Posted on 11/13/2018 5:28:57 AM PST by w1n1
Uberti's version of Colt's percussion .31-caliber Model 1849 a 'dandy little gun.'
Looking back along the line of the original Colts, the Model 1849 Pocket Revolvers have quite a history. Sam Colt had produced some very historic revolvers beginning in 1836.
The Colt Patterson revolver was a five shot with the folding trigger and a pair of those are said to have been carried by Kit Carson, probably after 1840.
Next came the Colt Walker revolver, which was quite an improvement but that big .44 is huge.
The Walker was followed by the Colt Dragoon series, also .44s but with a shorter cylinder and barrel than the Walker model. What this led to was a need to introduce a small revolver for personal defense.
That is when the .31 Baby Dragoon came in, designed in late 1847.
The .31-caliber Baby Dragoon had the square-backed trigger guard that was like the trigger guard on the Colt Walker and the first issue of the Dragoon, giving it a "look" that makes it stand out among other Colt pocket models.
Another pocket revolver should be mentioned as we briefly review the old Colts, and that is a version of the Baby Dragoon that was ordered with a rounded trigger guard by the Wells Fargo company.
We refer to that today as the Wells Fargo Model, although it is rather doubtful that Colt ever gave it such a name. But in 1849 those pocket revolvers were updated and improved by adding the loading lever.
That loading lever is, basically, the only difference between the Wells Fargo Models and the 1849 guns.
There were, however, some other options and the original 1849 revolvers were made with barrels from 3 to 6 inches in length.
To say the Pocket Revolver was a success would be putting it mildly. They represented the first firm footing for Colt, and prior to their introduction, the company had trouble staying in business. Over 300,000 of these guns were made before production ended, along with the end of the percussion era, in 1873. Read the rest of this Colt 1849 Pocket gun.
That big .44 is huge.
Dude, chill. So someone typed the name with an extra t ... is that such a bad thing?
Taking it a little personal, Butch?
At least he didn’t spell “Derringer” with one middle “r”.
Seriously?
And actually, the glasses I'm wearing right now are Oakley Deringer. 8~)
It’s what it is,,,
I’m sick of fires and Democrats.
.
Democrats On Fire would
Thrill me!
I had one of those fifty years made by EIG. Nice little pistol except the sights were so far off to hit the center of a target you had to aim at the shoulder. If you aimed at the center the bullet would hit two feet low and a foot to the left at 20 feet.
Also, the pistol was not cut for conical bullets, but only round ones. A very low powered pistol. It’s real fame as a killer was that in the 1860s, bathing and personal cleanliness was not all that common, it would kill by carrying dirt and bacteria into the body killing the person several weeks later by agonizing infections.
So it is personal. Carry on then.
I have handled one of these guns and they are really nice. I went with the 1851 Navy.
Deringer was the original name for the small guns but the name was trademarked. Other makers used Derringer to cut back on the lawsuits.
Derringer is now a category of small pistols, Deringer is the name of the company which invented the guns.
The most entertaining are the ones who take w1n1 threads seriously, and post something like, 'I have so-and-so in such-and-such caliber, and it kicks like a mule!'
Paterson, not Patterson, dummy.
I liked the Original Post.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.