Colt Double Action Revolver Model 1877 and 1878
After Colt discovered that more and more double-action revolvers were being offered on the American market, mainly English Webley revolvers , but also Belgian makes, the management decided to bring their own products onto the market. First, a small gun in the style of the European bull dog revolver was developed, the Colt Lightning Model 1877 , a year later the larger Colt Double Action Model 1878 was also launched.
Colt Double Action Model 1877
In 1877, Colt released the company's first double-action revolver, the Colt Lightning Model of 1877 . This revolver was offered in calibers .32, .38 and .41 long and short in various barrel lengths, mostly 3½, 4½ and 6 inches. The Lightnings manufactured at the beginning of production did not have an ejector, but the front part of the drum axle was long and ribbed so that it could be easily pulled out and used as an ejector. The short-barreled models produced later also had no ejector. From a barrel length of 4½ inches, an ejector that is basically the same as that of the Single Action Model 1873 was used. The company Kittredge & Co. in Cincinnati, where the name Peacemaker is attributed to the Single Action, sold the .38 Lightning for $ 17 and the .41 caliber Thunderer for $ 18 (on the same Kittredge price list of 1878 the Peacemaker is available for $ 16.50). Despite the complicated and unreliable mechanism, over 166,000 of these weapons were sold between 1877 and 1909. The Rainmaker , made in the .32 caliber, was unsuccessful on the market and production was discontinued after a few copies. One of the most famous bearers of the Colt Lightning was Billy the Kid .
Colt Double Action Model 1878
On the advice of Colt agent Baron von Oppen in London, Colt launched the Model 1878 Double Action Frontier Revolver a year later . It was primarily intended as a competitor for the Webley, Tranter and other double actions, which were successful in the English market. The Colt 1878 fired the same cartridges as the Single Action Army , the barrel and ejector came from the same production and the drum had the same dimensions. Many of these guns were sold to England and the colonies in the English .450, .455 Webley, and .476 calibers, but most were sold in America in the American standard .45 Colt , .44-40 WCF , .38-40 WCF and .32-20 WCF , although they were significantly more expensive than the Colt Single Action. For example, a Model 1878 Revolver named “Omnipotent .45” by Kittredge cost 25 US dollars; nickel-plated with ivory handle scales even US $ 28.50, while the Single Action sold for US $ 16.50.
Colt manufactured 51,210 of these revolvers between 1878 and 1905. This model was replaced by the more and more successful weapons with a swing-out drum from 1900.
Colt Philippine Constabulary Model 1902
As a result of the Spanish-American War , the Philippines was assigned to the United States of America in the Paris Treaty of December 10, 1898, and thus an American overseas possession . However, since the Philippines had already declared itself an independent state on June 12, 1898, an uprising against the new colonizers broke out in 1899 , which according to official information lasted until July 4, 1902, but did not actually end until June 15, 1913.
Since the man-stopping effect of the new Colt Model 1892 army revolver in .38 caliber was not enough against the fanatical Moros, the US troops used the shortened Colt Single Action Army revolver, which was already used in the Spanish-American War. The American-organized Philippine Constabulary under the command of Brigadier General Henry Trueman Allen was armed with single-shot Springfield carbines ; Colt DA Model 1878 revolvers were intended for the higher ranks.
Since the primers of the .45 army cartridge were more impact-resistant than those in civil ammunition for safety reasons, the army tests misfired. At the request of the army, stronger mainsprings had to be installed to solve the problem, which resulted in the trigger resistance being significantly increased during double-action shooting. To correct this, a longer trigger was installed, which required a larger trigger guard. Since the 1878 revolver had a separate trigger guard, it was easy and cheap to replace it with a larger guard. The often heard name Alaskan Model comes from the fact that the weapon can also be operated with thick gloves. An exchange of letters between Colt and the US Army shows that this designation is incorrect.
A first series of 5000 pieces of the Double Action Model of 1902 was produced and in 1904 another 50 were added. All of these revolvers had a 6-inch (152 mm) barrel and fired the .45 black powder cartridge. US is stamped on the front right of the frame, on the left above the grip is the inspector's mark RAC for the sub-inspector Rinaldo A. Carr, on the opposite side is JTT for the chief inspector John T. Thompson , the later inventor of the Thompson submachine gun . Most of these revolvers can be found in good to unused condition, which indicates that they have not been used.
Others
Since drums from the Colt Double Action Model 1878 were still in stock, these were reworked and used for Colt Single Action Revolvers from 1913 . Externally, these revolvers differ in that they have longer millings on the drum, a non-continuous bushing in the central bore of the drum and a finer surface polish. A total of 1379 of these revolvers were produced in the common calibers between serial numbers 330001 and 331480.
See also
literature
- Robert Q. Sutherland, Robert L. Wilson: The Book of Colt Firearms . sn, Kansas City MO 1971.
- Joseph G. Rosa: Colonel Colt, London. The History of Colt's London Firearms, 1851-1857 . Arms and Armor Press et al., London 1976, ISBN 0-85368-350-6 .
- Don Wilkerson: Colt's Double Action Revolver Model of 1878 . Walsworth, Marceline MO 1998, ISBN 0-9617876-4-3 .