Colt Conversion Revolver
The Colt revolver conversion were of the Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co. modified on metal cartridges percussion revolver to by Smith & Wesson and Remington Arms put on the market Hinterlader- revolver to respond. These weapons were assembled from modified parts of percussion revolvers in stock or from newly produced components.
The Rollin White patent
In the 1850s, Colt employee Rollin White developed a revolver loading mechanism. Since Samuel Colt showed no interest in White's mechanism, he left the company and patented his development. The patent drawing showed a drum drilled through completely cylindrical. The patent was issued on April 3, 1855 for 7 years, renewed once and ran until April 3, 1869. The Smith & Wesson company acquired the production rights, but only used the opportunity to manufacture breech loading revolvers for metal cartridges thanks to the fully cylindrical drum. At the end of 1857 the company brought the first revolver for metal cartridges onto the market (see Smith & Wesson No 1 ).
One of Colts' main competitors, Remington Arms , launched its Remington New Model Army and also its smaller models, rebuilt for metal cartridges. For owners of Remington percussion revolvers, a conversion kit for their weapons was also offered. The April 3, 1855 patent inscription on the drum indicates that Remington was licensed for this modification from Smith & Wesson, owner of the Rollin White patent.
All other weapon manufacturers, including Colt, were still bound by patent at this time and could only offer their customers revolvers with non-cylindrical drums. After Rollin White had unsuccessfully applied for an extension of his patent by seven years, it became invalid in April 1869.
It is interesting that Eugene Lefaucheux, son of Casimir Lefaucheux , had the pierced drum patented in France as early as 1854.
Colt Thuer Conversion
Even before 1868, F. Alexander Thuer, an engineer at Colt, developed a revolver that fired metal cartridges (Thuer-Conversion, patents from September 15, 1868; January 4, 1870). The drum of this revolver was drilled through. Since the bore was conical, it did not infringe the Rollin White patent, which only related to cylindrical through-bore cartridge chambers. With the Thuer system, the cartridges with matching, slightly conical sleeves were pressed into the correspondingly conical cartridge chamber from the front so that they held tight. When firing, the cartridge was fired centrally by the firing pin built into the frame. At the same time the hammer hit a rocker arm, which ejected the cartridge case that had previously been fired. The weapon was usually delivered in a box with reloading devices for the cartridges and an additional muzzle-loading drum.
Thuer revolvers were made in all frame sizes, from the .49 Pocket, .51 Navy and .44 Army, all were six-shot. Occasionally long guns were also converted on the basis of the root system with a closed frame and side tap. The structure of the Thuer system was very complicated and expensive. In addition, the function was not satisfactory because the cartridges could come loose when the shocks caused by firing. In total, no more than 5,000 copies of the Thuer revolvers of all frame sizes and calibres were produced between 1868 and 1871.
Early Colt revolver with a cylindrical drilled barrel
It is interesting that after 1869 Colt launched the newly developed cartridge revolver, the Colt House 1871 (4000 pieces), the Open Top Pocket Model cal .22 (3000 pieces) and the Colt Open Top in caliber .44 Henry . Only late after the Rollin White patent had expired, from 1872 to 1878, Colt brought revolvers (conversions) modified for rear loading onto the market. This by his engineers Charles.B. Richards (US Patent No. 117461 July 25, 1871) and William Mason developed conversions of percussion revolvers for the rim or center fire cartridges of that time and were much simpler in construction than the Thuer revolvers. The frames modified from muzzleloading weapons bore the inscription COLTS PATENT on the left, while the newly manufactured frames bore the so-called "Two July" inscription.
Colt Richards Conversion
The weapons that were converted for the US Army and later also newly manufactured were Model 1860 Army Revolvers with an 8 inch barrel. These fired the .44 caliber Martin centerfire cartridges used by the army at the time, which were also used by the one thousand Smith & Wesson Model 3 with a downward-folding barrel that were delivered to the army in March 1871 .
In the Model 1860 Army Richard's Conversion, the rear of the drum was shortened, and the holes that were now exposed were drilled out on the cartridge caliber. A plate was screwed onto the frame behind the drum. This had the loading opening on the right with the loading flap that could be pivoted downwards, the visor was attached at the top. The firing pin in the plate was struck from the flat front of the tap. The original loading device under the barrel has been replaced by a sleeve on the right with the ejector rod inside. At the back this sleeve does not extend to the end of the barrel.
The US Army had a number of their Army 1860 .44 caliber revolvers converted by Colt using the Richards system. The serial numbers of these guns are between 23,000 and 144,000, most of them were assembled with different numbers. These weapons are often troubled muzzle was on a run length of 7 7 / 8 back ground inches, the muzzle is flat. These army weapons were supplied by Colt to the Springfield Armory and bear the acceptance stamp "A" (Orville W. Ainsworth). In addition, Colt converted or manufactured around 9,000 Richards Conversions for the civilian market by 1878 (serial number 1 - approx. 8700).
Colt Richards Mason Conversion
In the later Richards-Mason conversion, too, the rear part of the drum was turned off, and here, too, corresponding drums were newly manufactured. Mason simplified the system, he dispensed with the ignition pin integrated in the plate and attached it directly to the tap. The US Navy decided on the Mason system for their Navy Mod. 1851 and 1861 revolvers in .36 caliber for metal cartridges of the same caliber .38 (.36 replaced by new caliber designation). The original barrels were used, but their caliber was not changed. As with the Richards Conversion, the loading lever was replaced by a device on the right-hand side for ejecting the cases.
Colt Small Frame Conversions
Colt still had parts from Pocket Model 1849 percussion revolvers and their successors Model 1862 Police and Pocket Navy in calibers .31 and .36 in stock for years. The company modified these according to the William Mason system, manufactured them from scratch and sold these breech-loading revolvers, all five-round and in .36 caliber, at low prices. Barrels adopted from earlier weapons were octagonal, newly produced barrels were round, with or without an ejector and loading flap. Percussion revolvers were also manufactured until the 1870s, and these were even cheaper. Private owners of percussion revolvers could have them converted by Colt for little money.
Other Colt percussion revolver conversions
Long before Colt launched its conversions, percussion revolvers were converted into cartridge revolvers. There were no limits to the armourer's imagination. Countless patents and versions of more or less usable weapons flooded the market. Even later, percussion revolvers, also from other manufacturers, were modified by gunsmiths in more or less the same style. All of these weapons fired rim or center fire cartridges loaded with black powder and must under no circumstances be fired with modern ammunition. This also applies to original Colt conversions.
See also
literature
- Robert Q. Sutherland, Robert L. Wilson: The Book of Colt Firearms . Published by Robert Q. Sutherland, Kansas City MO 1971.
- C. Kenneth Moore: Colt. Single Action Army Revolver Study, "New Discoveries" . Andrew Mowbray Inc. Publishers, Lincoln RI 2003, ISBN 1-931464-07-3 .
- John E. Parsons: The Peacemaker and its Rivals. An Account of the Single Action Colt . William Morrow & Co., New York, NY 1950.
- R. Bruce McDowell: A Study of Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolvers . Krause Publications, Iola WI 1997, ISBN 0-87341-446-2 .