Army and Weapons | Deadly Colt Walker Revolver | The Colt Walker is a single action revolver with a rotating cylinder with six charges of black powder behind six bullets. It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt.
The Colt Walker was the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made. It was founded in the mid-1840s in a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817-1847) and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814-1862), which builds on the earlier Colt Paterson design. Walker wanted a gun that was very powerful at close range.
Samuel Walker carried two revolvers from his namesake in the Mexican-American War. He was slain in battle the same year his famous gun was invented, 1847, shortly after he had received them. Only 1100 of these guns were originally made, making originals extremely difficult and expensive to obtain. On October 9, 2008, a copy that was passed by a Mexican War veteran sold at auction for U.S. $ 920,000.
The Republic of Texas was the largest buyer of the beginning of the Paterson Pistol Holster (Model No 5), a five shot .36 cal revolver, and Samuel Walker became familiar with during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was involved in the Mexican-American War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles. He approached Colt, requesting a large revolver into single-shot pistols Aston Johnson holster replaced in use. The desired 0.44 -. 45 caliber revolver would be conducted in the saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough for horses and sending enemy soldiers. The Colt Walker was used in the Mexican-American War and the Texas border.
Samuel Walker carried two revolvers from his namesake in the Mexican-American War. He was slain in battle the same year his famous gun was invented, 1847, shortly after he had received them. Only 1100 of these guns were originally made, making originals extremely difficult and expensive to obtain. On October 9, 2008, a copy that was passed by a Mexican War veteran sold at auction for U.S. $ 920,000.
The Republic of Texas was the largest buyer of the beginning of the Paterson Pistol Holster (Model No 5), a five shot .36 cal revolver, and Samuel Walker became familiar with during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was involved in the Mexican-American War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles. He approached Colt, requesting a large revolver into single-shot pistols Aston Johnson holster replaced in use. The desired 0.44 -. 45 caliber revolver would be conducted in the saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough for horses and sending enemy soldiers. The Colt Walker was used in the Mexican-American War and the Texas border.
Medical Officer John "RIP" Ford took a special interest in the Walkers when they arrived in Veracruz. He won two examples for himself and is the primary source for information on their performance during the war and afterwards. His observation that the gun would be so far to carry and store with the same or greater power than the .54 caliber rifle Mississippi seems to be based on a single observation of a Mexican soldier ran a distance of over one hundred meters. Walker, unlike most successful martial pistols and revolvers, was a practical weapon to about 100 meters.
The Colt Walker has a powder charge of 60 grains (3.9 g) in each room, more than double what a typical black powder revolver holds. It weighs 4 ½ pounds (2 kg) unloaded, has a 9-inch (229 mm) barrel, and fires a .44 caliber (in 0454, 11.53 mm diameter) round ball and conical. The first contract called for 1,000 of the guns and accouterments. Colt commissioned Eli Whitney Junior to fill the contract and an additional 100 revolvers manufactured for retail sales and promotional gifts.
The Colt Walker has a powder charge of 60 grains (3.9 g) in each room, more than double what a typical black powder revolver holds. It weighs 4 ½ pounds (2 kg) unloaded, has a 9-inch (229 mm) barrel, and fires a .44 caliber (in 0454, 11.53 mm diameter) round ball and conical. The first contract called for 1,000 of the guns and accouterments. Colt commissioned Eli Whitney Junior to fill the contract and an additional 100 revolvers manufactured for retail sales and promotional gifts.
Problems Walker included the very large size, ruptured cylinders attributed to primitive metallurgy or (more likely) to load the original picket bullets backwards in the rooms and inadequate loading lever catch that often allowed the loading lever dropping during the recoil, preventing fast follow up shots. Period-correct solutions to this often placing a rawhide loop around both the barrel and loading lever, loading lever to avoid falling under recoil and locking action.
The Whitney-Ville Hartford Dragoon is known as the first model of the transition period to the Walker Dragoon series, largely because it was built from leftover parts Walker. Successive contracts beginning in 1848 followed, because what is today known by collectors as the 1st Dragoon, 2nd Dragoon, Colt Dragoon Revolver and third models are all based on the Colt Walker allowing rapid evolution of the basic revolver design. These improvements 71/2-inch (190 mm) barrels, shorter chambers, usually only charge to 50 grains instead of 60 grains, making the occurrence of cracked cylinders, and the addition of a positive catch at the end of the loading lever to to prevent the fall of the loading lever under recoil.
The Colt Walker was quite powerful, with a modern replica black powder firing modern FFFg produce energy levels in over 500 foot pounds with both picket bullets and .454-inch diameter (11.5 mm), 141-grain (9.1 g ) round ball bullets. The black powder Colt Walker is considered the most powerful commercially produced handgun again from 1847 until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935, and has a muzzle energy is almost exactly the same as a 4-inch-barreled pistol firing a .357 Magnum. The Colt Walker has long maintained a unique position among handgun users and mysticism, and his name is often used as a common expression of being too generic gun model.
The Whitney-Ville Hartford Dragoon is known as the first model of the transition period to the Walker Dragoon series, largely because it was built from leftover parts Walker. Successive contracts beginning in 1848 followed, because what is today known by collectors as the 1st Dragoon, 2nd Dragoon, Colt Dragoon Revolver and third models are all based on the Colt Walker allowing rapid evolution of the basic revolver design. These improvements 71/2-inch (190 mm) barrels, shorter chambers, usually only charge to 50 grains instead of 60 grains, making the occurrence of cracked cylinders, and the addition of a positive catch at the end of the loading lever to to prevent the fall of the loading lever under recoil.
The Colt Walker was quite powerful, with a modern replica black powder firing modern FFFg produce energy levels in over 500 foot pounds with both picket bullets and .454-inch diameter (11.5 mm), 141-grain (9.1 g ) round ball bullets. The black powder Colt Walker is considered the most powerful commercially produced handgun again from 1847 until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935, and has a muzzle energy is almost exactly the same as a 4-inch-barreled pistol firing a .357 Magnum. The Colt Walker has long maintained a unique position among handgun users and mysticism, and his name is often used as a common expression of being too generic gun model.