With that Colt Walker better have a pair, in more ways than one, to balance the big iron load.
:>)
” ‘Oh, to be a time traveller with a Colt Walker or Sig Sauer under your trench-coat...’ [Delta 21, post 17]
With that Colt Walker better have a pair, in more ways than one, to balance the big iron load.” [Covenantor, post 18]
No one carried a Walker Colt on their person, certainly not concealed. The arm had a nine-inch barrel and weighed 4-1/2 pounds.
Same was true of the next 44 cal Colt to be introduced: The “Dragoon,” which was slightly smaller and lighter: four pounds, with a 7-1/2-inch barrel. The Walker was loaded with a charge of 60 grains of powder (”black powder” was the only kind made then); the Dragoon held only 50 grains.
Some 1100 Walker models were manufactured in 1847: 1000 to fill the military contract, followed by about 100 that were sold on the open market. The Dragoon (in three distinct subvariants) was made from 1848 until 1860, totaling some 20,000.
Both arms closely replicated the “horse pistols” of the 18th & early 19th centuries, which were often carried in pairs, in holsters mounted to a cavalry saddle. They were also used by the US Mounted Rifles: soldiers who rode to battle but dismounted for combat. Also known as Dragoons.
Colt’s “Belt Model”, known today as the “1851 Navy” was an open-carry revolver made from 1850 until 1873 in cal 36, for a total of over 215,000. Handguns of that size were typically carried thrust into the belt; except for cavalry, holsters scarcely existed until after the American Civil War.
Colt’s Model 1849, in 31 cal, was made from 1848 until 1873 - first as the “Baby Dragoon” and then as the “Old Model pocket. Production totaled some 340,000 revolvers.
The larger guns thus were made in smaller numbers, but occasioned more public notice back in the day. Still holds true: A civilian Walker Colt sold recently at auction, for a record-setting price of $1,840,000.00 (see link below).