The official name of this model is the 1847 US revolver. It fascinated collectors and became one of the rarest and most valuable of all American pistols. It is better known as the four-pound Colt Walker revolver. Its true value lies in the story of how it was created and the significant impact it had on American history.
Texas Ranger
Samuel Hamilton Walker was born in Maryland in 1817. He was short and thin: he was 5 feet and 6 inches (168 cm) tall and weighed about 115 pounds (52 kg). He accompanied his older brother to Florida during the Second Seminole War in the late 1830s and then first encountered Colt's new patented revolvers. A few years later he went to Texas, where he became a famous Texas Ranger. He fought alongside Texas Ranger "Captain Jack" John Coffey Hayes and defeated a Comanche team of over 80 with Colt Paterson revolvers.
War with Mexico
In 1846, during the Mexican War that began after the annexation of Texas by the United States, Walker and his fellow Rangers were armed with the new United States rifles and sent to fight the Mexicans. At that time, the term "guerrilla war" first came into use, which unfolded already in Mexico. The Texas Rangers participated in the war as an irregular fighting force. General Zachary Taylor, unable to organize the Rangers and control their antics, sent a force to General Winfield Scott to direct them against Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army and wreak as much havoc as possible.
The idea of a new revolver
Walker ended up in Washington DC in December of that year when he received a letter from Colt. In it, the latter asked for Walker's opinion on the revolvers he had previously used on the Texas frontier. Walker soon asked Colt if he could deliver a thousand revolvers to equip a new squad within three months.
The eminent gunsmith did not want to miss this opportunity, so he quickly answered Walker and accepted the contract for a thousand revolvers. He then proceeded to make a wooden model in order to present it to Walker and get his approval to make it. He asked that this pistol be.44 caliber (the Colt "Paterson" was.36 caliber). The requirements also included an increase in weight compared to its predecessor, and a leverloading would be attached directly to the gun, unlike the "Paterson". Walker even made changes to the sight, sketched it and sent it to Colt, who contributed everything to the new design of the revolver.
Production problems
There was only one small problem that Colt had: he decided to leave Captain Walker during their correspondence. The fact is that Colt had nowhere to make revolvers. He was bankrupt. It seemed that such an insignificant thing as the absence of a factory could ruin everything? He had a contract to make a thousand revolvers at a cost of US$25. Colt decided to get out of this situation by entering into a contract with his good friend, the manager of the arms factory, Eli Whitney Jr. (1820-1895) of Hartford, Connecticut, asked him for help in creating weapons. Whitney agreed to cooperate.
Ely Whitney Jr. was the son of a man who became famous as the inventor of the cotton gin (cotton gin) and milling machine. Eli Whitney (1765-1825) was a significant figure in the entire American system of production. He made great strides in manufacturing where all parts were interchangeable and easy to assemble. When Whitney agreed to help Colt, they perfected the processes that became the basis for the Industrial Revolution. All this contributed to the beginning of the industrial revolution in America and further improvement in the production of firearms.
John Hall of Virginia, Simeon North of Connecticut and Eli Whitneyworked on the creation of machines that could produce firearms in accordance with the new method of production. The production of revolvers began as soon as the new design was approved.
During an exchange of letters between Colt and Walker, the latter called for more than the agreed upon thousand units. He told Colt that he could sell at least five thousand revolvers to civilians if they were made.
The arrival of new weapons
Colt made the first thousand revolvers, which were purchased by the US government within six months, and then about a hundred more were produced for sale to the civilian population. The 1,000 Ranger revolvers commissioned by Walker were numbered in batches of approximately 220, with A, B, C, D, or E markings on the frames. The civilian models were numbered 1001 to 1100. Samuel Colt sent two of these revolvers, serial numbers 1009 and 1010, to Walker in July 1847 as a gift.
When Walker received them, he was delighted with their craftsmanship and function. He wrote that there is not a single person who saw them and would not want to immediately have a pair of such pistols.
Unfortunately, Walker died as a result of a wound from a shotgun blast received during a battle near Huamantla (Mexico) on October 9, 1847, just a few weeks after he received the revolvers that now bear his name. He is said to have successfully used bothguns that Colt sent before the battle, shortly before his death. A few weeks after his death, the rest of the ordered pistols - Walker Colts - went to the Rangers, and by the beginning of the next year the war with Mexico was over.
For the next 14 years, until his death, Samuel continued to manufacture revolvers for the US military and civilian markets. To this day, the factory continues to produce firearms for the US military, continuously fulfilling contracts, the first of which was awarded in 1847 thanks to a letter from a Texas Ranger, which began a chain of events that changed history.
Features
The 1847 Colt "Walker" is a six-shot open frame revolver. The weight of the powder charge is 60 grains (3.9 g), which is more than twice the weight of a typical black powder charge used in other revolvers. It weighs 4.5 pounds (2 kg), has an overall length of 15.5 inches (375 mm), has a 9-inch (230 mm) barrel, and fires. round bullets. When creating the Colt Walker model, the trigger mechanism and trigger guard were improved. Sights are front sight and rear sight, which is located on top of the trigger.
Problems when using
In addition to its large size and weight, problems with the Walker revolver included barrels torn from firing. This is due to the low level of development of metallurgy, as well as the fact thatthat due to the negligence of the soldiers, gunpowder spilled out through the mouths of the drum chambers. In addition, they even pushed conical bullets into the chambers. About three hundred revolvers, Walker Colts, out of the first thousand were returned for repair due to a ruptured barrel. Fat was smeared over the chambers on top of each bullet after loading to prevent all chambers from igniting at the same time. Although each chamber held 60 grains of gunpowder, the manufacturer himself recommended using no more than 50 grains.
Another problem with Walker's revolver was the loading arm, which often fell off during recoil, precluding fast follow-up shots. Sometimes, in order to correct this shortcoming, a rawhide loop was placed around the barrel and loading lever to prevent the loading lever from falling and blocking further action.
