The Colt Model 1851 Navy Revolver

In response to the need for a lighter weapon than the Walker Colt and the Patterson Colt, Samuel Colt designed a lighter revolver called the Pocket Model, a revolver of .31 caliber.  Need for a larger caliber resulted in the Colt 1851 Navy, the  most popular handgun of the early (pre-Civil War) American West.   The 1851 Navy was a .36 caliber, 6-shot revolver that weighed 2 lbs 4.5 oz, half the weight of the Walker.  This revolver, like its predecessors, used a percussion cap for ignition, and each cylinder would be individually loaded with black powder and ball, by use of a built in loading lever.  Colt Navy revolvers were not necessarily related to sales to the Navy, but were a favorite revolver in the Crimea War among Brits, and the Civil War for both North and South.   Colt Navy Revolvers were the favorite sidearms of dozens of figures in the American West, including Pony Express riders, Doc Holliday, John Singleton Mosby, Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill Cody. The Pony Express riders carried a Colt Navy and one or two  spare loaded cylinders for emergencies.

More about the Colt Navy Revolver by someone who REALLY knows what he's talking about, at Texas Ranger Magazine.  The patent below is the right basic configuration and date for the Colt Navy, but the Colt Navy had a longer barrel.

Comments

[Antoine Seyer]

I have a Colt Model 1851 Navy Revolver in pretty good condition. Any idea of how much it is worth? Thanks.

[Phil Lynn]

As a young man, in 1963 I sold a Patterson Colt Navy Revolver to a collector in Kansas City Kansas whose last name was Sutherland I believe. The firearm included a dagger that was released by a button on the frame. It was engraved with the number 1 on the cylinder. I was told by a collector at the time that it was the first in the series of these pistols made at the Patterson New Jersey plant. Has anyone ever encountered this weapon or another like it????

[Web]

It’s great that more people are focusing on making better environmental choices. Plus technology is making it more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.

[Web]

It’s great that more people are focusing on making better environmental choices. Plus technology is making it more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.

[Frank Ferrell]

I have a Colt 1851 .36 caliber Navy Revolver which has the British Proof Marks and Battle scenes on the cyclinder but has the Colt New York address on the barrel. On the left side of the grip frame (under the grip), the name "John Mosby" is stamped into the metal which apparently done with single letter punches. My question is, could this have been John Mosby's personal revolver purchased before the Civil War? The revolver appears to be a Battlefield find and rebuild due to a slight overhang of the trigger guard from the revolver frame! So, do you think that the barrel was replaced with one with the New York address during the rebuild or could it have been assembled in Britain but made for the Southern States market?

Thanks...Frank

[Donald Hunley]

I have the rare 4" barrel 1851 Navy Colt that belonged to my G-G-G Grand D who fought in the Civil War, Confederate. My last name is Hunley, decendant of the makers and seamen of the CSS Hunley submarine. Fun suff!

[Frank Fecke]

I have a cap and ball revolver serial number 129733. It appears to be a model 1851, 36 calibre, with a 5&1/2 inch barrel. Some one has filed off the patient stamping. There is an 'S' stamped below the serial number. Is it a colt? No markings of Colt can be found.
The serial numbers all match and the sn on the cylinder is in a rectangle box.

[Art Adams]

I have a 1851 Navy Colt made under license by the American Muzzle Loading Revolver Co. (I think they extended the length of the barrel to acomodate the name). It has Belgian proof marks and was dredged up from the bottom of the Black sea near the Sinope, Turkey harbor.
Any information available would be appreciated.