Читать книгу Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms онлайн

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In his book COLT: An American Legend, R.L. Wilson reminds us that when Colt organized his first factory in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1836, the president of the U.S. was Andrew Jackson, and that the Union encompassed only 25 states and a vast frontier had been purchased just 33 years before by Thomas Jefferson.

Although that time seems an eternity ago, financing options were about the same. With patents, working models and a personal investment, Colt incorporated as the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, borrowed enough money to capitalize his factory and begin turning out revolving cylinder handguns, rifles and even shotguns for the cap-and-ball or percussion era that was replacing the older flintlocks.

For a collector, finding a Paterson Colt in a dusty, rarely-visited attic would be better than finding a friendly Irish leprechaun willing to take him to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It did not turn out as well for Colt, however. His Paterson models were functional, even remarkable for the time, but hardly efficient or reliable. In New Jersey, Colt developed and produced three different revolving-cylinder handgun models – pocket, belt and holster; two types of revolving long rifle – one cocked by a hammer and the other by a finger lever or ring; a revolving carbine; and a revolving-cylinder shotgun. In all cases, gunpowder and bullets were loaded into the front of the cylinder while the primer was inserted into a hollow nipple located on the outside of the cylinder, where it would be struck by the hammer when the trigger was pulled.