Although it was intended as a new sidearm for the Cavalry in 1860: The new Colt .44 caliber revolver turned out to be a rather unobtrusive carbine
Shoulder-mounted revolvers have been used by the U.S. Cavalry since the 1850s when Colt’s 44-caliber Dragoon third model was made available with a detachable carbine mount.
Shown with a handmade presentation box, the pairs of Model 1860 Army revolver shoulder stocks are a trio of F.lli Pietta models with fully fluted drums in the original style as they were carried by the U.S. Cavalry in 1860. The grooved cylinders failed several Ordnance tests for bursting or bulging and were replaced in late 1861 by the updated lowered drums. Pietta’s modern fluted drums in 1860 would have passed those Ordnance tests!
After the Model 1851 Navy was adopted in 1855 by the U.S. Army as a standard sidearm, it too was provided by Colt with a shoulder stock. And at the time of its introduction, the first Model 1860 Army .44 caliber revolvers carried by the U.S. Cavalry appeared paired with a detachable shoulder stock.
The 1860 Army
A year before the American War of Secession, Samuel Colt introduced the most advanced and powerful medium-castle weapon of his career, the 1860 New Model Army .44 caliber. The secret to building a revolver with a smaller castle to handle the power required to fire a .44 caliber bullet lay in Samuel Colt’s use of a new type of metal developed by Colt and his chief engineer Elisha King Root.
It was called “Silver Spring Steel,” a lighter but stronger metal that allowed 44-caliber charges previously limited to the heavier Dragoons to be fired from a revolver weighing only 2 pounds 8-1/2 ounces, nearly half the weight of a third-model Dragoon, which tipped the scales at 4 pounds 2 ounces. Not only was the 1860 Army lighter, it was also smaller, measuring 13-5/8 inches overall but with an 8-inch barrel as compared to the Dragoon third model with just under 14 inches and a 7-1/2-inch barrel.
The extra 1/2 inch in barrel length gave the 1860 Army a little more forward weight and a wider sight radius. When combined with a detachable shoulder stock, the 1860 military version became a reasonably accurate carbine, albeit with a rather short barrel.
More than a new weapon, the 1860 Army was a metallurgical breakthrough, as described in the June 13, 1860 edition of Valley Spirit, published in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. “We have just witnessed Col. Colt’s establishment of the operation to produce what he calls Silver Steel, of superior quality, for weapons metal.
It possesses all the qualities of the finest cutlery steel devoid of brittleness: it will receive the best polish or burnish of the luster and reflective power of a mirror.
Tests of hydraulic pressure and gunpowder explosion inside the well-sealed chambers have shown it to be at least three times stronger than the best cast steel made to date: hence its great superiority in pistol and rifle barrels, and in drums with swivel pins (cylinders of revolving breech-pin arms).”
The shoulder stock provided the Model 1860 .44 caliber with the improved accuracy of a carbine, making the revolvers much more versatile weapons in the hands of the U.S. Cavalry. Approximately 4,000 fluted cylinder models were all made with castles cut to fit a shoulder stock. The U.S. government bought a total of 127,156 Army models during the Civil War from Colt and another 2,200 on the open market.
The Model 1860 was a piece of art, a streamlined weapon with a tapered round barrel, compound curves, trim, shallow castle, easily operated loading lever, and long, contoured grip.
Not surprisingly, with the start of the War of Secession, the U.S. government became the largest single buyer of 1860 Army revolvers, eventually purchasing more than 127,000 of them. Unfortunately, the great Colt factory fire of Feb. 4, 1864 (barely two years after Samuel Colt’s death in January 1862), not only destroyed the original structures erected by Colt in 1855 along with the original Colt Dome, but also the buildings in which revolvers were made and completed for deliveries.
The fire also destroyed the company office, which was the repository for the company’s sales records (shipping books) and design sketches dated 1847. The loss was total, amounting to $1 million worth of weapons alone. The destruction of the huge 500-foot-long three-story building and most of the instruments it contained further added more than $1.5 million.
Samuel Colt’s 1859 patent for the third “Stock for Fire-arm” variation shows design details and ease of assembly. Shown in the accompanying photos, the process required aligning the grips on the back of the grips by inserting the slots of the lower part of the recoil shield (C) with the fork ends (C), making the fork cutoff remain. (D) on the fourth protruding screw (D) and then securing the stock by turning a round knurled nut (A) to pull out the hook (B) in the recess at the base of the gun handle.
With the new assembly hastily made at a nearby tobacco depot, Colt delivered just under 3,000 additional revolvers before the end of the war in April 1865.
Military versions of the 1860 Army generally had hollowed-out recoil shields, a fourth screw protruding into the castle, and a cut in the base of the pistol grip to allow for the mounting of a detachable shoulder stock, while models for civilians had full recoil shields and did not include a shoulder stock. There were also two types of drums, stepped and grooved, the latter being the former and rarer. Colt is estimated to have produced only about 4,000 grooved models (some have noted that it was marked in the company’s documentation as a “Cavalry” model).
Of the first 1,000 Army models built, the barrel length was 7-1/2 inches as for the 1851 Navy model and later changed to an 8-inch. In addition, Colt had problems with the grooved drum, which in some cases failed Ordnance Department tests, almost always as a result of an explosion or chamber swelling. Silver Spring Steel was not as strong enough as expected when it came to drums, particularly the fully grooved 1860 Army, which did not have enough steel around the chamber, particularly under the drum stop lever where most of the problems occurred.
Elisha King Root’s solution was to make the tapered hole (tapering) leaving more steel around the chambers and bolt retainers.
An original 1860s Cavalry set with fully grooved drums, shoulder stock, and accessories. Also note the package of Colt’s 44-100 caliber paper cartridges in the compartment on the left.
This required a different drum shape, the now familiar step design, which was put into production between July and September 1861. The design shift is believed to have been the reason for referring to the 1860 models with fully fluted drums as the “Cavalry” models, since most, if not all, were carried by the U.S. Cavalry. The new lowered drum was also interchangeable with the first fully fluted version, making the original 1860 Army sets rarer.
The shoulder stock for the Model 1860 was an improved design patented by Samuel Colt in 1859. It was the last (third) in a series of designs dated 1848. Interestingly, the impetus to add a shoulder kick may have come from former U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who held this office from 1853 to 1857. It is believed that Davis suggested the idea of putting a shoulder stock on the Model 1851 Navy as well as developing shoulder stocks.
A graduate of West point in 1828, Davis served as a colonel in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1847. After leaving the army he sought public office and in December 1847 was chosen by the Governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy in the Senate. Re-elected in 1851, Davis was called to run for governor of Mississippi but was defeated, losing by less than 1,000 votes. A year later, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Secretary of War. In 1861 with constant calls for secession in the air and growing tensions between Washington and the Southern states, Davis accepted the presidency of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861, two weeks before Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration!
Taking aim
As a sidearm the Model 1860 was seen as one of the best revolvers of its time, but the detachable stock made it much more of a weapon.
With an 1860 model with a shoulder stock a Cavalry soldier could shoot from horseback with great accuracy, and even better from a standing position. The stock design was much improved from the early 1851 styles that had two ends extending from the fork to insert corresponding slots in the clamps, much like the shoulder stocks of the Model 1855 Springfield single-shot pistols issued to the Cavalry.
For 2013 F.lli Pietta celebrates the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with two special 1860 Army models. The first is a two-tone laser-engraved revolver in a combination of Gustave Young’s traditional style with a scene on the drum composed of Union flags. The weapons are also available with a shoulder stock along with a polished brass fork.
The last design used on the 1851 Navy and 1860 Army models (among other models) was easier to mount using a fork that was located on the back of the grip, inserting the slots of the lower part of the recoil shield by resting on the wide end of a protruding screw that passes through the castle. The stock was then locked in place by turning a round knurled nut at the top of the fork that tightened a hook inserted at the base of the handle.
It took less than a minute to attach or remove the stock from the gun, making the transition from revolver to carbine so easy to facilitate in the field. The stock could be safely secured in a saddlebag, or with the sling swivel pin hooked under the fork, attached to a sling swivel like a carbine.
In 1861, Colt sold the new holster pattern for the Model 1860 .44 caliber for $25. The carbine’s attachable bascule consisted of an additional $8. Modern reproductions are sold for $295 and $225, respectively.
SIDEBAR: 1860 Army commemorative models of the War of Secession engraved by F.lli Pietta
As manufacturers of the largest variety of revolvers from the Secession War period used by both the Union and the Confederacy, Pietta is no stranger to the production of commemorative weapons, and for 2013 to observe the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg the Italian gunmakers will bring to market a deluxe 1860 Army model in two shades.
The special limited-edition model has the last lowered drum of a polished blue in combination with a blue barrel and castle, hammer and loading lever in polished white steel, accented by a polished brass engraved trigger guard. The weapon is deeply laser engraved in Gustave Young’s famous dog-head-inspired design, and a special scene on the drum represents Union flags.
F.lli Pietta’s second Civil War commemorative weapon is a hand-engraved reproduction of a famous Ulysses S. Grant presentation weapon. Based on Gustave Young’s original design, the commemorative Pietta sees the union of the unique engraved banner across the top of the barrel with the words Union on the left side, AND Freedom on the right side. The work was created by Italian master engravers Sergio and Mauro Dassa.
Commemorative 1860 models can also be ordered with a detachable walnut shoulder stock.
The second 1860 commemorative model for 2013 is a hand-engraved version (by Sergio and Mauro Dassa) of the famous Ulysses S. Grant gun presentation.
The original was embellished with an elegant floral decoration with the vine motif and a banner on the top of the barrel with the words Union on the left side, AND Freedom on the right side. The Grant weapon had ebony handles instead of the walnut handles used by Pietta. The original, although never carried by General Grant, remained in his family for generations. For prices and availability contact Dixie Gun Works at 800-238-6785 or visit www.dixiegunworks.com.
