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Revolver Barrel Length


William T. L'Argent

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I know the army started with the Colt 1873 in a 7 1/2 length and then switched to a 5 1/2 for mounted troops. I see more longer barrels in period photos. Shorter barrels were probably used by people who needed them for specific tasks, but I would be willing to bet that Colt sold more of the 7 1/2 length during that time period than any other. Maybe someone with better knowledge of Colt production could chime in.

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I think 7 1/2" was standard on Colt SAA, but like Winchester, they'd custom make whatever length you ordered. IIRC Bat Masterson wrote that he custom ordered his at 4 3/4".

 

From the introduction of the Paterson through the Civil War, most revolvers were made with 7"+ barrels. Old habits die hard, so it would be understandable for folk to desire the longer barrels. The exceptions would be professional gunmen such as Masterson, some lawmen who preferred less weight on their hip, or shopkeepers who wanted something that didn't take up much room under the counter. The average fella, though, would probably just get the standard Army setup.

 

Some significant number of SAAs would have been military issue that "found" their way onto the civilian market. I think early production SAAs were virtually all dedicated to military contracts.

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Actually, there was a known fashion trend. In the 1870s and early 1880s longer barrels were all the rage. In the mid 1880s the shorter barrels gained in popularity and by the 1890s the longer tubes were clearly "out". One of the reasons original 7.5" Colts are so valuable today is that quite a number of them were cut back to 5.5" or 4 5/8s along the way. New guns during the 90's were sold in much higher numbers with the shorter barrels.

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Howdy

 

Previous to the Single Action Army most percussion revolvers had long barrels. 7 1/2" was standard for the Colt Navy, 8" was standard for the Colt Army. I believe 8" was also standard for the Remington New Model Army of 1858. One reason for long barrels is you needed a fairly long loading lever to gain enough leverage to ram the ball into the chamber. I have also read that longer barrels were better suited to the burning characteristics of Black Powder. Certainly shorter barrels existed for C&B revolvers, but long ones were much more common.

 

I have always felt that the Army was simply used to long barrels, so that's what they specified. Whether or not my assumption is correct, when the SAA was adopted by the Army in 1873, 7 1/2" was the standard barrel length. This was the only length available at the time. I have a copy of an Army ordinance specification dated 1882 that still lists the barrel length as 7 1/2". Most of these early SAAs were issued to mounted units, the full length barrels are sometimes known unofficially as 'cavalry models'.

 

By the 1890s many of these guns had a lot of wear and needed refurbishing. Some were sent back to Colt, others were sent to government armories. Internal parts were repaired or replaced, and most of the barrels were bobbed to 5 1/2". It was easier to cut a barrel down than replace it. The guns were then refinished and reblued. Many of these refurbished revolvers with 5 1/2" barrels were then issued to artillery units, so the 5 1/2" length became known unofficially as the 'artillery model'. The 4 3/4" barrel came along some time later.

 

Although custom lengths could be ordered, 7 1/2", 5 1/2", and 4 3/4" were the only standard production barrel lengths the First Generation SAA was offered with. The 5 1/2" length eventually became the most popular length, more SAAs were produced with that barrel length than any other length.

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