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Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver

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Colt Open Top .22

The Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver was a single action pocket revolver introduced by the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company in 1871.[1] Introduced a year before the Colt Open Top (a model from 1872) and two years before the Colt Peacemaker and the Colt New Line[2] (both introduced in 1873), the Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver was, alongside the Colt House Revolver, one of the two first metallic cartridge rear-loading revolvers manufactured by Colt's. It also was one of the first pocket metallic cartridge revolvers made by the company.

History

When the Rollin White patent for metallic cartridges firearms manufacture expired (c. 1870) the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company started working on its own metallic cartridge revolvers (until that it had been practicing the so-called Richards-Mason conversions). Thus, Colt's introduced its first rear-loaders in 1871: the Colt House/Cloverleaf and the Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver. The market was then swamped with "inferior" knockoffs of the .22 caliber Smith & Wesson Model One which sold for about $2. Colt's president Richard Jarvis decided it would not compete directly with the knockoffs; that its .22 would be of Colt quality. The Open Top Pocket was priced at $8. It was like a Rolex in a market of Swatches.

The .44 calibr version of the Open Top Pocket Model, the better known Colt Open Top, was not introduced until 1872, but it had totally a different frame and shape. Later, in 1873, Colt's continued exploring the metallic cartridge technology and introduced the iconicPeacemaker and the lesser known Colt New Line.

Calibers

The Open Top Pocket Model was chambered in .22 Short and .22 Long. It was equipped with a 7-shot non-fluted cylinder and two different barrel lengths: 2-3/8″ and 2-7/8″.

Specifications

  • Production period: 1871 - 1877
  • Total production: 114,200
  • Caliber: .22 (short or long)
  • Barrel length: 2-3/8″ and 2-7/8″
  • Capacity: 7-round cylinder
  • Fire Modes: Single Action
  • Loading Modes: Breech-loading

See also

References

  1. ^ Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms (Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver, page 105)
  2. ^ Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms (Colt "New Line" Series Of Cartridge Revolvers, page 106)
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