The Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber, later known as the Colt 1851
Navy or Navy Revolver, is a cap and ball revolver that was designed by Samuel
Colt between 1847 and 1850. Colt first called this Revolver Ranger model; but
the designation Navy quickly took over. It remained in production until 1873,
when revolvers using fixed metallic cartridges came into widespread use.
Total production numbers were exceeded only by the Colt Pocket models in
concurrent development, and numbered some 250,000 domestic units and about
22,000 produced in the Colt London Armory.
Characteristics The .36 caliber Navy revolver was much
lighter than the contemporary Colt Dragoon Revolvers developed from the .44
Walker Colt revolvers of 1847, which, given their size and weight, were
generally carried in saddle holsters. It is an enlarged version of the .31
caliber Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers, that evolved from the earlier
Baby Dragoon, and, like them, is a mechanically improved and simplified
descendant of the 1836 Paterson revolver. As the factory designation
implied, the Navy revolver was suitably sized for carrying in a belt holster. It
became very popular in North America at the time of Western expansion. Colt's
aggressive promotions distributed the Navy and his other revolvers across
Europe, Asia, and Africa. As with many other Colt revolvers, it has a six-round
cylinder. The cylinder of this revolver is
engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of
Campeche on May 16, 1843. The Texas Navy had purchased the earlier Colt Paterson
Revolver, but this was Colt's first major success in the gun trade; the
naval theme of the engraved cylinder of the Colt 1851 Navy revolver was Colt's
gesture of appreciation. The engraving was provided by Waterman Ormsby. Despite
the "Navy" designation, the revolver was chiefly purchased by civilians and
military land forces. The .36 caliber round lead ball weighs
80 grains and, at a velocity of 1,000 feet per second, is comparable to the
modern .380 pistol cartridge in power. Loads consist of loose powder and ball
or bullet, metallic foil cartridges, and combustible paper cartridges, all
combinations being ignited by a fulminate percussion cap applied to the
nipples at the rear of the chamber. A very small number of Navy revolvers
were produced in .34 caliber, and are so marked.
Sighting consists of a tapered brass cone front sight pressed into the muzzle
end of the top barrel flat with a notch in the top of the hammer, as with most
Colt percussion revolvers. In spite of the relative crudity of the sighting
arrangement, these revolvers and their modern replicas generally are quite
accurate. Colt 1851 Navy Conversions
The first metallic cartridge revolver made by Colt’s was the Thuer-Conversion
Model Revolver, a design of a metallic cartridge revolver that would not
require a cylinder with cylindrical chambers to not infringe on the Rollin
White patent. A small number of Model 1851 Navy revolvers was converted, using
front-loaded, slightly tapered cartridges to fit the chambers of the
cylinder reamed to a slight taper. After the expiration of the Rollin White
Patent, Colt 1851 Revolvers were converted or newly made to fire .38
rimfire or centerfire cartridges, the Colt Model 1851 Richards- Mason
Conversion by the Colt factory. Use
Famous "Navy" users included Wild Bill Hickok, John Henry "Doc" Holliday,
Richard Francis Burton, Ned Kelly, Bully Hayes, Richard H. Barter, Robert E. Lee,
Nathan B. Forrest, John O'Neill, Frank Gardiner, Quantrill's Raiders, John
Coffee "Jack" Hays, "Bigfoot" Wallace, Ben McCulloch, Addison Gillespie, John
"Rip" Ford, "Sul" Ross and most Texas Rangers prior to the Civil War and
Rooster Cogburn. Use continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers
were introduced. Canadian issue 1851 Colts are stamped in
the wooden grip "upside down" with letters U_C or L_C, a letter code for
the unit, and the number of the weapon in that unit. e.g.
U_C 21
This decodes as Upper Canada, D = Toronto Cavalry Troop, 21st pistol.
The Ottoman Empire used the revolver as late as the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78
even though it was quite antiquated compared to the Russian's Smith & Wesson
Model 3 See also
Colt Army Model 1860 Colt Dragoon Revolver
Colt M1861 Navy Remington Model 1858
Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt Paterson
Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers Colt Single Action Army
Saturday night special for history of attempts to ban handguns other than Army
and Navy models such as M1851 Navy Walker Colt
Bibliography Bates, Johnny; Cumpston, Mike.
Percussion Pistols and Revolvers: History, Performance and Practical Use.
Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse. Burton, Sir Richard Francis. First
Footsteps in East Africa. The University of Adelaide Library.
Herring, Hal. Famous Firearms of the Old West: From Wild Bill Hickok's Colt
Revolvers to Geronimo's Winchester, Twelve Guns That Shaped Our History.
Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-0-7627-4508-1. Hounshell, David A., From the American
System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing
Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins
University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269
Keith, Elmer. Sixguns: The Standard Reference Work. New York: Bonanza Books.
Norris, Keith. Australia's heritage sketchbook. PR Books. ISBN
978-1-875113-37-8. Roberts, Gary L.. Doc Holliday: The Life
and Legend. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-13097-1.
Wilson, R.L.. Colt: An American Legend. New York; London: Atabras, A Division of
Abbeville Publishing Group. References
External links The Colt Revolver in the American
West—Model 1851 Navy The Colt Revolver in the American
West—Model 1851 Navy with Johnson-Holbrook Shoulder Stock Device
The Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 Navy
The Colt Revolver in the American West—Model 1851 Navy
The Colt Revolver in the American West—Presentation Model 1851 Navy
Smithsonian Article on the M1861 Navy Shooting Characteristics of the M1861
Navy