1849 Colt in .31

[gizamo]

The first Colt revolver to be made in large numbers was the Model 1849 in 31 caliber. Around 325,000 were marked as made in New York or Hartford between 1850 and 1873, and another 11,000 marked as made in London, England. It is the gun credited with saving Colt. More of this model were made then any other Colt revolver in the 19th century. It had a five or six shot cylinder with barrels in lengths of 3", 4", 5" and 6". Some of these pocket models had cylinders engraved with a scene of a stagecoach holdup.

Sometimes called the Baby Dragoon as a reduced version of the massive Walker and Dragoon revolvers made before it.

At any rate...here she is, a version made by Uberti. I managed to gather up a bag mold that cast both ball and conicals for it, along with a small powder charger. It is a small gun for the first half of the 1800's..

[sureshotbob]

Giz years ago I collected the Colt Signature Series. I had a Walker,Dragoon. 1860 Army,1851 Navy and a 1849 Pocket I don't remember what size buckshot in the 1849. They were fun to shoot and a pain to clean.They were very acurate at 25 yards but all of them shot about 10" high.

[Raider]

Thats a nice 49er, Giz. The 31cal is a ball to shoot too. We really need a range report.

Charlie

[310Pilot]

The original (and Colt continuations of the 1970s) Colt cap and ball revolvers were typically sighted (by design) at, I believe, 125 yards. I know that sounds improbable in today's environment, but that sighting was well suited to wilderness use, as well as battlefield use during the Civil War. That is why the guns all seemed to shoot about 10" high at 50 yards, you were just shooting at targets that were too close to you!