1851 colt navy

[1867crete]

A friend has this navy, unfortunately it's in relic condition. Most of the screw heads are stripped overall very lose. And there is a good amount of surface pitting. The loading lever is missing it's spring and back sight is missing. And…… the cylinder has a chamber split….. wow I would not have been wanting to hold that when it went off?! But it's a ALL matching numbers!!! Looking for a little history and possibly gonna try to acquire it for a nice conversation piece to my collection. Unfortunately I only have two photos at the time… 208180 is the serial and it's present on the cylinder even!

 

[Salterr]

A friend has this navy, unfortunately it's in relic condition. Most of the screw heads are stripped overall very lose. And there is a good amount of surface pitting. The loading lever is missing it's spring and back sight is missing. And…… the cylinder has a chamber split….. wow I would not have been wanting to hold that when it went off?! But it's a ALL matching numbers!!! Looking for a little history and possibly gonna try to acquire it for a nice conversation piece to my collection. Unfortunately I only have two photos at the time… 208180 is the serial and it's present on the cylinder even!

View attachment 469822

View attachment 469823

Quick search for the serial number puts the navy in 1869 production according to colt.

 

[1867crete]

Quick search for the serial number puts the navy in 1869 production according to colt.

Thanks for the info!! Not gonna lie, wish it was C.W. production but still a nice relic!

 

[Salterr]

Thanks for the info!! Not gonna lie, wish it was C.W. production but still a nice relic!

It's a nice piece of history either way I think. Definitely something to talk about. If you go to colts website and look for the serial number lookup it will give you a list of all the guns made with that serial number including model, year of production and characteristics like barrel shape and length. Not sure if the website is all encompassing but I've been able to find my serial numbers with ease if you want to try it.

 

[Story]

A friend has this navy, unfortunately it's in relic condition.

Does this friend have any idea where the relic was found?

 

[1867crete]

No and honestly I believe the major damage to be after war, but we will never know! Great stort

Does this friend have any idea where the relic was found?

 

[scooter748driver]

From the serial number look-up page on the Colt web site, as stated previously this pistol was made in 1869, so yes, all the damage was done after the war as it wasn't manufactured until 4 years after the war.

From the site:

Results for 208180

1869
Model 1851 NAVY (.36 CALIBER WITH NAVAL ENGAGEMENT ON CYLINDER, OCTAGONAL BARREL)

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

It had a long life, I believe. The barrel was "set back" to try to tighten it up - -that means someone ground or filed off the rear of the barrel so it would slide back farther on the pin so it would be closer to the cylinder. Usually, a gun gets this way when lots of firing or firing with heavy loads will "stretch" wider the slot area of the cylinder pin. In this case, someone filed or ground back the front of the frame where it meets the barrel. You can see how the front of the frame area has part of the serial missing (it was filed away), and the edge is not square to the frame.
Perhaps the user was shooting heaving loads, stretched the pin, decided to tight it up, and then kept shooting with with heavy loads and split the cylinder!
These old guns laid around and tempted some brave soul or some reckless child to load 'er up with powder Dad or Granddad had to reload shotgun shells or rifle cartridges - perhaps strong smokeless powder instead of black powder!

 

[1867crete]

It had a long life, I believe. The barrel was "set back" to try to tighten it up - -that means someone ground or filed off the rear of the barrel so it would slide back farther on the pin so it would be closer to the cylinder. Usually, a gun gets this way when lots of firing or firing with heavy loads will "stretch" wider the slot area of the cylinder pin. In this case, someone filed or ground back the front of the frame where it meets the barrel. You can see how the front of the frame area has part of the serial missing (it was filed away), and the edge is not square to the frame.
Perhaps the user was shooting heaving loads, stretched the pin, decided to tight it up, and then kept shooting with with heavy loads and split the cylinder!
These old guns laid around and tempted some brave soul or some reckless child to load 'er up with powder Dad or Granddad had to reload shotgun shells or rifle cartridges - perhaps strong smokeless powder instead of black powder!

Awesome observation! Very interesting!!

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

They didn't originally have a rear sight on the barrel, the sight was a notch on the hammer.
That gun would make an absolutely great display, with the split cylinder! You could make up a story about how that happened - being attacked by indians or robbing a bank or something exciting.