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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.01.16 17:12l 62 Lines 2709 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 80762_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Jan 4
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JM1YTR<JE7YGF<N9PMO<NS2B<N0KFQ
Sent: 160104/1510Z 80762@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1847
Colt sells his first revolvers to the U.S. government
Samuel Colt rescues the future of his faltering gun company by
winning a contract to provide the U.S. government with 1,000 of
his .44 caliber revolvers.
Before Colt began mass-producing his popular revolvers in 1847,
handguns had not played a significant role in the history of
either the American West or the nation as a whole. Expensive and
inaccurate, short-barreled handguns were impractical for the
majority of Americans, though a handful of elite still insisted
on using dueling pistols to solve disputes in highly formalized
combat. When choosing a practical weapon for self-defense and
close-quarter fighting, most Americans preferred knives, and
western pioneers especially favored the deadly and versatile
Bowie knife.
That began to change when Samuel Colt patented his
percussion-repeating revolver in 1836. The heart of Colt's
invention was a mechanism that combined a single rifled barrel
with a revolving chamber that held five or six shots. When the
weapon was cocked for firing, the chamber revolved automatically
to bring the next shot into line with the barrel.
Though still far less accurate than a well-made hunting rifle,
the Colt revolver could be aimed with reasonable precision at a
short distance (30 to 40 yards in the hands of an expert),
because the interior bore was "rifled"-cut with a series of
grooves spiraling down its length. The spiral grooves caused the
slug to spin rapidly as it left the bbarrel, giving it gyroscopic
stability. The five or six-shoot capacity also made accuracy less
important, since a missed shot could quickly be followed with
others.
Yet most cowboys, gamblers, and gunslingers could never have
afforded such a revolver if not for the de facto subsidy the
federal government provided to Colt by purchasing his revolvers
in such great quantities. After the first batch of revolvers
proved popular with soldiers, the federal government became one
of Colt's biggest customers, providing him with the much-needed
capital to improve his production facilities. With the help of
Eli Whitney and other inventors, Colt developed a system of mass
production and interchangeable parts for his pistols that greatly
lowered their cost.
Though never cheap, by the early 1850s, Colt revolvers were
inexpensive enough to be a favorite with Americans headed
westward during the California Gold Rush. Between 1850 and 1860,
Colt sold 170,000 of his "pocket" revolvers and 98,000 "belt"
revolvers, mostly to civilians looking for a powerful and
effective means of self-defense in the Wild West.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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