Nick
In 1836, Samuel Colt received a U.S. patent for a handheld pistol that featured a multi-firing system based on a rotating barrel with multiple chambers. The pistol could fire bullets through a lock and spring design.
Soon Colt’s name would become synonymous with the revolver, especially the Colt Single Action Army revolver, often called a Colt .45. The Colt .45 revolver is sometimes referred to as “The Gun that Eon the West”. Other firearms, including the 1873 Winchester repeater rifle, also claim that title.
With some initial help from Eli Whitney, Colt developed molds at his armory in Hartford, Connecticut, that could forge metal pieces comprising the revolver. The innovation enabled Colt to mass produce the weapon and market it not only to the military, but also to cowboys in the Southwest, Gold Rush miners in the Rockies and law enforcement officials nationwide.
One of the company’s advertising slogans, “God created man, Sam Colt made them equal,” would become legend to gun-lovers.
Colt’s patent on his revolver design assured his company dominated the market on rotating barrel revolvers, as well as shotguns and rifles until the patent’s expiration in the mid-1850s.
View our collection of Colt pistols here
original post published by DENIX on their website
