Gun Development In The 1800s

In the early 1800s, the state of firearms development in America was thought to be revolutionary. By today’s standards, it could only be described as primitive. America had gained its independence from Britain mainly through the use of muzzle-loading muskets, which could fire only a single lead ball before needing a refill of gunpowder and projectile. The basic design evolved in to handguns called flintlocks. In a flintlock, a metal striker came into contact with a piece of flint, setting off a spark, thus igniting the gunpowder and sending the lead bullet flying towards a target. The thundering explosion of noise, smoke and flames brought fear to any unarmed foe.

But when American settlers began heading West, they began to discover that their

“I am getting on with the work as well as I can, but it has been such cold weather, the shop is so cold, I had likely be froze. I had got our pistol to work very well, and then getting it ready for stocking. But I am out of money, and rent is due today, and I want some more wood for the fire, so you must send some money immediately, or I shall be lost. Don’t forget the money.” (John Pearson, 1833).

By 1834, Colt made enough money to complete his first revolver. After some testing and a few further modifications, it was ready for production. There had been earlier attempts to build pistols capable of firing multiple shots, but this Colt gun was different. It worked consistently. In his invention, his design, lined up the cylinder to fire five shots, very consistently, very accurately, and that made all of the difference. There was a saying, that you could load the gun on Sunday, and it could shoot all

He realized from the start that any weapons manufacturing company would need to sell large quantities of guns to the US military to become successful. As Colt headed to the nation’s capital to demonstrate his Patterson revolver, he was confident that the innovative design would be well received by government buyers, but he underestimated the difficulty in changing the traditions of warfare. Compared to the single-shot firearms then used, the military viewed Colt’s weapon as too expensive and too complicated, requiring several minutes to reload. If you knew how to operate this gun, it worked fantastically. However, the government did their own testing in 1837, at West Point, and the guns did not fare particularly well, and as a consequence, had considerable problems getting high-volume sales to the US military. Samuel came up with a novel marketing strategy. He would bypass the politicians and bureaucrats, and go directly to the consumer: the soldiers whose lives depended on their firearms. Colt journeyed to Florida, where US troops were having troubles with the Seminole Indians. There, the mere notion of having a multiple-shot weapon was seen to be a tremendous advantage. Colt was also able to sell a few Pattersons to the Texas Rangers, but the gun ultimately proved too complicated for use in the heat of battle. In a final, desperate attempt to woo buyers, colt introduced a combination of a bowie knife