Perhaps it is time for a different tack. And this time I suggest staying in or immediately after the period and with the actual guns of the period ”“ NOT replica guns made 150 years later which has nothing to do with the subject.
1. Fact: Colt had the lion’s share of the Revolver market in the 1850’s and especially out west.
2. Fact: Colt advertised their Revolvers for their firepower and their reliability and accuracy, but with no special claims for special target or competition accuracy. (There were target pistols of that time that easily were more accurate than the Colt for target and competition shooting and Colt knew it.)
3. Fact: Colt did advertise and fit spare cylinders to Colt 1851 revolvers that cost almost as much or more as a complete new gun in the 1850’s.
4. Fact: Colt did NOT advertise that spare cylinders could easily be swapped for additional firepower.
Comment: This would have been a HUGE advertising and sales advantage IF it were true. Though advertising this may not have been important in the 1850’s, there is no doubt Colt would have used this as a selling point in the 1860’s during the Civil War (and after) when they had competition from Remington and other Revolvers. So WHERE is the evidence Colt advertised easy swapping of cylinders for even more firepower during the War and after??!! Uh, OH!!!
5. Fact: We have one period account of a Pony Express Rider talking about having two spare cylinders for his Colt.
Comment: How many other period accounts do we have? Oh, I know a lot of authors writing about the Pony Express, AFTER their period, mention carrying spare cylinders as if it was common, but where is the original period document supporting evidence? If it was common then that means the Company provided the guns and though there may not be documented evidence to support that as fact, there seems to be little disagreement that most of the guns were provided by the Company.
Comment: If we accept that spare cylinders were issued at least for a while and we DO have period documents that talked in the later period of stripping down the Riders’ Armaments to just one Revolver and NO mention of spare cylinders, then where did those spare cylinders come from ( I mean the suppliers to the company)? How were they issued to the Riders? How often, if at all, were those spare cylinders actually used? This is where the real conjecture and assumptions and myths and fables begin.
Is there documentation from Colt records that the agents of the company purchased revolvers through distributors that had factory fitted spare cylinders? I realize the problem here is there was a huge fire at Colt in 1864 when so many of the early records were destroyed. If we use Occam’s Razor (The principle states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but””in the absence of certainty””the fewer assumptions that are made, the better.) Then this is the most likely way the Pony Express Colt’s had spare cylinders factory fitted and there would be no discussion that they fit and worked correctly. This would have kept down on weight of carrying spare pistols and the cylinders would function correctly. Since the company paid the Riders a MUCH higher wage than expected even for the dangers involved and a HUGE salary for the time period, it is not unreasonable to expect they spent extra money to ensure the Rider’s safety while keeping weight down.
OK, so what if they did not have factory fitted spare cylinders? It is entirely reasonable to assume someone checked and ensured the spare cylinders fit and functioned in the Revolvers before they were issued to the Riders. So the next simplest method is the Company had an agreement with the Gun Suppliers that the spare cylinders would be checked and fitted to the Revolvers by Gunsmiths in the larger towns or cities from whence the guns were shipped to the Company. That would have been plain “Good Business Practice” by Gun Distributors/Suppliers on a good size order and with hopes of selling more to the Company. Also, really now, who would have paid for guns that did not work or function properly for such an enterprise and that included the spare cylinders fit to the guns? OR if the guns did not work properly when received even WITH the spare cylinders, there would have been H&LL to pay because they cost so much and almost certainly there would have been records or accounts of that came down through history.
The unproven theory that unfitted spare cylinders were supplied in random fashion in hopes they would work correctly is the furthest down the list of realistic probabilities. This because Colt supplied factory fitted cylinders and never advertised easy replacement of their cylinders only one to three years after the end of the Pony Express when it would have been hugely in their financial favor to have done so during the Civil War and after, IF TRUE.
For more information about easy swapping of non factory fitted or gunsmith fitted cylinders, we should look to the Civil War. IF there were little or few problems of swapping cylinders without fitting, then there certainly should have been documented examples of it from that War when such a huge amounts of documents and letters are still extant. So WHERE ARE THEY??!! Uh, OH, again.
Now I have to admit I was a little surprised at this years ago and especially for Remington Revolvers where it is really easy to remove and replace the cylinder from the revolver, especially compared with the Colt M1851 or M1860. If there was a Civil War Period Revolver where carrying extra cylinders made the most sense, it would have been the Remington for this reason. The Company of Military Historians even included drawings of possible spare cylinder pouches that held one or two cylinders for Navy use. However, since those books came out, it has been shown those items were never purchased or issued. The Soldiers who REALLY could have used a belt pouch carrying one or two spare cylinders were Company Grade Infantry Officers, IF such swapping of cylinders was so easy. There are PLENTY of records of both Union and Confederate Company Grade Officers writing home or other places to order swords and pistols and all sorts of items; and yet, no recorded mention of them asking for spare cylinders. This even later in the war when the huge rush to supply arms to the troops had ebbed and spare cylinders could have been more readily provided at least to Union Officers. IF spare cylinders were so easy to fit, there is no doubt that there would be examples of those Officers writing and ordering or asking for them. So where are they? Uh, OH, again.
I know I won’t convince people who have little knowledge of working on authentic/original period revolvers or those who just want to believe what they will. That’s fine. I hope this post will be considered by those with an open mind and are concerned with historic accuracy.
Gus
