Revolving rifle identification

JackADriscoll

Sergeant
Joined
May 5, 2019
Hello experts,

I found this revolving rifle at a local gun shop for 2 thousand. It is carbine length, has an octagon barrel. It has seven shots. It looks to be in the 44 cal range. It has no markings at all except it says texas rangers on the top of the barrel. When you cock it the cylinder goes counter clockwise. I am sorry I only have one picture but thats all I could sneak. Anyone have any ideas? I cannot find anything on it anywhere. The barrel is rifled. It does not even have a serial number. Thanks for your help. Its a real mystery.

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Hi, at first look, it seems to be a Paterson Colt Revolving Rifle from the 1830's/1840's, but I'm not a real expert. I've only practised black powder shooting while collecting pieces of information about old guns of the 19th Century. I don't know if the Paterson had this kind of counter-clockwise system for the rotation of the cylinder. On the other hand, I think that this nice trigger-guard is typical of the Paterson rifle models. Here are some pictures taken from the web, showing a Colt Paterson 1839 Revolving Rifle. This looks pretty much like your mystery rifle :
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The lack of markings can be explained by the extensive use of this weapon by many people through the years, with "improvments" and attrition brought by each (I had this kind of problem with a Remington Rolling Block 1867 Rifle from the "Défense Nationale", used as an hunting rifle when the Franco-Prussian War was over). But this has to be verified. The Texas Rangers may have been the first official users of Colt weapons, so this can justify the mention of it on the top of the barrel.
 
Little update. I bought it. Its 38 inches long. Its above .45 cal, but less than a 577 Minie. It has a serial number of 1. I cannot find anything else on it so it either never had it or time has worn it away. Mechanically its still sound which surprises me.

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Well I'm pretty sure someone stamped that "Texas Ranger" on their in the past twenty years. But seeing how it looks to be a super rare Colt Paterson revolving rifle, that no one has ever reproduced, I got to scratch my head on that marking.

Also the stock looks unusually nice....
 
I appreciate everyone's help. I will probably never know for sure. I agree with the stock and the stamping. they are too nice for the condition for the rest of it. I may never know.
 
It resembles this revolving carbine that sold for $12,000+ in 2012 via the Rock Island Armory auction.
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The Texas rangers did have some Colt Patterson revolving carbines/rifles in the 1840's they got from the Texas navy, and the one you have pictured is close, but not quite right. It would be interesting to see the other side of it, as the Colt Patterson revolving rifle has a very distinctive loading lever on the right side, but unless your rifle has more info than "Texas Rangers" on it, it may be pretty hard to figure out what it is.

I wrote the above late last night and realized I hadn't sent it until this afternoon.
-with a serial number of #1, is it possible you have an early, pre-production Patterson revolving rifle? Now that you have it, the search begins for authentication. I wish you the best of luck with that. Maybe you could call Rock River Armories to see if they could help?
 
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Hi, at first look, it seems to be a Paterson Colt Revolving Rifle from the 1830's/1840's, but I'm not a real expert. I've only practised black powder shooting while collecting pieces of information about old guns of the 19th Century. I don't know if the Paterson had this kind of counter-clockwise system for the rotation of the cylinder. On the other hand, I think that this nice trigger-guard is typical of the Paterson rifle models. Here are some pictures taken from the web, showing a Colt Paterson 1839 Revolving Rifle. This looks pretty much like your mystery rifle :
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The lack of markings can be explained by the extensive use of this weapon by many people through the years, with "improvments" and attrition brought by each (I had this kind of problem with a Remington Rolling Block 1867 Rifle from the "Défense Nationale", used as an hunting rifle when the Franco-Prussian War was over). But this has to be verified. The Texas Rangers may have been the first official users of Colt weapons, so this can justify the mention of it on the top of the barrel.

Wow first time I heard the Colt Paterson was manufactured in rifle form. Thanks , very interesting !
 
Way to go, Ian. Outstanding find.

According to the 9th (last, I believe) edition of Flayderman's, pp. 82-83, M. 1839 carbines were manufactured circa 1838-41 and only 950 were built, with their own serial number range beginning at 1 and continuing through about 950. Standard barrel length was 24" but other lengths known, notably 28 and 32". He does not give an overall length. Barrels were marked: Patent Arms M'g Co. Paterson, N.J. -Colt's Pt. Serial numbers on various parts, generally visible only when disassembled.

A quick identification of the model is a 2 1/2" cylinder length and exposed hammer. Per Flayderman, these were 525 smoothbore caliber and he says had a 6-shot cylinder. Perhaps your 7-shot is a replacement cylinder, or perhaps your gun is a transition model (earlier Paterson revolvers were 5-shot and the ring-lever Colt carbines made 1837-38 and 1838-41 were 8-shot). Wilson, Book of Colt Firearms (3d ed.), at p. 47 says the Paterson M. 1839 carbine "revolve counterclockwise (to the left)" like yours. (The earlier ring-levers did too.) Wilson also points out that some M. 1839s were rifled and had cheekpieces on the left side of the stock as your appears to have.

Another possibility is that it is from another manufacturer after Colt's patent ran out, but still mid-19th century. I used to do artillery reenacting and our battery had a handful of reproduction M. 1866 Remington revolving carbines (their longer cylinder held more powder and got more respect from opposing cavalry when watering or ambushed on the march in close country than revolving pistols did). Compare the shape of your gun in front of the cylinder to the above Colt pictures and to the photo below of a reproduction Remington, for example. The large rounded cut-out near the bottom in front of your cylinder looks similar but smaller than the Remington yet seems larger than the Colt. Also the step-up from the frame to the barrel on yours is more sharp-cornered than the smoother angles in the Colt pictures. However, the M. 1855 Colt sidehammer carbines and rifles did have larger rounded cut outs near the bottom in front of the frame. Experimental models in 1847 and the early 1850s were also center hammer like yours.

Definitely a great find! You will have fun learning more about it.

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It looks like a Colt Patterson Revolving Rifle, I have only seen them in museums or online, I know sometime in this century an employee of Colt's sold them at the gate to any employee who wanted one, and they were a complete set with all of the tools and accessories, in a box this was early to late 20's. I think he wanted two bucks for them. I read it in an article about the Colt Factory, and the Patterson family of revolvers and the carbines.
 
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Good morning everyone. I kinda think its a Belgian or Mexican copy. It just doesn't make sense to be a Colt. This has been a fun thread though. I am going to very carefully take it apart, I cannot help myself. Ill post more pics if anything reveals itself.
 
I am so glad you bought that DEEPLY historical gun. I have read about the Patterson Colt rifles, but never have had the opportunity to see one in person. It's in a good home.
 
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