Genesis of the Colt Single Action revolver
Below are links to all the 12-part on-line series by Duke on the Genesis of the Colt Single Action revolver.
Part 1: The Colt Walker .44
The Colt Single Action Army revolver has to be the most famous, most recognizable handgun in the world. But it didn’t spring from the drawing boards in 1873 as a brand new idea. It evolved slowly over a quarter century.
Part 2: The Dragoons
As pointed out in Part One of this series, in U.S. Army parlance of the 1840s/1850s the word Dragoon referred to horse mounted troops. It’s also the term modern collectors applied to the next series of improvements Samuel Colt made on his revolving handguns after the Walker version of 1847.
Part 3: The Babies
As early as 1848 Samuel Colt realized the military market was going to be finite. After all, the U.S. Army was a relatively small organization and those troops issued handguns were an even smaller part of it.
Part 5: The 1860 Army .44
For about a decade Samuel Colt was quiet as far as introducing new revolver models. Obviously they were using all their factory’s production capacity just keeping up with orders for the hugely successful .31 caliber Model 1849 and .36 caliber Model 1851 Navy.
Part 6: Colt's Last Three Cap & Ball Models
We’re going to lump the last three Colt cap and ball revolvers together in one article because they were simply modifications and adaptations of pre-existing models. All three were also .36 calibers.
Part 7: Colt's Cartridge Conversions
With this installment we reach a fascinating type of Colt single action revolver — the Cartridge Conversions. That’s a misnomer because it implies this genre of revolver was actually converted: that is revolvers that were already built as cap and ball types were converted to fire metallic cartridges.
Part 8: The First Generation Colt Single Action Army
Now we get to what can (arguably) be called the “World’s Most Famous Handgun.” Is it? I think so because American western movies have made it to about all corners of the earth.
Part 9: The Second Generation Colt SAA
In the last few years of 1st Generation SAA production only about 100 were shipped every 12 months. Then World War II brewed up requiring all of Colt’s production capabilities for military weapons.
Part 10: The 3rd Generation Of Colt SAA Production
In the fall of 1976 when reading an article by writer Skeeter Skelton, I got both good news and bad news. The bad news was Colt had quietly discontinued production of the 2nd Generation Single Action Army (SAA) in 1974.
Part 11: Colt Single Action Leather
For me one of the most enjoyable adjuncts to Colt Single Action Revolvers of all types is their leather gear. It comes in a bewildering variety of styles and purposes. It can also serve as the “canvas” for exquisite artwork.
Part 12: The SAA's Most Prominent Calibers
Research has shown the Colt SAA (Single Action Army) has been chambered for about 30 cartridges ranging from .22 to .476 Eley during its on-again/off-again 138 year history. That said, only eight of those 30 have been made in large enough numbers to be significant.
