and free of any pitting, with only some minor surface oxidation and roughness at the muzzle, the percussion cone recesses and on the face of the cylinder. There are a handful of minor impact marks in the metal that are typical of a military carried revolver, especially around the wedge slot. The cylinder retains all the original cones (nipples), and they remain in fine, crisp condition. The rear of the cylinder retains all of the safety pins, some of which due show some damage and chipped wear. The gun is in VERY FINE mechanical condition, and times, indexes and locks up exactly as it should, with action remaining very crisp. The creeping style loading lever functions smoothly as well, and locks into place when not in use with only minor wobble. The bore of the pistol is in about VERY FINE condition and retains extremely crisp rifling. The bore is mostly bright with some evenly distributed darker surface oxidation. All the screws appear to be original to the gun. The frame screws are all in wonderful condition and are very crisp, with some retaining most of their fire blued finish and the others showing some fading and dulling. Unfortunately, the triggerguard and grip frame (backstrap) screws show some light slot wear, but they also retain at least some of their finish. The one-piece brass gripstrap and triggerguard has a lovely, medium golden patina. The one-piece wood grip rates VERY FINE and matches the condition of the balance of the gun well as it is very crisp. As previously mentioned, the grip is numbered to the gun in ink, in the backstrap recess, but the marking is only partially. The cartouche is crisp and clear with a small ding in the upper left corner of the box. The grip is solid and shows no breaks, cracks, or repairs. The grip does show some scattered light handling marks, bumps and dings. There is also a very tiny chip missing at the lower leading edge of the left side of the grip. This is so minor that in most cases it would not even be mentioned in a description, but the gun is in such fantastic shape that even the most minor and barely noticeable condition issue is worthy of mention.

Overall, this is a really outstanding, extremely attractive, complete, correct, and original example of a US Ordnance Department Contract Four-Screw Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver. The gun is very well marked and fine mechanically with a wonderful set of grips and an incredible amount of original finish. The fact that this gun has survived some 163 years in this condition is almost impossible to fathom. Every Civil War arms collection needs at least one Colt Army, especially an early delivery martially marked one. This is a stunning no excuses example that is all original and correct and would be nearly impossible to upgrade. This outstanding Colt Army is one that will be extremely happy to display and be very proud to own.

ON HOLD/LAYAWAY