Early 3th model1851 Navy  

 

The Colt 1851 Navy was produced from 1851 until 1873 and in that time over 250,000 Navies were made, 215, 340 pistols were produced in Hartford, Connecticut and 42,000 were produced in London, England. In its day the 1851 Navy was the most popular Colt revolver ever made sold and fired. Chambered for the .36 ball shot.

The Colt Navy 1851 is iconic and symbolizes the Wild West like no other handgun, it was used by such notables as Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane, the Colt Navy also served on both sides of the Civil War. The Colt Navy was even manufactured by both sides as well...they couldn't get enough of these accurate and reliable revolvers.

 

Middle 4th model 1851 Navy from the Hendricus collection serial no, 1391xx made in 1863. 

 

 

The Colt Navy 1851 is a Percussion Revolver more commonly called a "Cap N Ball " gun in that it uses ball shot, percussion caps and black powder as its ammunition source. The days of pushing cartridges into a revolver were a few years away yet.

 

                                             Another middle 4th model 1851 Navy was from the outlawscolts collection serial no, 1544xx made in 1863.

Caliber..............Available in 0.36 inch or 0 .44 inch

Weight..............2Lbs 4½ ounces.

Barrel................Generally 7½ inches, octagonal forged.

Overall length....1 foot, 1 and 1/8th inches.

Frame................Case Hardened.

Front Sight.........Brass bead or blade.

Rear Sight..........Notched 'v' into top of the Hammer.

Handle...............Polished Walnut.

Ammunition.......21 -28 grain of Black Powder, percussion cap and ball shot

Capacity............6 shots.

 

The 1851 Navy was the most favoured revolver of the Union Army Officers for its great handling and accuracy, also like other Colt revolvers it had fully interchangeable parts and was easy to disassemble. There are quite a few variations of the Navy including the Sheriffs version and a long barrelled shoulder stocked version.

 

And below is proof that snub-nosed revolvers a.k.a snubbys were also in demand in the 1850's with another version of the 1851 Sheriff. This exclusive image shows that the barrel has been cut down as far as it is possible, so there their is still some use from the under-lever mechanism.

 

Photo credits Bob & Amy

 

 

It took quite some time to actually load up a cap and ball percussion revolver, about 3 minutes in skilled hands but many users of the gun would have several pre-loaded cylinders and when all 6 shots had been fired a new cylinder was inserted.

 

Percussion Pistols were not very reliable guns in that if the powder or percussion caps got damp or were not married up properly, a misfire would result and often did, but its ok as your oppositions guns did the same !

 

Below is pictured a modern Italian copy of the 1851 Navy. These reproduction Old West revolvers have become popular with modern day shooters in gun clubs. A genuine revolver from the 1850's would cost many thousands of dollars as they are now antiquities, so an ideal compromise is one of the faithful Italian reproductions.

 

 

The Colt Navy 1851 has quite an appealing look and feel to it, it was a well made gun and in the right hands it was very accurate.

 

Recent controlled tests have shown that this revolver was capable of putting three shots into a 3inch group at 25 yards. The Navy 1851 can have a full charge of 26.5 grains of black powder and this will render a muzzle velocity of 910 f.p.s (feet per second) which is quite impressive for such an 'old' gun.

The muzzle velocity meant a flatter trajectory and offered greater accuracy, especially over the distances it would be fired, usually not exceeding 25 yards. Most fastest on the draw type shoot outs of the old West would have been within this distance of 25 yards and @ 910 f.p.s muzzle velocity, it would drop an opponent with one shot.

 

 

One of the best and most famous pistolero's of the Old West was James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok.

 

1837 - 1876

He was a legendary character in the Old West and a great exponent of the Colt Navy 1851. Wild Bill arrived in the West initially as a stage coach driver and later became a Lawman in the territories around Kansas and Nebraska. He fought during the American Civil War on the side of the Union Army and achieved renown afterwards as a scout, gambler and gunfighter.

During his time as a Lawman Wild Bill engaged in many shootouts, and with his Colt Navy 1851 he was a very accurate and deadly shot, more so as he always remained calm, cool and collected in a shoot out, whilst the other party was nervous and scared.

At the age of 39, Wild Bill Hickok was murdered, he was shot whilst playing poker at Nuttal & Manns Saloon No.10 in Deadwood, Blackhills, Dakota Territory on August 2nd 1876.

Wild Bill always played Poker with his back to the wall, and one day there were no vacant seats, so for the first and last time he sat at a table with his back to two adjacent doors, he was sneaked up on and shot in the back of the head at close range by a Colt .45 by a coward named as Jack McCall. Bill was holding 4 cards, 2 black aces and 2 black 8's, forever known now as the 'dead mans hand'

More about Bill: http://www.vincelewis.net/hickok.html

 

Below is an image of my Colt Navy 1851 and 1860 Army, showing the cylinder and percussion cap nipples at the end of the cylinder. These revolvers has acquired a nice patina to the metal and adds to its value. Anyone who owns such an antique should never get the polish out and shine it up as this great depreciates the value. Simply oil it and maintain it if you are firing an antique Navy.

 

The Engraved Colt Navy 1851 below is a typical example of some of the work that gunsmiths of the Old West would carry out to make a mans plain looking 'shooting iron' more decorative. I am often amazed at the amount of intricate detail that those gunsmiths could etch onto a gun. Antiques of this nature are worth many times more than the normal un-etched variety.

 

The Colt Navy was originally intended to be issued to the Navy and the cylinder consequently portrayed this as it was engraved with an actual naval warfare scene. The image below shows the naval scene on the side of the cylinder, although not very clearly.

The long curved hammer was designed so it could be 'fanned' back by the shooters left hand. With the trigger depressed at the same time the gun could then be fired very fast consecutively. The under barrel loading lever locked away quite nicely into a latch at the end of the barrel.

 

Many Colt Navy 1851 revolvers were presented in a rather nice furnished case like the genuine example in the photo below. Samuel Colt, the eternal entrepreneur would often make a gift of such a revolver to lucky clients and businessmen, as the publicity would always attract even more business.

The case below contains, the 1851 Navy revolver, ball shot, percussion caps, powder dispenser flask and adjustment tools.

 

Below I present a special list of all the Colt Navy 1851 serial numbers...

COLT NAVY 1851 SERIAL NUMBERS
YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER	YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER	YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER
1850 ---------------- 1	1858 ---------- 85000	1866 ---------- 185000
1851 ----------- 2500	1859 ---------- 90000	1867 ---------- 200000
1852 ---------- 10000	1860 ---------- 93000	1868 ---------- 204000
1853 ---------- 20000	1861 ---------- 98000	1869 ---------- 207000
1854 ---------- 35000	1862 --------- 118000	1870 ---------- 210000
1855 ---------- 40000	1863 --------- 132000	1871 ---------- 212000
1856 ---------- 45000	1864 --------- 175000	1872 ---------- 214000
1857 ---------- 65000	1865 --------- 180000	1873 ------ 215000 - 215348

 

COLT NAVY 1851 MODERN REPRODUCTIONS SERIAL NUMBERS
YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER	YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER
1971 ---------- 4201	1975 ---------- 15101
1972 ---------- 5901	1976 ---------- 20001
1973 ---------- 8301	1977 ---------- 22701
1974 --------- 10801	1978 ---------- 23401

LONDON, ENGLAND COLT NAVY 1851 SERIAL NUMBERS

YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER

1853 -------------------------- 1

1854 ---------------------- 4000

1855 -------------------- 15000

1856 ---------- 41000 - 42000

 

There were military contracts to the Army and the Navy. These revolvers are usually found with a U.S. stamped on the left side of the frame below ‘COLTS/PATENT’ and government inspector marks on the grips and on various metal parts on the revolver.

The 51 Navy comes in four variant models with some over-lapping of the different models.

First Model: Serial range 1 to 800 with square-back brass trigger-guard and wedge screw entering the barrel lug under the wedge.

Second Model: Serial range 800 to 4200 with square-back brass trigger-guard and wedge screw entering the barrel lug above the wedge. A few are found in serial ranges up to 4500.

Third Model: Serial range 4200 to 85000 with small rounded brass trigger-guard. Some are found in a lower serial range than 4200.

Fourth Model: Serial range 85000 – 215348 with large rounded brass trigger guard.

From: http://www.vincelewis.net/coltnavy.html

See also:  How To Load The Colt Navy 1851 http://www.vincelewis.net/coltnavy2.html