Colt vs Rem

[Don]

Have to say I'm partial to the Colts too. The old back and sideways flip does help the cap jam thing pretty well but I don't even give spent caps a second thought with my Remingtons. Still the Colts are sexier.

Don

 

[Roy]

I`d choose a Colt just because i like the feel and looks of it better. :thumbsup:

Thats it, just a better looking pistol :thumbsup:

 

[faw3]

While I like the look of the Colts and they "point" great I'd have to be thinking about how fast I could reload and the Rem has the Colt beat all over the place, the first Rems had the rammer or cyl pin cut so you didnt have to lower the rammer down to switch cyls. (Dont know how many of these got made for how long but if I was on horse I wouldnt want to switch cyls on a Colt aqnd ride. Fred :hatsoff:

 

[Zonie]

Not to hijack this post, but in answer to fw's comment about the Remington that could change cylinders without lowering the loading lever:
The model being refered to is the 1861 Army and the 1861 Navy.
The military did not like this feature because the cylinder rod could fall forward allowing the cylinder to fall out of the gun or jam.
Most of these pistols were military and were reworked by installing a screw in the loading lever to block the cylinder pins movement.
There were 12,000+ Army's and 8,500+ Navys made with this feature. (Flayderman's).
Early models of both pistols had the barrel threads concealed by the frame (causing jamming due to fouling).

The pistols were redesigned to fix both of these problems, the loading lever being redesigned like the current reproduction pistols and the frame being cut away to expose the barrel threads.
These exposed threads tended to scrape off the fouling on the cylinders face and improve reliability.
This new model was called the Remington New Model Army (or Navy).
The New Model Army went into production in 1863 with over 132,000 produced between 1863 and 1875. The New Model Navy also went into production in 1863 with around 22,000 being produced between 1863 and 1875. (Flayderman's).

Now...back to choosing your weapon. :grin:
zonie

 

[faw3]

Thanks for putting that up Im to lazy Zonie. I first read about those used by "Terry's Texas Rangers" in the CW (seems they didnt have a lot of them to hard to get, but this Yank wrote home about standing in line and these "crazy dressed Texans" would charge them and fire off both barrels of 12 or 10 g shotguns (or whatever they had I guess then as they turn to ride away after shreding the line they would pull 2 Rems or Colts or ? some other gun's and keep fireing, he wrote about how fast he could run..my feet wouldnt have touched ground till I was home! :rotf: ( I cant even think what it would be like to have these guys in 1/2 Tex-Mex cloths fireing 2 shotguns at once in front of me. :shocked2: Fred :hatsoff:

 

[gooddw]

I have both and have fired both a lot. Since most calvary encounters usually started fast and ended quickly, I would consider reloading and fouling non issues. Chances are, they weren't going to fire more than six shots anyway. The Remington will fire the first cylinder just fine as will the Colt. I would choose the Remington for two reasons. First, my Colt has jammed many times with a spent cap in the mechanism and in the heat of battle you're not always going to remember to hold the gun up as you cock it. My Remington has never jammed this way. Second, I can load and cap my Remington and leave it for months, then take it out and fire. I can't leave my Colt loaded for more than a week before it fails to fire. The last time, three caps failed to fire after only being loaded for two weeks.

Most important thing in combat - reliability of your equipment. Colts may look good and feel good but they would get you killed.

 

[mykeal]

Stars&Bars said:

I can't leave my Colt loaded for more than a week before it fails to fire. The last time, three caps failed to fire after only being loaded for two weeks.

I've never heard that particular complaint before. What's different about the Colt design that would cause that to happen?

 

[Rebel]

Yea, i've never heard that one either. Why would a Colt be any more prone to misfires after being left loaded.

 

[gooddw]

I don't know. I had two Colts, an 1851 and an 1860, both in 44. I have three Rems, two 44's and a 36 Police. I used #10 Remington caps on all of them. Both of the Colts would have misfires and all three of the Rems would always fire. One of the Rems I left loaded and capped for six months.

When I would pry the cap off the Colts there would be green material stuck in the nipple which indicated to me it was a moisture problem. Maybe that type cap was not seating on the nipple as well as the Remington.

In any case, I wouldn't hesitate to grab one of my Rems in a self defense situation, not so with the Colts. The 1851 was so unreliable and shot so poorly that I sold it after only two years. I didn't realize at the time I bought it that it was not a true replica. Pietta, BTW.

 

[mykeal]

If there was corrosion under the caps your problem was with either the caps or the nipples, not the gun. You needed to find a better match between nipple and cap.

You are the only person I've come across who's had this problem. Of course, keeping a charged, capped pistol around for several days is unusual, so not very many people would have the opportunity to experience it.

 

[gooddw]

Try it sometime - see what happens. Best advice comes from experience.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I've kept my Pietta '58 Rem loaded for months. the caps are a tight fit and I use the hammer to carefully squeeze them onto the nipples. MOF it's loaded right now and hanging in the usual wall mount display!

 

[graybeard]

My only C&B revolver is a CVA Colt 1860 Army. Love the way it points, have had very little trouble with cap debris, and have left it loaded and capped for more than 2 weeks (deer season). Had no failure to fire. A lot of rounds have gone through that thing and I find, like a flintlock, the more you shoot it, the more reliable it becomes. graybeard

 

[Legionair]

Regarding the failure to fire...

We had a very warm winter last year (into this year-- 60 degrees in Febuary), so I would go hike on saturdays with either my '58 Rem or my '51 Navy.

The Colt was left loaded (NOT normal practice for me) for 2 months during our spring cold snap. When I took it back out and fired it I had one hangfire (2-3 seconds), and four good ignitions.

Maybe I'm just lucky?? :hmm:

Legion

 

[torn moc]

Stars & bars..I live in West Vriginia just north of you and I have left c&b pistols loaded for a year and a half many times and they never gave me any problem when I fired them out. Funny thing...all were 51 Colts, pietta, or navy arms, or replic arms manufacturer.
The only Green I have ever seen on a cap was residue left by CCI caps.

 

[faw3]

I think it's your caps on your Colts, Ive got a Navy Arms and it stays loaded a few weeks at a time, and it always goes off, while another maker of the same gun will miss fire, the Rems never have they seemto have a spring that will ire even bad caps. Some reb horse outfits never would even carry any kind of sword at all just 4 hand guns if they could get them, and it wasnt unheard of to drop your Rem cyl and go back into the fray ! FRED :hatsoff:

 

[hunter64]

On my grandmothers side we have an original journal from a 1st Lieutenant of the New York 2nd something or other. I read it about 10 years ago when I was down in North Carolina and it was interesting to read how he would scrounge the battlefield after the battle. I read that once you shot all of your 6 shots you just simple dropped your revolver and pulled another one and continued. Once the battle was over you went back and picked up your revolvers and looked for some new ones. Most carried 4 or 5 revolvers and were never reloaded in battle. He only mentions his Colt revolvers so I have no idea if he ever used a Remington. The solders were trained on Colts so I would suspect that is what they used most. Next time I go down to visit I am going to scan the diary on the computer and then I will have a copy of it. I could only read it in my aunt's house and once I was finished reading for the day it went back into the safe for obvious reasons. When the Civil War documentary by Burns was out it was neat to watch and remember some of the things that were in the Diary.

 

[faw3]

If they could get one off the battle field (well they got what they could off it) it seemed the rebs liked the Rem and one other handgun because of the fast loading, but if you could go thru 4 of any gun 24 shoots you need to be someplace else! :rotf: But they did do it on both sides. Thanks FRED :hatsoff: