longcruise
70 Cal.
Here's a couple pics of 1860 Army revolvers that I dug up on the web. Major diff in the cylinder of mine and these??
Sighting in - Pietta 1851
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Yours is an 1860(At least the brl is),The brl is round and longer than an 1851 and the 1851 brl is octagon and sticks out past the loading lever 1/4" on all 5 of mine and they all have the pointy round brass sight..The brl sticks out about 1" past the loading lever on all 3 of my 1860's and all have the blade front sight..
Brl on 1860 = 8" Brl on 1851 = 7.5"
Brl on 1860 = 8" Brl on 1851 = 7.5"
longcruise
70 Cal.
It most surely is an 8" barrel. Now, my son in law got this for me from Cabelas because I admired his 1851(????) in .36 caliber. Have never compared them closely but they seem to be pretty much the same. His is also a round barrel. OTOH, who knows what liberites Pietta takes with history? :haha:
Could it be that his is a 1861 Navy and not a 51? The 61 Navy looks very similar to the 60 Army that you have only it is in 36 caliber as opposed to the 44 caliber of the 60 Army. The 51 has an entirely different ramrod fulcrum but also is in 36 caliber originally. Granted, you can get one by Pietta in 44 but that was not the way they were made originally.
What confuses alot of people is the Naval battle scene on all these pistols. Both the Army as well as the Navy. If I remember correctly it was to comemorate a battle during the war with Mexico and has nothing to do with the Army being Army and the Navy being Navy. At any rate, both of the pistols have this battle scene on the cylinders sometimes adding to the confusion of identification. :hmm:
What confuses alot of people is the Naval battle scene on all these pistols. Both the Army as well as the Navy. If I remember correctly it was to comemorate a battle during the war with Mexico and has nothing to do with the Army being Army and the Navy being Navy. At any rate, both of the pistols have this battle scene on the cylinders sometimes adding to the confusion of identification. :hmm:
You are correct about the sea battle between the Texas Navy and Mexico being the subject of the roll engraving found on Colt pistols.
That was sort of Colts "Trade mark" so buyers knew they were getting a real Colt instead of one of the copies made by some other companies.
Both the Colt 1851 and 1861 Navy and the Colt 1860 Army had this scene on their cylinders.
The big Walker and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd model Dragoons and the little 1848 Baby Dragoon had a Texas Ranger/Indian fight scene.
The little Colt 1849 pocket pistol usually had a "Stagecoach Robbery" scene on its cylinder.
The Colt 1851 Navy had an octagon barrel and a link style loading lever.
The Colt 1860 Army and 1861 Navy both had a round streamlined barrel with a toothed "creeping" loading lever.
That was sort of Colts "Trade mark" so buyers knew they were getting a real Colt instead of one of the copies made by some other companies.
Both the Colt 1851 and 1861 Navy and the Colt 1860 Army had this scene on their cylinders.
The big Walker and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd model Dragoons and the little 1848 Baby Dragoon had a Texas Ranger/Indian fight scene.
The little Colt 1849 pocket pistol usually had a "Stagecoach Robbery" scene on its cylinder.
The Colt 1851 Navy had an octagon barrel and a link style loading lever.
The Colt 1860 Army and 1861 Navy both had a round streamlined barrel with a toothed "creeping" loading lever.
The 1860 Army model also has a noticeably longer grip than the Navy models, whether 1851 or 1861.
I prefer the longer 1860 grip myself but it seems more people prefer the Navy grip, at least that is the reason generally given as to why Colt returned to the short navy style grip on the Peacemaker.
I prefer the longer 1860 grip myself but it seems more people prefer the Navy grip, at least that is the reason generally given as to why Colt returned to the short navy style grip on the Peacemaker.
longcruise
70 Cal.
Well, the barrel is round for sure! Both on mine and the son in laws .36 caliber. Did or does anyone make the 1860 in .36?? Funny thing is, my son in law often says he would like to get an 1860. Seems like he may already have one. 
After browsing around the Pietta site (not easy to find), there is no doubt that mine is an 1860. Need to get my hands on the son in law'sto determine for sure which his is. For sure it is a round barrel and therefore must be an 1860 or 1861.
After browsing around the Pietta site (not easy to find), there is no doubt that mine is an 1860. Need to get my hands on the son in law'sto determine for sure which his is. For sure it is a round barrel and therefore must be an 1860 or 1861.
The makers may say a .36 round barreled open top Colt style pistol is a "1860" but the sales departments at those places can and will say just about anything.
The Colt 1860 was the "Army" model. It came in .44 caliber only. The cylinder is "rebated" meaning it is a larger diameter cylinder that is 'necked down' towards the rear.
The larger area is needed to accomodate the 6 .44 caliber chambers.
The frame has a corosponding cut in it to allow for the larger forward part of the cylinder.
The Colt 1851 and 1861 Navys were always .36 caliber and have a cylinderical cylinder without the rebate or the step in the frame.
The ".44 caliber 1851 Colt" that many of the reproductions claim to be never existed.
These guns with their octagon barrel and link style loading lever were dreamed up by the Italians who wanted to use existing parts and offer a .44 caliber gun all in one.
There have been suggestions that Colt may have made something like one of these .44's while the company was working on the 1960 Army but there are no written records of this and no original examples of one have ever been found.
I must point out that most of the Colt records were lost in a major fire suffered by the company during the Civil War so the lack of records may be due to that. Of course the lack of records does not proove that such a gun was ever made.
The Colt 1860 was the "Army" model. It came in .44 caliber only. The cylinder is "rebated" meaning it is a larger diameter cylinder that is 'necked down' towards the rear.
The larger area is needed to accomodate the 6 .44 caliber chambers.
The frame has a corosponding cut in it to allow for the larger forward part of the cylinder.
The Colt 1851 and 1861 Navys were always .36 caliber and have a cylinderical cylinder without the rebate or the step in the frame.
The ".44 caliber 1851 Colt" that many of the reproductions claim to be never existed.
These guns with their octagon barrel and link style loading lever were dreamed up by the Italians who wanted to use existing parts and offer a .44 caliber gun all in one.
There have been suggestions that Colt may have made something like one of these .44's while the company was working on the 1960 Army but there are no written records of this and no original examples of one have ever been found.
I must point out that most of the Colt records were lost in a major fire suffered by the company during the Civil War so the lack of records may be due to that. Of course the lack of records does not proove that such a gun was ever made.
The way it was explained to me is that the U.S.Navy preferred the .36 as the Caliber of choice while the U.S.Army liked the .44. The engraving scenes were a Sam Colt idea for authentication as opposed to a Manhatten or other mfgr. GrampaJ in NC :thumbsup:
According to the information I have read, the term "Navy" was a term used by Mr. Colt to describe the .36 caliber pistol and had little to do with what the Navy liked to use.
It may have had ties to the Texas Navy being armed with the .36 caliber Paterson Colt pistols during the Texas Navy vs the Mexican Navy battle on May 16th, 1843.
Quoting from page 50 of COLT AN AMERICAN LEGEND by R.L.Wilson,
"Colt seems to have introduced the term "Navy Model" to firearms nomenclature. His intent apparently was that the Dragoon would sell for the Army service, and the Navy type for the sea. However, most of the '51 Colts sold to the U.S. government were designated for military, not naval, use. The first U.S. contract purchase of the '51 was for 1,000 specimens, in July 1855. Many thousands more were sold for service use there-after..."
It may have had ties to the Texas Navy being armed with the .36 caliber Paterson Colt pistols during the Texas Navy vs the Mexican Navy battle on May 16th, 1843.
Quoting from page 50 of COLT AN AMERICAN LEGEND by R.L.Wilson,
"Colt seems to have introduced the term "Navy Model" to firearms nomenclature. His intent apparently was that the Dragoon would sell for the Army service, and the Navy type for the sea. However, most of the '51 Colts sold to the U.S. government were designated for military, not naval, use. The first U.S. contract purchase of the '51 was for 1,000 specimens, in July 1855. Many thousands more were sold for service use there-after..."
Colt called their .36cal revolver of 1851 the "Navy" as a tribute to the Texas Navy. On the cylinder is an engraving of the Texas Navy kicking the Mexican Navy's ass in 1843. As a result, "Navy Revolver" or "Naval Caliber" came to mean .36cal. Colt was not the only one to use that term.
Edit: They paid homage to Texas because Texas provided Colt with one of their first if not the very first large contract.
Whoops, I didn't see there was a first page to this. Looks like everything I said is already covered.
Edit: They paid homage to Texas because Texas provided Colt with one of their first if not the very first large contract.
Whoops, I didn't see there was a first page to this. Looks like everything I said is already covered.
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