The Colt Revolver
Before the Colt revolver, there was only one or two-barrel flintlock pistols that had been invented for hand held use. Samuel Colt was the inventor of the very first revolver. He made sure to named the gun named after himself. The name Colt Revolver came from his last name; which was Colt, and Revolver came from the revolving cylinder located right behind, while aligning up the barrel. Colt revolver soon became the most commonly acknowledged name for the weapon, and Samuel Colt was able to request for and later be granted a U.S. patent for the Colt revolver in 1836. Because it was Patented, Samuel Colt was able to sell his weapon freely, while still controlling the market. Not only did he control the market for the “Colt Revolver,” but it is also common knowledge to say that for every weapon he sold, he was able to continue making money off of them. When an individual’s revolver broke down, or even had a glitch in which they had to replace certain parts, Samuel Colt would be the only person who provided the excess parts. The invention of the Colt Revolver and the later patenting of the idea was an economically constructive decision that led him to great wealth.
According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, It is believed that Samuel Colt came up with the idea for the revolver while at sea. It said he was inspired by the capstan winch, which was a device that had a ratchet and paw mechanism on it, which was a similarity with the one which was used in the normal everyday guns in order to rotate the cylinder. The Patent was outfitted with a revolving cylinder containing five to six bullets also enclosing a revolutionary cocking device. Colt revolvers were the foundation of what we called today, the cap-and-ball technology. This patent immediately gave Colt a monopoly on the revolving gun in America, as I have stated earlier. Colt relocated his manufacturing company to Hartford. When the civil war began, Samuel Colt was more than prepared to produce enormous amounts of the revolvers. He continued to prepare for the great demand of revolvers to come with the war, until suddenly, there was an unexpected fire started within factory. This fire caused the entire company to shut down for an entire year. By the time he was able to relocated and start up the company once again, time was beginning to run out quickly. He started up production immediately, and when Colt replaced the octagonal barrel with a round barrel, the Union purchased over 107,00 revolvers between. This all took place between 1861-1863. The change from the octagonal barrel to the round barrel, which featured internal rifling, was also an inch shorter. It was a much more efficient design which the Americans seemed to favor. After the new invention of the round barrel, Samuel Colt had the power to price his unique weapons that no one was allowed to imitate at any price he desired, and people still would have purchased it. Because he had this power, Samuel Colt did make the revolvers incredibly expensive, at price at which people where willing to pay, but felt angry at how they were being taken advantage of, all which became the leading cause of his death in 1862.
If I were to basically explain what a rifle is and how it works, I would start with the basics which is; a revolver has multiple firing chambers, which are little wholes in a circular barrel in which you put the bullet in, and all the holes are arranged in a circular cylinder block. When shooting the revolver, the whole in which you supposedly have already placed the bullet into, is brought into alignment with the barrel. Usually when shooting, the barrel aligns itself immediately following consecutively from the last shot to quicken shooting speed. When aligned, the bullet would immediately fire off. There are different revolvers that have been created as branches off from the original Colt Revolver. There is the single action revolver, which involves you pulling back on a hammering piece of equipment, before every shot, which later slams down only to be pulled back up again for the next shot. Although the guns are incredibly useful, and allow a person to fire off shells faster than any ordinary gun, is does have a downside. Due to the quick shot of multiple bullets consecutive to one another, it decreases to shooter’s ability to continue a constant accuracy in their aim. If you where to compare them to auto loading handguns, a revolver is usually much more simple to operate. Even though they are built in a more significant and complicated way, they have always been widely known for reliability.
When reading through a site on weapons of the American Civil War, it says, “The Starr Revolver was a .44 caliber, six-shot, double action weapon weighing in at almost 3 lbs. It fired a combustible cartridge, but could also be loaded with loose powder and ball. Initially the double action Starr was used by Union soldiers in the western theater of the Civil War, but in 1863 the US Ordinance Dept urged the Starr Arms Co. to replace the double action revolver with a cheaper, single action model. Starr complied and sold the Union 25,000 weapons at $12 each.” This was one of the many personal explanations and examples of the American’s reliability and knowledge on these weapons. They had to know as much as they could learn about the gun because they would be relying upon in during the heat of the war, and also to make sure they were getting a deal on the weapon for their precious money.
The colt revolver was one of the most commonly used weapons in the civil war because of it’s incredible speed and efficiency in firing off bullets. The more bullets you fire off, the more likey you are to hit someone. Many of the Americans even relied on these weapons with their lives, because carryign around a heavy shotgun could not only slow you down and tire you, but it was also large and slow. Throughout history, the Colt Rvolver, although it had became more and more advanced over time, was an important commonly used weapons for the Americans. The weapon is also responsible for taking many lives in short periods of time, quickening the death tolls in battle and even sometimes even within a town. Like many other weapons, the revolver is truly a dangerous weapon that had been brought into this world by brilliant minds, such as Samuel Colt. And sometimes these type of things were built for the wrong reasons, which is obvious for the revolver because it was built for killing. From the early Americans, to today, the Colt Revolver has been the root to which newer and more efficient weapons have sprouted from.
According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, It is believed that Samuel Colt came up with the idea for the revolver while at sea. It said he was inspired by the capstan winch, which was a device that had a ratchet and paw mechanism on it, which was a similarity with the one which was used in the normal everyday guns in order to rotate the cylinder. The Patent was outfitted with a revolving cylinder containing five to six bullets also enclosing a revolutionary cocking device. Colt revolvers were the foundation of what we called today, the cap-and-ball technology. This patent immediately gave Colt a monopoly on the revolving gun in America, as I have stated earlier. Colt relocated his manufacturing company to Hartford. When the civil war began, Samuel Colt was more than prepared to produce enormous amounts of the revolvers. He continued to prepare for the great demand of revolvers to come with the war, until suddenly, there was an unexpected fire started within factory. This fire caused the entire company to shut down for an entire year. By the time he was able to relocated and start up the company once again, time was beginning to run out quickly. He started up production immediately, and when Colt replaced the octagonal barrel with a round barrel, the Union purchased over 107,00 revolvers between. This all took place between 1861-1863. The change from the octagonal barrel to the round barrel, which featured internal rifling, was also an inch shorter. It was a much more efficient design which the Americans seemed to favor. After the new invention of the round barrel, Samuel Colt had the power to price his unique weapons that no one was allowed to imitate at any price he desired, and people still would have purchased it. Because he had this power, Samuel Colt did make the revolvers incredibly expensive, at price at which people where willing to pay, but felt angry at how they were being taken advantage of, all which became the leading cause of his death in 1862.
If I were to basically explain what a rifle is and how it works, I would start with the basics which is; a revolver has multiple firing chambers, which are little wholes in a circular barrel in which you put the bullet in, and all the holes are arranged in a circular cylinder block. When shooting the revolver, the whole in which you supposedly have already placed the bullet into, is brought into alignment with the barrel. Usually when shooting, the barrel aligns itself immediately following consecutively from the last shot to quicken shooting speed. When aligned, the bullet would immediately fire off. There are different revolvers that have been created as branches off from the original Colt Revolver. There is the single action revolver, which involves you pulling back on a hammering piece of equipment, before every shot, which later slams down only to be pulled back up again for the next shot. Although the guns are incredibly useful, and allow a person to fire off shells faster than any ordinary gun, is does have a downside. Due to the quick shot of multiple bullets consecutive to one another, it decreases to shooter’s ability to continue a constant accuracy in their aim. If you where to compare them to auto loading handguns, a revolver is usually much more simple to operate. Even though they are built in a more significant and complicated way, they have always been widely known for reliability.
When reading through a site on weapons of the American Civil War, it says, “The Starr Revolver was a .44 caliber, six-shot, double action weapon weighing in at almost 3 lbs. It fired a combustible cartridge, but could also be loaded with loose powder and ball. Initially the double action Starr was used by Union soldiers in the western theater of the Civil War, but in 1863 the US Ordinance Dept urged the Starr Arms Co. to replace the double action revolver with a cheaper, single action model. Starr complied and sold the Union 25,000 weapons at $12 each.” This was one of the many personal explanations and examples of the American’s reliability and knowledge on these weapons. They had to know as much as they could learn about the gun because they would be relying upon in during the heat of the war, and also to make sure they were getting a deal on the weapon for their precious money.
The colt revolver was one of the most commonly used weapons in the civil war because of it’s incredible speed and efficiency in firing off bullets. The more bullets you fire off, the more likey you are to hit someone. Many of the Americans even relied on these weapons with their lives, because carryign around a heavy shotgun could not only slow you down and tire you, but it was also large and slow. Throughout history, the Colt Rvolver, although it had became more and more advanced over time, was an important commonly used weapons for the Americans. The weapon is also responsible for taking many lives in short periods of time, quickening the death tolls in battle and even sometimes even within a town. Like many other weapons, the revolver is truly a dangerous weapon that had been brought into this world by brilliant minds, such as Samuel Colt. And sometimes these type of things were built for the wrong reasons, which is obvious for the revolver because it was built for killing. From the early Americans, to today, the Colt Revolver has been the root to which newer and more efficient weapons have sprouted from.
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