Revisiting the Peacemakers Part 1
How Colt’s designs evolved and what it means to airguns
By Dennis Adler
You have to realize that the Colt Peacemaker was not Samuel Colt’s dream. In fact, he was dead set against cartridge revolvers, believing that his patented percussion pistols would endure throughout the duration of the Civil War and for years after. He actually had the opportunity to gain the rights from one of his employees, Rollin White, who had received a patent for the breech-loading bored through cylinder in 1855. Colt turned White down. Of course, in 1855 no one in the U.S. was making self-contained metallic cartridges that required a revolver with a breech loading, bored through cylinder. Colt’s revolvers, the only revolvers that were allowed to be manufactured in the United States at the time, used loose powder, cap and round balls or conical bullets, loaded into the front of the cylinder chamber, first with a measure of black powder, the ball or conical bullet, seated on top of it by ramming the bullet into the cylinder with the gun’s loading lever, and then placing a percussion cap on the nipple at the back of the cylinder corresponding to the chamber. A wise soldier or civilian also placed a little dab of lard over each chamber (before placing the percussion caps) to seal and protect each chamber from moisture, or worse, flash from firing that could ignite other chambers and cause a chain fire. This usually blew the gun apart and did little for the shooter’s hand. Other problems included using too much powder in which case the cylinder chamber could bulge and ruin the cylinder, or the cylinder could burst which again often did not bode well for the shooter’s hand. Rollin White saw a better way with a self-contained cartridge having a proper measure of powder and the bullet all in one, and the percussion cap at the back of the shell to be struck by the hammer. It was already being done in Europe and White, had, in fact, been “inspired” by European design patents when he drew up his own design and received a U.S. patent. Colt agreed to disagree, White took his idea to Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, who were just forming their own arms-making company and they not only liked the idea, they purchased the patent rights for Smith & Wesson. Almost at the same time, Daniel Wesson was developing America’s first self-contained metallic cartridge, the .22 Short rimfire. As soon as Colt’s patent expired in 1857, S&W introduced their little .22 caliber Tip-Up, 7-shot revolver, the S&W No.1. No actual threat to Colt’s .36 caliber 1851 Navy cap-and-ball pistols, which beginning in 1855 were adopted as the nation’s standard issue military sidearm. Sam Colt would never look back at what White had offered him, or even regard S&W as a competitor once the Civil War began. Then to everyone’s dismay, Sam Colt died in January 1862 at the age of 47 after suffering a brief illness, never to know the outcome of the war or the depths of the burden he had placed on his company’s future by sending Rollin White packing. After the war, the Colt’s Patent Fire-Arms Mfg. Co. would be prevented from manufacturing breech-loading cartridge revolvers until 1869 and the expiration of the S&W Rollin White patent.