Colt CW revolver?

[Rifleman1776]

I may think I know a bit about a lot of ml issues but CW and revolvers are not much in my repitoire.
Anyhow, I had a replica brass framed Colt (style) revolver in .36 cal. with a round barrel. I would have thought it was an 1851 but my limited and foggy memory tells me those were octagonal barrels. So, what would the round barrel, if they originally really existed, be called?
BTW, it was given to me and only used as a wall hanger. Recently, someone did a big favor for my daughter. The favor-doer is a wannabe CW enthusiast. I gave him the revolver as a thanks for helping my daughter.

 

[mhb]

Well, first, there were no brass-framed Colt revolvers used in the Civil War. There were some Confederate copies made with brass frames, and some of those may have had round barrels, also.
The Colt 1861 Navy had a round barrel and overall appearance very like the 1860 Army, though most of the copies had barrels which were octagonal at the breech and round forward of that.
mhb - Mike

 

[cgn71]

The round barrel brass frame 36 caliber is a replica of the Griswold and Gunnison revolver made by the Confederates in a small town a few miles from me. At one time the town was called Griswoldville then Clinton and today is the town of Gray GA, it's about 12 miles or so from Macon.
The thinking nowadays is around 3600 were produced during the war. The small factory was destroyed during Sherman's March and there was a small battle nearby which is reenacted every year in May.

 

[Coot]

cgn71 is correct - a brass framed, round barrel copy of a Colt 1851 Navy describes a replica Griswold & Gunnison - the "Confederate Colt". Uberti, High Standard and Pietta have made replicas and others may have done so as well.

 

[crockett]

Rifleman 1776: there are a few nuances here. To the best of my memory the Confederate brass frame "Colts" had sort of an octagon barrel where the wedge was and then the barrel forward of that was round. On a lot of round barrel percussion revolvers the barrel is round in the wedge area. I also think the Confederate brass frame "Colts" had smooth cylinders without any engraving like some of the Colts.
Here's my big "Beef" I cannot figure out why a lot of manufacturers keep making Colts with brass frames- they are not PC however if the manufacturer made just a few minor changes they would end up with a very PC Confederate type revolver.

 

[Carteret Kid]

The G&G is featured in Hell On Wheels.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Rifleman 1776: there are a few nuances here. To the best of my memory the Confederate brass frame "Colts" had sort of an octagon barrel where the wedge was and then the barrel forward of that was round. On a lot of round barrel percussion revolvers the barrel is round in the wedge area. I also think the Confederate brass frame "Colts" had smooth cylinders without any engraving like some of the Colts.
Here's my big "Beef" I cannot figure out why a lot of manufacturers keep making Colts with brass frames- they are not PC however if the manufacturer made just a few minor changes they would end up with a very PC Confederate type revolver.

The barrel was as you describe.
The cylinder was engraved in the 1851 style.
The brass/bronze frames are cheaper to make and sell much cheaper than steel. Methinks they will be around for a long, and confusing, time.
All said, I'm hopeful the reciepient of the revolver gift will be pleased.

 

[JMiller]

Actually, it's not a Griswold, it's a brass frame 1860 Colt army, in .44. The armorers for the show don't seem to know their bp pistols, and they refer to the 1860 Henry as the 1866 Yellowboy.

The Pietta G&G is on my wish list.

 

[Rifleman1776]

It was a .36 cal. GM.
BTW the recipient was very pleased.

 

[crockett]

As I said, I'm not an expert on this one but if you surf the net a little and look at the originals the G & G has a cylinder that is not engraved and the G & G has the octagon wedge area that changes to the round barrel, as mentioned herein. There might be some other differences but from the images I look at the G & G has the small brass post front sight, the grips look to be identical to a 1851 Colt, etc. Here's where I am going with this. If you have one of these "fake" 1851 Colt replicas with a brass frame, it seems to me if you just milled off the engraving (how I don't know) you would end up with a dead ringer of the G & G and have a really PC gun. If anyone is an expert on this and there are other slight differences, maybe the wedge, shape of the grip,loading lever, etc- please let everyone know.