Colt 1851/1861 differences?

[Musket Man]

I was curious to the biggest improvement to the 1861 Colt revolver when compared to an 1851 revolver? Was it technology that spilled over from the 1860 to make a better revolver in a smaller caliber?

Also, how long did Colt produce the 1851?

Thanks,
Donald

 

[Package4]

The 1851 was produced through 1873 a total of 215,348 US produced and was considered Colt's medium caliber offering. The '61 Navy, I believe, that manufacturing efficiencies dictated a more streamlined offering though only 38,843 were produced through '73 as well.

 

[dagger dog]

To the best of my knowledge the 1851 was produced right up to the model of 1873 or Model P- peace maker which was released in that year to the US Army but the civilian market in 1874.

The 1861 was mostly a redo of the '51, which was a round barrel with a blade front sight, a rack and pinion loading lever to multiply seating force of the ball, and possibly use any production refinements to meet cost requirements (round barrel).

 

[cavalry_historian]

I was curious to the biggest improvement to the 1861 Colt revolver when compared to an 1851 revolver? Was it technology that spilled over from the 1860 to make a better revolver in a smaller caliber?

Also, how long did Colt produce the 1851?

Thanks,
Donald

The secret of the 1860 Colt Army was in its construction, featuring a new type of metal advertised as "Silver Spring Steel," a lighter yet stronger steel alloy that allowed the 1860 Army to withstand the pressures of .44 caliber loads. This new steel was smelted in a blower furnace (Bessemer) that added more oxygen to the smelting process while at the same time forcing any slag and other contaminates out of the metal. This resulted in higher carbon steel with more than three times the tensile strength of the hammered steel. Colt manufactured many of these revolvers from raw materials supplied by Thomas Firth & Sons of Sheffield, England, including the "silver steel." It was quickly decided that a new pistol would need to be designed in order to fully take advantage of the novel alloy. After much research and development, Colt's engineers theorized that if a stepped, or "rebated" cylinder was designed a large caliber could be combined with a small frame to make a new Army .44 caliber revolver that was a similar size and weight to the Navy .36 caliber revolvers then in production. Because Colt's new steel also negated the need for a beefy octagonal barrel, the new barrel was thinned out and turned completely round. The smaller frame, large caliber, pistol performed perfectly. This pistol would eventually become one of Colt's most successful models.

Colt's London factory closed after only four years, and he began importing what he described as "Swedish Spring Steel" to use in his pistols. The reason the Swedish product was preferred was because iron deposits in Sweden naturally had much lower sulfur content than American ore, hence, Swedish ore was easier to refine into good (for the time) steel. Colt believed that the reports of excessive bursting of Walker Cylinders were caused by inferior iron. During the 1840s and 1850s "Marshall Iron" was imported from England to make gun barrels. Even the Springfield and Harpers Ferry government armories used this imported iron. Marshall & Mills, who ran Monway Iron Works, produced the best gun barrel iron in the world. Their customers included the Birmingham gun makers, and the British and American governments. By 1844 their iron sold for £44 a ton.

At the beginning of the Civil War the Lincoln Administration slapped a healthy tax on imported English iron and steel and discouraged the use of foreign material in the massive arms contracts being awarded to Northern manufacturers. The net effect was to encourage American iron smelters to improve their products and for Colt to remove the term "Swedish" from its advertising and replaced it with "Silver Spring Steel". Meanwhile, various steel-making processes were improving and some of the prominent steels in the late 1800s were the Whitworth Fluid Compressed Steel, the Siemens-Martin process steel, and Krupp Steel.

 

[JOHN42768]

Couple of differences 1851 has a oct. barrel and 1861
has round barrel. The 1861 also has a ratcheting action loading lever

 

[sourdough]

The 1851 has an octagonal barrel. No Colt or repro ever had a hexagonal barrel.

 

[drm2m]

Two '51 and one '61 Colt Navy revolvers.
The two '51 s are both martially marked—the '61 is serial numbered in 1861 Sn # 3830.

 

[JOHN42768]

The 1851 has an octagonal barrel. No Colt or repro ever had a hexagonal barrel.

Thank you for catching. That's is what happens when you have a temperature of 102, things just aren't in focus in your mind should have just gone to bed

 

[cavalry_historian]

Feel better soon.

 

[sourdough]

It was quickly decided that a new pistol would need to be designed in order to fully take advantage of the novel alloy. After much research and development, Colt's engineers theorized that if a stepped, or "rebated" cylinder was designed a large caliber could be combined with a small frame to make a new Army .44 caliber revolver that was a similar size and weight to the Navy .36 caliber revolvers then in production. Because Colt's new steel also negated the need for a beefy octagonal barrel, the new barrel was thinned out and turned completely round. The smaller frame, large caliber, pistol performed perfectly. This pistol would eventually become one of Colt's most successful models.

I thoroughly enjoyed your post to this thread, but I would like to add a few items, sir.

The Colt 1860 Army .44, in the first year or so of production, had a full-fluted rebated cylinder to reduce the weight of it so as to be similar in weight to the 1851 (and later) 1861 Navy .36 cylinders. Even with the "silver spring steel" it was easily overcharged with powder and many did not pass proof tests at the factory, as well as soldiers overcharging the cylinder in the field, and many cylinders blew up, usually at the front half of the chamber. Colt was relegated to discontinue the fluting and produce a round rebated cylinder to compensate for this, and that added weight to the 1860 Army.

The 1851 Navy .36 octagonal barrel was in vogue for that pistol for the duration of its manufacture, purely for aesthetic purposes, as the Colt Pocket Navy .36 had an octagonal barrel from its inception in 1865 until end of production, as well as the 1851 Navy. The same is true for the Navy squareback trigger guard on the 1st and 2nd Models, both continued from the 1848/1849 Pocket .31 pistols. It had nothing to do with the strength of the barrel steel. A part octagonal/part round barrel was cheaper and more easily produced like the 1848 Dragoon Models, and that is evident with the Confederate Griswold & Gunnison and Leech & Rigdon/Rigdon & Ansley revolvers which served well without the new steel.

The 1860 Army and 1861 Navy had round barrels with a curved barrel lug which was actually larger than the 1851 Navy because it had to incorporate the then new ratchet "creeping" style load lever rammer which was completely different than the 1851 Navy. That added weight. The early 1860 Army production guns had a Navy size grip frame and a 7.5" barrel. That was changed to a longer grip frame to compensate for the increased recoil and the barrel length was increased to 8". That added weight.

I do not have the pleasure nor the financial means to compare original guns, but modern replicas serve well for comparison. The 1860 Army is a larger, heavier gun than either the 1851 Navy or the 1861 Navy, but not as large as any of the 4 models of Dragoons produced by Colt, and his intention with the 1860 Army was to produce a belt holster pistol in .44, not another horse holster pistol in .44.

Pietta Leech & Rigdon .36

Armi San Marco 1860 Army .44

Regards,

Jim

 

[cavalry_historian]

OK. My understanding is that the fluted cylinder was a later design (after the round) found on the pocket and police models.