Colt 1862 Police Revolver

[Marc Adamchek]

The Uberti replicas are offered with a 6 1/2" barrel and a 5 1/2 one.

Were both these barrel lengths offered with the original Police revolver? If not, which one was standard and which one is a fantasy?

 

[Zonie]

Flayderman's Guide says the Colt 1862 Police was offered with a 3 1/2". 4 1/2", 5 1/2" and 6 1/2" barrel so it appears Uberti left out a few.

 

[swathdiver]

The Uberti replicas are offered with a 6 1/2" barrel and a 5 1/2 one.

Were both these barrel lengths offered with the original Police revolver? If not, which one was standard and which one is a fantasy?

The most frequent length I see are the 5-1/2" models.

Uberti does make the 4-1/2" too for Cimarron. You can get them from Texas Jacks for a great price as well.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Wow! Seems strange that so many barrel length options/choices were available "back then".

I wonder what Colt's sales figures showed them as being the most popular. Did they make a determination to stop offering the lengths that didn't sell highly sometime down the line? Did they all sell reasonably well to keep tooling them? Seems interesting enough to dig a little further.

 

[Shoeless]

If you take out sales to the military,Colt pocket revolvers were their biggest seller to civilians.Models Baby Dragoon,1849,1862 Pocket Navy and Pocket Police.....

 

[Carteret Kid]

The 62 Police model has a great feel. The ergonomics are excellent.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Kid - What length barrel?

 

[Zonie]

I don't have any idea of how many of each barrel length was sold but Flayderman's Guide says the 3 1/2" barrel pistols are rare.

Between 1861 and 1873 Colt made over 48,000 of the Police revolvers with around 32,000 of them produced prior to 1866.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Interesting stats, Zonie. Maybe the 3 1/2" is rare because not many were actually made, because the populace who wanted to carry a small revolver might already have owned and packed their 1849 Pocket or Well's Fargo with their 4" barrels. So Colt didn't see the need to fill the short barrel market again(?) Pure speculation and blind guessing, obviously.

But carrying that logic to today, maybe the Replica makers also don't see the need to offer the 1862 revolvers in barrels shorter than 5 1/2" because they figure anybody who wants shorter can get the 1849 4 inchers.

I've got to admit there's a real attraction to having the .36 calibre in the beautiful 1862 Police 5 1/2" package.

But I just might still be in the neophyte craze where I want EVERYTHING out there. Can fixating on the actual antique pistols be that far behind?

Well, I'd have to go through the motions of "for the cost of this antique pistol I can buy all the dragoons, a couple Police pockets, another '60 Army, a .................

 

[Shoeless]

Marc, I was at the range sunday with a 2nd model Dragoon and an 1860 Army. Near the end of the session I was running low on 3f so I started shooting an 1862 Pocket Navy with 18 grs. It was pretty feeble after running 40 grs in the Dragoon. I should have shot the Pocket first.......

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Shoeless, I can well imagine, and thus far these cap 'n ball revolvers unfortunately live in my imagination as I'm still a virgin neophyte.

It may seem out of place to ask this here, but what load did you use for your 1860 Army? Please include any details like whether or not you used wads, filler, etc.

I know that you, like many other members here, have a long history with these weapons and thus are a reputable source for me to approach.

In all seriousness about ownership of these captivating revolvers, I own an 1851 Navy, 1861 Navy (fluted cylinder) and 1860 Army. I feel that this battery is a good one, and one which will give me much work and pleasure, so much as to exclude any others, at least for a long while.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Wasn't there a youtube Clint Eastwood link with one of these posts originally, or am I going crackers?

 

[hawkeye2]

I have a 6.5" barrel model and the balance and pointability are superb. I also like the looks over the shorter versions though a 3.5" without a loading lever might be nice.

 

[Shoeless]

Marc, I used 30 grs with a Oxyoke wonder wad over powder,very accurate for me. You will need a pocket revolver and a Walker/Dragoon to curb that monkey of your back............

 

[nmdd]

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/277384/

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Thanks for the load, Shoeless. I'm still thinking over a reply to your suggestion!

 

[Marc Adamchek]

MANY Thanks, nmdd! You just can't beat Clint Eastwood firing cap 'n ball.

How innahell did it take me so long before taking a shine to these things?