Colt Army Model 1860

Lore & Background

The Colt 1860 Army shares its frame with the .36 caliber 1851 Navy revolver, but the frame is relieved to allow a rebated cylinder chambered in .44 caliber. The barrel has a visibly shorter forcing cone than the 1851 Navy, enabling a longer cylinder. A distinguishing feature is the 'creeping' loading lever, first introduced on the Colt 1855 Sidehammer Revolver. The frame has no top strap; strength comes from the lower frame and the massive fixed cylinder pin, making the gun slimmer and lighter than the Remington Model 1858, but requiring barrel removal to take out the cylinder.

More than 200,000 were manufactured from 1860 through 1873. Colt's biggest customer was the US Government, with no fewer than 129,730 units purchased and issued to troops. By April 1861, 2,230 of Colt's earliest production went to dealers south of the Mason–Dixon line. The United States Navy ordered 900 fluted cylinder revolvers in May 1861, later issued to ships enforcing the Atlantic and Gulf blockade. United States Army orders began in May, with a total of 127,157 delivered. The Colt 1860 would be the most prolifically used revolver by Union forces throughout the Civil War. Many cavalry forces saw the revolver as the primary arm for horse-mounted action; during early war years, many cavalry units went into combat armed only with a saber and a Colt 1860.

Eventually, the 1860s were replaced by the Remington Model 1858 due to Remington's cheaper price and the ability to easily reload by swapping cylinders without removing the barrel. The last government-contracted Colts were delivered in November 1863, but the model 1860 remained the most popular sidearm with Union forces. The revolver continued to see service after the war and up to the adoption of the Colt Single Action Army. During the early Plains wars, 1860s saw service with many cavalry units; though considered outdated, lack of funds led to their retention. As a stopgap during the late 1860s and early 1870s, many Model 1860s were converted to fire .44 Colt metallic cartridges. About 1,000 conversions came from the Colt factory and were considered relatively high quality, but many others were made by local gunsmiths and varied wildly in quality, with a general reported decrease in reliability.

Reader's Guide

The Colt Army Model 1860 holds significance as the most widely used revolver of the Civil War, with more than 200,000 manufactured and over 129,730 purchased by the US Government. Its design—a .44-caliber six-shot single-action cap and ball revolver on a frame shared with the .36-caliber 1851 Navy—made it a standard sidearm for Union cavalry, infantry, artillery, and naval forces. The revolver's lack of a top strap and reliance on a fixed cylinder pin made it slimmer and lighter than the Remington Model 1858, though at the cost of requiring barrel removal to access the cylinder. This design limitation, along with Remington's lower price, led to the 1860 being replaced in service by the Remington Model 1858. Nevertheless, the 1860 remained the most popular Union sidearm and saw continued use after the war, including during the Plains wars, where outdated but retained due to military budget constraints. The revolver's legacy includes factory and field conversions to metallic cartridges as a stopgap before the adoption of the Colt Single Action Army, though these conversions often suffered from reliability issues. The 1860 Army is distinguished from the Colt Navy models (1851 and 1861), which were .36-caliber.

Did You Know?

• The Colt 1860 Army uses the same frame as the .36 caliber 1851 Navy, but the frame is relieved to allow a rebated .44 caliber cylinder.
• Some shoulder stocks for the 1860 were hollow and intended to be used as canteens, called 'canteen stocks'.
• The revolver cost approximately $20 per unit during the 1860s, later reduced to $14.50 by 1865.