Savage Revolving Arms, 1861 Navy Model

[82ndpara]

For your viewing pleasure.....
Note* For those unfamiliar with this one; Savage Revolving Arms was different than the Savage and Savage/Stevens most of us are familiar with....
crazy history on this make/model...

 

[82ndpara]

more photos....

 

[82ndpara]

Last batch....

 

[Texas Star]

I've seen them, and thought they were pretty Rube Goldberg compared to contemporary Colt and Remington arms.

Did the Navy actually issue these?

 

[moosedog]

A very unique and interesting gun. I have never really studied these.
Yours appears to be in excellent condition.
What caliber is that?

 

[Waywatcher]

What does the loop-ring do?

 

[quinn]

That is gorgeous!. Actually, I think the design looks outstanding and quite robust. Someone was thinking outside the box and really not starting out looking for a way to infringe on someone else's patent. Unfortunately, it seems, a lot of great gun designs died along the way because they didn't look like what was expected. The first revolver you use--if it worked--would always be the best design in your mind. A lot of contemporary marketing is based on this bit of psychology. Winchester had some real battles keeping John M Browning designing rifles that looked the same (like a Winchester should look). Browning fought back and managed to sneak in some "novel" designs (1890, 1897). It took him something like 15 years to sell Winchester on the pump action. Your is a great revovlver!

 

[Thuer]

The Savage figure eight revolver is the forerunner of this model. The calibre is .36. The locksystem is complex. The Savage revolver was in the Civil War not that populair. I like him. Want one in my collection to. The revolver you show is in a very good condition.

 

[mjr]

What does the loop-ring do?

It cocks the hammer. In theory, a Savage should have been faster to fire than a Colt or Remington.

A serious issue with the Savage concerns the caps. The caps the Federals issued for the more popular revolvers didn't fit the Savage. Given that the Savage's nipples are on the outside
of the cylinder (rather than on the end), I imagine that caps tended to fall off when the gun was fired.

The Savage mainly was issued to cavalry units on both sides of the war.

 

[Frizzman]

Thanks for posting that. I enjoy seeing interesting antique designs. The grip angle reminds me of that found on most of the single shot muzzleloading pistols in common use before the revolver age...I have seen the Savage in museums. It would be very interesting to fire one.

 

[82ndpara]

Guys, thanks for the comments and answering the questions for me... I'm on the road and was just now able to check my email....

TEXAS STAR: My understandingis that the Navy did take possession of some and those will be marked with an "N" with an anchor or somesuch...