Shotting The Martial Colts

American Handgunner, Sept-Oct, 1999 by John Taffin

No, you can't shoot a Battle Of Little Big Horn survivor, but there are some beautiful replicas from United States Patent Fire Arms Co.

The year was 1870, just five years after the War Between The States, and the United States Army was rapidly coming out of the cap-and-ball era. The Colt 1860 .44 percussion pistol was the number one sidearm of the Civil War and the early Indian campaigns.

Now it was time to modernize. An order was placed for 1,000 cartridge firing six-guns for use by the U.S. Cavalry. Those first revolvers were the .44 caliber Smith & Wesson Model 3 Americans.

Introduced in 1869, the big Smith originally fired the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge, the same round chambered in the 1860 Henry and 1866 Winchester Yellow Boy leverguns.

The Army specified a centerfire cartridge which was known as the .44-100 or .44 S&W American, not to be confused with the .44 Russian and .44 Special cartridges which would follow later.

Smith & Wesson may have arrived first, but when the patent for the bored-through cylinder necessary for a centerfire cartridge ran out, Colt was ready with their now legendary cartridge firing big bore, the Single Action Army (SAA).

The new Colt SAA carried the solid frame profile of the Remington 1858 instead of the open top frame of Colt's own 1860 Army. It is the progenitor of all subsequent single-actions.

The first Colts tested for the Army were .44s, not .45s, however the 7 1/2" barreled Colt .45 became the standard sixgun for the U.S. Army.

Of the first 20,000 guns produced from 1873 to 1875, approximately 75 percent went to the U.S. Army. In its 7 1/2" version, the SAA was known as the Cavalry Model. It was soon joined by the easier to pack 5 1/2" Artillery Model. The 4 3/4" Civilian or "Gunfighter Model" would come later.

Ordnance Inspection

All military Colts had to be inspected and passed by ordnance sub-inspectors. Collectors today know the original inspectors by their names, such as Ainsworth, Lewis and Casey. These men inspected revolvers in various places and marked them with their stamp as well as placing a cartouche of their initials on the one-piece wooden grip.

After a hiatus of 10,000 guns made for the civilian market, Colt returned to the Cavalry Model for the Army beginning around serial number 30,000. At serial number 47,056, the so-called "Nettleton series" began with 3,000 sixguns made during August and September of 1878, inspected by Henry Nettleton.

Serial numbers ran from 47,056 to 50,074. Today these "martial revolvers" command a premium collector's price even above all other martially marked Colts. Only 135 of these guns are known to exist.

Make that 136. Of all things, I found one in a pawn shop last month. The finish is all gone and the grips had been replaced with ivory with silver inlays. This beautiful old sixgun carries the right serial number to be genuine and it is clearly marked in several places with Henry Nettleton's brand.

Alas, it was not for sale. The gun comes into the pawn shop on a quasi-regular basis when the owner needs money. It's always redeemed and then eventually returns again when the owner is hardstrapped for cash.

Frontier Colts

From 1873 until 1891, the Army acquired 37.000 Cavalry Colts for the troops on the frontier. The last .45s ordered by the government in 1890 were in the serial number range of 131,000 to 140,000. Colt's records indicate that the final serial number was 140,361 with the highest known revolver still in existence being number 140,333. The final inspector of the U.S. Army Colt was Rinaldo A. Carr.

All of these genuine U.S. Army Colts are only safe with blackpowder loads. The original loading consisted of a full 40 grs. of black under a 255 gr. bullet. This load proved to be too stout for general use and was later dropped to anywhere from 28 to 35 grains.

Modern solid-head .45 brass will usually not accept a full 40 gr. charge of FFFg blackpowder. However, in the higher capacity old balloon-head brass and using today's primers, the modern equivalent of the original loading will approach 1,000 fps in a 7 1/2" Colt.

If you would like to know more about the Colt SAA in general, and the U.S. Cavalry .45s in particular, I highly recommend A Study Of The Colt Single Action Army Revolver by Graham, Kopec, and Moore (Taylor Publishing, 1976).

Martial Colts Return

Today the martially marked Colts are back! Not from Colt, of course, but replicas from the United States Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co. (USPFA).

USPFA is offering a 7 1/2" Cavalry and a 5 1/2" Artillery Model revolver.

Their Nettleton Cavalry Model represents the Type Two production of their replica sixguns. USPFA's sixguns have always been fitted, finished, and assembled in this country under the dome in the old Colt factory. In this case, a very tightly fitted sixgun, I might add, with no endshake or sideplay in the cylinder.

Beginning with the Nettleton, the frames are now milled in the U.S. and barrels are American made rather than imported. There are no Italian proof marks and all polishing is now done in the United States.