Colt equalized everyone in rights. God created us different but equal. Gone but not forgotten

July 19, 1814 in the town of Hartford (Connecticut), was born a famous American engineer, gunsmith, inventor and industrialist, American legend, Samuel Colt ( Samuel Colt). He is best known as a reformer of revolver weapons: in 1835 he invented a capsule revolver, which quickly replaced other systems and gave impetus to the creation of revolvers for a unitary metal cartridge.

His father, Christopher Colt, who owned a fabric factory, was rich, but raised his heir in a Spartan way - Samuel worked at the family business from the age of 9. It was there that he created his first pistol - a four-barreled one that fired four bullets at the same time. His first creation was very heavy, and the recoil is so strong that it could cripple the shooter.

At the age of 15, Samuel enters Amher University, but he did not study for long. For a fire in the university building, Colt was expelled. He fled from his father's house to India. The future creator of the legendary revolver is hired as a sailor on the brig " Corvo", a merchant ship making voyages to India. Watching the device of the ship's steering wheel, an inquisitive young man decided to use a similar mechanism to create a multiply charged pistol and, on the way, made a wooden model of what later became known as a revolver. According to another version, the idea to replace the gun lock with a rotating drum came Sam was in the head when he watched the operation of the capstan - a mechanism for choosing anchor or mooring lines.Anyway, the author of this revolutionary engineering solution was Samuel Colt.

When he returned, he took a course in chemistry, lectured on it in the United States and Canada. It was not easy for a new invention to make its way. But the inventor was persistent. In 1835, Sam traveled to Europe and received English and French patents for his invention - a drum for revolver charges. Upon his return to the United States, he filed a patent application for a "drum pistol" (" revolving gun”), which he received on February 25, 1836 (subsequently received the number 9430X). This patent, as well as patent number 1304 of August 29, 1836, protected the basic principles of a weapon with a rotating breech, in combination with a firing mechanism, which became famous under the name "Colt Paterson".

A year earlier, with the help of an uncle who is a businessman, he opens a company for the production of revolvers " Patent Arms Manufacturing Co."and an arms factory in Paterson (New Jersey). That's why they called the first model of a revolver -" Colt-Paterson". But soon acquired the nickname "Texas" for its popularity among the inhabitants of this state. Start of production in 1836. The five-shot, trigger mechanism of this model had a simple (single) action: the arrow before each shot had to be pulled back with a finger This is the first more or less reliable small arms repeating weapon.

Components of the Colt "Paterson":
Action cover - protective cover
Arbor-axle
Bolt - king pin
Bolt spring - kingpin spring
Breach - breech
Breach Screw - Trigger Assembly
Cylinder - drum
Frame - frame
Hammer - trigger
Hand - lever
Hand spring - lever spring
Main spring - main spring
Sear - whispered
Trigger - trigger
Trigger spring - trigger spring
Wedge - barrel lock
Inset: the position of the springs in the body of the assembled revolver

Combined tool for "Paterson": a ramrod lever, a key for removing brand pipes, a needle for cleaning the brand pipes from powder deposits, a screwdriver.

However, the Colt product was sold in very small quantities, rarely exceeding 100 pieces. The fact is that the American army refused to buy revolvers, declaring them "yesterday". Five years later the factory was closed and in 1842 " Patent Arms Manufacturing Co." turned out to be on the verge of bankruptcy. For 5 years in a row, revolvers were not produced and became a rarity.
Trying to find funds to restart the production of revolvers, Colt began experimenting with the creation of an underwater mine and soon developed a mine with an electric fuse, together with Samuel Morse, they launched the production of underwater telephone cables.

But in 1844, 2 years after the closure of the factory, an incident occurred that changed the attitude towards revolvers and apparently influenced the fate of Colt and his offspring. 15 Texas Rangers under the command of John Coffey Hayes faced the superior forces of the Comanche detachment (about 80 Indians). Armed with Colt Patersons, the Texans shot down half of the attackers, and the rest fled. So the revolvers demonstrated their advantage - with a single-shot weapon, this would not have been possible.

John Coffee Hays

Storm of Chapultepec. Lithograph A. Zh.-B. Baio after a drawing by C. Nebel, 1851

In 1846, the Mexican-American War began, and Hayes' colleague, Ranger Sam Walker, wished to equip his men with Colt revolvers, and went to New York in search of the inventor.

Samuel Hamilton Walker

Colt's weapons factory reopened only in 1847, when the American army was preparing for war with Mexico, the government urgently ordered Colt a thousand new, modified revolvers. as it turned out that it was impossible to find a copy previously produced by the company anywhere. This order was the beginning of Colt's well-being.

Under this government order, Colt and his companion Captain Walker are creating a new model of a revolver " Colt Walker". After the brand new revolvers entered service with the army, the name of Colt became known throughout America.

In 1852 he received a large government order for revolvers for naval officers.

Colt Navy (1851)

A small workshop in Whitneyvilles was replaced by a large one in Hartford. In the same year, Colt bought "South Meadows" - a wasteland near Hartford, and in 1855 built his own arms factory, equipped with the latest science and technology. Hence, huge volumes of revolvers were also annually sent to Russia and England.
He paid the workers well, set up a library for them and even an amateur theater in which he himself played.

Colt's company, which changed its name to "Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company", glorified Hartford, since all of America was armed with its products (already in the first year the plant produced up to 150 "trunks" per day). And its head, who received the rank of colonel from the governor of Connecticut (for his support in the elections), soon became one of the ten most successful industrialists in America.

Colt Army (1860)

In 1861, the Civil War broke out between North and South. The time of Colt, who supplied both his "native" Yankees and the Confederates with the same zeal. If the United States used 1,000 revolvers in the conflict with Mexico, now the bill went to tens of thousands of barrels. However, the man who gave the conflicting parties excellent weapons did not live to see the end of the war.

He died suddenly in his native Hartford, as the then newspapers wrote, "of natural causes" at the age of 47. The funeral was arranged at public expense. He left behind a fortune estimated at $15 million, which is about $300 million in today's money. His business was inherited by his widow, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis, and her family. Colt's company was taken over by a group of investors in 1901.

Today the company Colt remains one of the leading manufacturers of firearms. Among the hits of the brand are the army "long-liver", the Colt 1911 pistol of 45 caliber and the famous M16 assault rifle. Samuel Colt is a legend and symbol of the United States, and the word "colt" has become one of the synonyms for a revolver.

There is a well-known expression that reflects the significance of Samuel Colt's invention for the development of democracy in the United States: “God created people strong and weak. Samuel Colt made them equal." One of the variants of this phrase: "Abraham Lincoln gave people freedom, and Colonel Colt equalized their chances."

Colt Paterson (1836)

The first model of the Colt revolver. The five-shot, trigger mechanism of this model had a simple (single) action with a primer ignition system: the arrow before each shot had to be pulled back with a finger. This is the first more or less reliable small arms multi-shot weapon.

The frame of the revolver is open, single-action trigger mechanism. The trigger guard is missing, the trigger is hidden. When cocking the trigger, the trigger comes out of the frame groove. Sights are a front sight on the barrel and a rear sight made in the form of a slot on the trigger.

Colt Walker (1847)

Colt Walker 1847
It was named after the customer of a large batch of a thousand Colts of an improved design by Texas Ranger Captain S. Walker. Start of production in 1847, the first batch was made by order of the US Army, which then participated in the US-Mexican War. The Colt Walker is a six-shot .44 caliber revolver with an overall length of 390 mm, a barrel length of 230 mm and an improved trigger mechanism and trigger guard. It was the first Colt to be made from standard interchangeable parts. Clint Eastwood's favorite revolver.

Colt Model 1848 Percussion Army Revolver- revolver. 44 caliber, developed by Samuel Colt for mounted shooters of the American army ( U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles), also known as dragoons ( dragons). This revolver was developed as a solution to numerous problems encountered in the model walker. Although the revolver was introduced after the Mexican–American War, it became popular with civilians during the 1850s and 60s, and was also used during the American Civil War.

In the same year, Colt released the Navy Colt 1848 (the more popular was the 1851 model), in fact, a slightly reduced and slightly modernized copy of the Dragoon Colt. The barrel of a naval colt is usually slightly longer and octagonal in shape, while that of a dragoon barrel is round and shorter; The Navy Colt is slightly lighter than the Dragoon Colt; the dragoon has a slightly more massive rear part of the ramrod, unlike the naval one. And the differences from the previous Colt Walker were only that the Dragoon is lighter and it has a ramrod lock.

Colt Navy (1851)

Colt Navy 1851
The model was supposed to arm the officers of the Navy of the North American United States. It was essentially a smaller version of the "Dragoon Colt". On such revolvers one could find engraving in the marine theme. Interestingly, the naval colt did not have a front sight, they say there is no need to aim at the sea and on the ship. The Navy Colt is relatively lighter and smaller, although it still had a significant size. It is difficult to visually distinguish a naval colt from a dragoon one. Shot with .44 caliber bullets. The weapon was of considerable size. One of the most popular Colt revolvers in the 50s.
The revolver was very popular not only among military personnel at sea, but also among civilians on land. Wild Bill Hickok was armed with two of these 36 caliber revolvers.

Colt Army (1860)

1860 Colt Army
It was perhaps the most popular weapon in the Civil War. This revolver was loaded from the front of the drum with a ramrod, so that the shooters had to carry paper cartridges with them. In order to avoid a spontaneous shot, it was recommended to keep the drum chamber opposite the barrel empty. Reloading was carried out due to the sequential laying of charges, as, indeed, any other capsule weapon. The revolver replaced the third "Dragoon" Colt (Colt Dragoon). Its cost was about 13 dollars, which is more expensive than other revolvers of that time. Usually made single action, although there were alterations of this revolver into a "self-cocking".

Colt Model 1873, U.S. Artillery Model

Colt Single Action Army (Peacemaker) (1873)
The legendary revolver of the Wild West. The appearance has remained unchanged since 1873. Colt stopped its production twice, but resumed due to high demand and still produces. A six-shot Colt with a manual cocking, single-action trigger mechanism, although it could be fired quite quickly by cocking the hammer with the left hand. Despite the presence of six chambers, the pistol was usually loaded with five rounds - the chamber opposite the barrel was left empty to prevent involuntary firing of the weapon. It was chambered for more than 30 calibers, from 0.22 to 0.45, with various barrel lengths. Equipped with side rod ejector. It also has 2 other names: Colt single action army(abbreviated Colt SA) or Colt 1873. "Peacemaker" is just a "nickname for a revolver", because where it was used, peace quickly arose. It is considered one of the symbols of the "Wild West", as it was used by almost everyone, as well as the legendary man Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt Earp

Double action revolvers
Colt Detective Special (1927)
Full-frame carbon steel short-barreled six-shot revolver with a double-action trigger mechanism. As the name implies, weapons of this class are focused on concealed carrying and use mainly by police officers dressed in civilian clothes - detectives and intelligence officers. First introduced in 1927, the revolver was not like other types of concealed-carry small arms on the market at that time, which had a breaking frame and could fire low-power cartridges or were larger revolvers with a shortened barrel and handle.

Colt Cobra (1950)

Colt Cobra .38 Special first issue series

Start of production 1950. The design of the Colt Cobra revolver is based on the D-frame, the basis for the entire Detective Spec. family, but is made of a lighter aluminum alloy. The revolver, like the main Detective Spec., was made to fire a cartridge of .32 Colt NP, .38 Colt NP and .38 Spl., as well as .22LR. The .38Spl version was made in 2, 3, and 4-inch barrels, while the .22LR version only had a 3-inch barrel.
Since 1973 (the beginning of the production of the second Cobra series is associated with it), revolvers were produced only under the 38Spl cartridge, and an extractor rod case was added to the lower part of the revolver barrel. Production ceased in 1981.

Colt Python (1955)

A six-shot double-action revolver chambered in .357 Magnum, the Colt Python is one of the most beautiful and charismatic of American revolvers and handguns in general, as well as one of the most famous revolvers ever produced by Colt's manufacturing company. Reloading is carried out by tilting the drum to the left (the latch is located at the back of the frame). Sights consist of a front sight with a plastic insert of a bright color and a rear sight equipped with interchangeable plates with various slots. The rear sight can be adjusted in two planes with screws. The revolver is equipped with an automatic safety that will not allow the hammer to prick the firing pin until the trigger is fully pulled. Also, the features of this series of revolvers can be considered a "ventilated bar" above the barrel and an elongated casing of the extractor rod, which goes under the barrel to the very muzzle. Usually performed with wooden handle cheeks, with metal parts finished in the form of bluing or polishing for models of the standard range, "elite" models are chrome-plated and have cheeks made of fine wood.
Colt "Python" was the personal weapon of General Patton.

Colt Mk. III Trooper Lawman (1969)

Revolvers of the American company Colt mk. III was first produced in 1969, and represented a significant improvement over the earlier revolvers of this company, which have not changed much in design since the early 1900s. All revolvers of the mk. III had a double-action trigger mechanism and a 6-round drum reclining to the left.

Colt Anaconda (1990)

Revolver chambered for .44 Magnum or .45 Colt. with double action trigger mechanism. It was mass-produced in 1990-1999, to order until 2001. Mainly used for hunting and sport shooting.

Pistols
Colt M1900

Colt's first self-loading pistol. Like most of the company's other pistols, it was created by designer John Moses Browning. Caliber 9 mm (.38 ACP), development began in 1895, in production from 1900 until the beginning of 1903, a total of 4,274 units were made. It was tested in the US Army: in 1898 (even before the start of mass production), and in 1900. In both competitions, Colt's competitors were German Mauser C-96 and the Austrian Steyr-Mannlicher M1894, in comparison with which the M1900 showed slightly better results.
Used during the Philippine-American War.

Colt M1902 (1902)
Based on the results of tests and combat use, the M1900 was slightly modified: the magazine capacity increased by one round (from 7 to 8), and a slide lag appeared. The resulting model went into production from 1902, production ended in 1928, about 18,068 units were produced. There was also a sporting version, the Model 1902 Sporting, which had a magazine capacity of the M1900 (7 rounds), and instead of a vertical notch at the rear of the bolt, there was a cross notch at the front. The M1902 Sporting was produced from 1902 to 1907, with a total of about 6,927 units.

Colt M1903 Pocket Hammer (1903)

M1903 appeared after the M1902 model, but was based on the M1900 design, differing from it only in a shorter length. Like the M1900, it had a 7-round magazine, and there was no slide delay. In order not to confuse it with another Colt model, which also had the M1903 index, it received the prefix “Pocket Hammer” (“pocket trigger”) in the name. The M1903 far outlived its "big brother" M1900, being in production until 1927.

Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless (1903)

This model is fully consistent with the one produced in Belgium Browning M1903, but differed from it in caliber and smaller dimensions. The cartridges used were 7.65 mm (.32 ACP) and 9 mm (.380 ACP). In production from 1903 to 1945, about 570,000 pieces in five slightly different variants. To distinguish it from the M1903 caliber .38 ACP, it had the prefix "Pocket Hammerless" ("pocket hammerless").

M1903 Pocket Hammerless was popular with US Army generals. In particular, they were owned by George Smith Patton, Dwight David Eisenhower, George Marshall and Omar Bradley.

Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket (1908)

Pocket pistol for self-defense, American equivalent of the Belgian Browning M1906. Produced from 1908 to 1948, only 420,705 units.

Colt M1911 (1909)

The 1911 Colt was designed by John Browning in 1909. During the First World War, he proved to be a reliable weapon of the officers of the American army. Soon the original version was revised and in 1926 the Colt M1911A1 appeared. This version turned out to be more reliable, and served in the US Army until Operation Desert Storm.

Colt Double Eagle (1990)

Colt Double Eagle It has a double action trigger mechanism. Produced since 1990. The design of this gun was entirely made of stainless steel. The pistol was produced in two versions: Commander (with a shortened barrel and bolt) and Officers Model (with a shortened barrel and bolt, and a reduced grip). Compared to its contemporaries, the Double Eagle was too heavy. Perhaps that is why it was not very popular, as a result of which its release was completely discontinued in 1997.

According to The Wall Street Journal and other leading American media, the American arms company Colt Defense is on the verge of bankruptcy. Currently, the issue of restructuring the company's debt is being resolved. If the problem is not resolved soon, which is unlikely, the company's assets will be put up for auction. Bankruptcy could be the end of a 160-year-old firm's prolonged agony.

Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, Samuel Colt created in 1855. By that time, the name of Colt and him was already well known both in America and abroad. In 1836, Colt patented the "revolving gun" - a weapon with a rotating breech part, in combination with a firing mechanism and primer ignition.The idea of ​​​​a multiply charged revolver was not new in Colt's time (according to one of the popular versions, Colt himself learned about the revolver scheme during his trip to England, where revolvers of another inventor Elisha Collier were already produced However, Colt was the first to combine the revolver scheme with the primer invented shortly before (say, Collier's revolvers had a complex scheme with a trigger with flint and a flint on the drum casing). Colt was able to find creditors to start production of his revolver and in 1836 in Paterson, New Jersey, the production of revolvers was launched, named after the name of the locality - Colt Paterson.

However, Colt's first pancake came out lumpy - the revolver suffered from a lack of design, and the level of technical equipment of the first factory did not allow achieving the proper quality of parts processing. As a result, the revolver was not reliable and did not gain much popularity. In 1843, the first Colt factory closed and its equipment was auctioned off. For a while, Colt abandoned the idea of ​​a gun business and switched to the new fashion of the time - the production and sale of telegraph cable.

However, chance intervened. A number of Colt revolvers were bought for trial by the Texas Rangers, who during this period were cleaning up the living space for the American nation. In one of the many skirmishes, a squad of 15 Rangers armed with, among other things, Colt revolvers, shot 70 Comanches.

Impressed by the capabilities of the new weapon, the commander of this ranger squad, Samuel Walker, went across the country to New York (then it was a non-trivial journey, it was before the era of transcontinental railroads) to convince the inventor of the Colts to continue producing revolvers. Walker gave the inventor money, plus he borrowed a little from the banks on Walker's recommendation. This made it possible to restore the production of revolvers in the workshop. The design of Colt's revolvers was improved - a sixth cartridge appeared in the drum, shortened chambers for a cartridge with a smaller charge (less charge - less wear on parts and recoil), a longer barrel. Colt revolvers managed to play a significant role in the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. As a result of this war, the living space for the American nation expanded into the territory of several modern states - California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The conquests cost the lives of many famous sons of the American people, among whom was Captain Samuel Walker, who gave Colt a ticket to big business.

Things at Colt himself quickly went uphill. Production volumes were constantly growing, the American army and navy were added to the rangers. Colt's revolvers reached Europe, where they managed to take part in the Crimean War, and on both sides. The capacities of the old workshop were no longer enough for all orders. In 1855, Colt opens a new Colt Armory plant in Hartford and establishes Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company. It is from this date that it is customary to trace the history of Colt's weapons empire.

What are the reasons for the success of Colt and his revolvers? In addition to the innovative design, organizational skills of the Colt and the case in the person of Captain Walker, it is necessary to note the excellent marketing company. Colt, being a talented inventor, was certainly a real genius in advertising, marketing, product placement and, at times, outright selling. Colt's signature gimmick was to give his revolver as a gift to someone needed or important to promote the product. At first they were newspaper editors - the print press was then, in fact, the only media and a real fourth power. As a reward, the newspapers did not skimp on praise in the spirit of "Colt revolvers - a reliable tool against bears, Indians, Mexicans and others." It is believed that the phrase “God Made Man, Colt Made Them Equal” itself was coined either by Colt himself or by one of his gifted newspaper editors. As the business developed, effective PR was backed up by powerful GR. Colt presented his brainchild to presidents, kings, generals. In 1854, in St. Petersburg, Colt was received by Emperor Nicholas I and presented him with several of his revolvers.

Among those who received their Colt with the inscription "From the Inventor" were not only crowned persons, but also those who constantly fought with them, such as professional revolutionaries Giuseppe Garibaldi or Lajos Kossuth. Who knows, maybe such marketing moves - like the sudden appearance in service of riflemen or motor catchers, say, ORSIS or A-545 - are not enough for our gunsmiths to promote their products on the market? Is it not ethical, you say, to do PR on the supply of weapons for participants in the civil war? Well, Colt himself never shunned this - the most commercially successful war during his lifetime was also a civil war, and in his own country - the American Civil War of 1861-1865.

However, back to the history of the Colt company. After the death of the great inventor and marketer, his widow Elizabeth Colt and brother Jarvis took over the leadership of his weapons empire. The reputational and technological backlog created by Samuel lasted until the end of the 19th century. Calibers changed, cartridges were added, details were added, but Colt revolvers continued to be recognizable by the good old Colts. However, the 20th century came and the development of small arms approached a new revolution - the transition to semi-automatic and automatic schemes. John Moses Browning, an inventor working for Colt at the time, developed the magazine-fed self-loading pistol that defined the development of personal firearms for more than a hundred years. The launch of the Colt M1900 and its development, the M1911, became one of the most famous pistols and an important part of American culture, to match its predecessor.

The next well-known products of the Colt factories were John Thompson submachine guns. Thompson's own company, Auto-Ordnance, at first lacked the capacity, and therefore the first mass-produced "Tommy Guns" were released under the name Colt-Thompson Model 1921. As you know, they were first armed with all sorts of bandits from the highway.

During the Second World War, Colt's factories produced pistols, submachine guns, and M1917 Browning machine guns, the main heavy machine gun of the American army in that war and in the Korean.

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Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company's next major commercial success came during the Vietnam War. Armalite designers Eugene Stoner and James Sullivan developed this design

In 1959, Armalite sells the production rights to this rifle to Colt, which begins commercial production. In 1961, a trial batch of these rifles was purchased by the US Army. In 1964, the rifle under the designation M16 is officially adopted. Well, we will not talk in detail about the M16.

We note something else - after the death of Colt, the well-being of the company was no longer based on its own developments, but on purchased licenses. Browning, Thompson, Stoner... No, of course, fine-tuning the purchased samples, the same M16, required a lot of work from engineers and production workers, but still, a certain growing crisis of Colt's Company creativity in the 20th century was obvious. This was clearly hinted at by Colt's by the American army, choosing the Beretta 92F pistol developed by the Italian company Beretta as the main personal weapon at the 1985 competition. For the first time in many years, the American army received small arms designed and produced by a non-American company. The army was followed by the police, who increasingly changed their American pistols and revolvers for the same Beretta and Austrian Glock 17. Since the end of the Cold War, another crisis has been added to the creative crisis - the crisis of overproduction. Huge stocks of small arms accumulated by all sides during the years of confrontation were thrown into the arms market. Why buy a new M16 for $1,600 when you can buy the same from the army warehouses for $600 and a Kalashnikov assault rifle for $300. Sales in the US civilian arms market began to fall following the fall in army orders.

Colt first faced bankruptcy in 1992. It was acquired by the financial group Zilkha & Co, which was then able to carry out the restructuring. The Marine Corps also helped by issuing an order for the production of M4 carbines - a shortened version of the M16. With the beginning of the American campaign in the Middle East, new orders for the M4 followed - in the conditions of dense Iraqi urban development and Afghan villages, they seemed to be more profitable than the long and excessively powerful M16. All this won the company two extra decades of life. However, the experience of operating carbines in Iraq and Afghanistan caused a lot of criticism from the military. In 2007, the US Department of Defense conducted a series of tests, as a result of which the number of failures of the Colt's M4 turned out to be higher than the total number of failures of other weapons that participated in the tests - the German HK XM8, HK 416 and the Belgian FN SCAR-L.

Another factor that knocked Colt down was Obama's election campaign and his victory in the presidential election. His team's proposals included joining the United States to the International Arms Trade Treaty and tightening regulations on private ownership of small arms. Everyone was mobilized to defend the second amendment - the "National Rifle Organization",

"Second Amendment Sisters"

and "Jews for the preservation of the right to own weapons."

As a result, the attack on the Second Amendment was repelled by Republicans and shooters, but frightened arms dealers staged massive arms sales in anticipation of the expected tightening, collapsing prices and once again knocking down the positions of manufacturers. Well, the final nail in the coffin of Colt was the lost 2013 competition for the supply of the US Army with 120,000 Belgian F.N. Herstal.

However, it is certainly premature to talk about the death of the Colt trademark. According to the 11th article of the US Bankruptcy Code, the company will be put up for auction, where it is likely to be bought out by new owners. Recall that in 1992 a similar step was taken, as a result of which in 1994 the company was bought by the current owner, the Zilkha financial group. So Colt products will equalize people for some time.

On February 25, 1836, 180 years ago, the American Colt received the first patent for an automatic revolver.

“God made people strong and weak. Colonel Colt equalized their chances ”- this is how they say in the USA about Samuel Colt, the man thanks to whom the triumphant march of the revolver began. Sometimes Colt is even credited with the invention of this weapon - however, in fact, revolvers were made from the end of the 16th century. The first revolvers were not popular and in demand - their manufacture was extremely expensive and difficult, and besides, they did not provide continuous firing.

In June 1818, the American officer and designer Artemas Wheeler patented a flintlock revolver - this weapon made it possible to shoot up to 7 times in a row. Nevertheless, the popularity of expensive revolvers increased slightly.

Grandpa's gun and electric cord

In 1814, Samuel Colt, the future reformer of revolving weapons, was born in Connecticut. According to legend, the first toy of the little Colt was a flintlock pistol, inherited from his grandfather, a former officer in the Continental Army. According to another legend, at the age of four, Samuel tried to convert a toy gun given to him for his birthday into a real one - and set off an explosion that almost blew the whole house.

At the age of 14, Colt became seriously interested in pyrotechnics. And on Independence Day, the young man set up a raft filled with gunpowder in the center of the city lake, and extended an electric cord from the raft to the shore.

The result was a loud explosion that killed the fish in the pond and caused panic among the festive-minded townspeople.

Samuel's father, fearing that his son would burn down the house, sent the teenager to a boarding school. In the boarding school, Colt did nothing but entertain his friends with pyrotechnics. And some time later, a fire broke out in the school - of course, through the fault of the future reformer of revolving weapons. One of the buildings of the boarding school burned down in the fire, and Colt was immediately sent home to his angry father.

The indignant parent did not want the negligent offspring to live with him under the same roof, and sent his son to serve as a sailor on a two-masted Corvo ship bound for India. On the ship, Colt liked to watch for a long time how famously the helmsman turned the helm.

The result of these observations was the creation by Samuel of a wooden model of the future revolver. Colt's innovation was that he "introduced" a rotating drum system into the revolver, which alternately substituted several pre-loaded cartridges under the firing pin.

Among the first

February 25, 1836 in the United States, Colt acquires a patent for an automatic revolver, the rate of fire of which is five times higher than the rate of "predecessors". With the financial support of his uncle, Samuel opens the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co., as well as a gun factory in New Jersey.

It is important that Colt was one of the first industrialists to use machine-made weapons in their factories.

Although the inventor invested a lot of money in advertising his product, sales were not very successful. Then Colt went to Washington and showed the revolver to the seventh US president and one of the founders of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson. The Democrat admired Colt's invention and even wrote a positive review of the weapon. Nevertheless, orders from Samuel did not increase. The industrialist actively tried to enlist the support of the American army, but at that time the US military called revolvers "weapons of yesterday."

As a result, the Colt company went bankrupt, and the inventor himself decided to start producing submarine cables. At the same time, Samuel's brother was in the dock.

Representatives of the yellow press immediately took advantage of the situation and began to write that the accused had committed the murder with a Colt revolver.

Colt vs Comanche

In 1847, Texas Ranger Samuel Walker witnessed how his team of 15, armed with Colt revolvers, dealt with a detachment of 70 Comanches. An enthusiastic Walker asked Colt for a meeting, during which the men agreed to cooperate. So there were revolvers with an increased capacity of the Colt Walker drum.

Colt Walker 1847

The weapon was quickly appreciated by the American army - a few months after the Colt Walker went on sale, Samuel received an order for 1,000 revolvers from the US military.

After that, Colt no longer had problems with sales.

In the early 1850s, Colt set up a gun shop in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. And two years later, he opened a branch of his enterprise in London, which Charles Dickens, a classic of world literature, would later speak with enthusiasm about.

Colt Dragoon

At the same time, Colt Dragoon revolvers designed for shooting from a horse, as well as Colt Wells Fargo revolvers, are on sale. The latest model was lightweight and was created at a time of increasing demand for personal weapons - and it was immediately appreciated by security guards, detectives, officers. In addition, these were the times of the gold rush and the development of the Wild West, so gold miners quickly appreciated the Colt's weapons.

Colt Wells Fargo

It is known that James Butler Hickok, an American hero of the Wild West, a famous shooter, scout and poker player, was armed with two Colt Navy revolvers. Hickok was called Wild Bill, and also Dick Duck and Duck, because the shooter's lower lip protruded strongly.

In 1861, the American Civil War began, during which Colt sold weapons to both southerners and northerners. It is interesting that it was then that American politicians and journalists began to develop the idea that the presence of weapons on both sides of the conflict does not lead to lawlessness, but to a peaceful resolution of problems.

A few decades later, Colt Single Action Army revolvers would be called "peacemakers", and the famous expression "God made people strong and weak. Colonel Colt equalized their chances" will be turned into the phrase "Abraham Lincoln gave people freedom, and Colonel Colt equalized their chances."

Colt Single Action Army

Colt did not live to see the end of the war - at the age of 47, the inventor died in his native Hartford. Journalists wrote that "Colt died of natural causes." The great revolver reformer left behind a fortune estimated at $15 million.

Wednesday, February 25 marks exactly 179 years of one of the most popular weapons in the history of mankind - the Colt revolver. Let's remember the story of one of the main symbols of America, about which there is a famous proverb: “God made people strong and weak. Colonel Colt evened the odds."

Samuel Colt with one of his revolvers.
Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Kentucky to a farmer who moved to the city to do business. Samuel Colt's mother died of tuberculosis when he was six. Her father was an officer in the Continental Army fighting for the independence of the States from England, so it is not surprising that little Samuel's first toy was his grandfather's flintlock pistol.
Samuel received his primary education at a rural school, where he was introduced to the then popular scientific encyclopedia Compedium of Knowledge. Reading this book gave Samuel much more pleasure than getting to know the Bible. In particular, the future inventor was impressed by the articles on gunpowder and Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat.
At the age of 15, Sumuel starts working at his father's textile factory, where he gains access to tools, materials and the skills of workers. Taking an article from the same encyclopedia as an instruction, he designs his own galvanic cell. With it, he arranges a spectacular underwater explosion in the local pond on Independence Day, which impresses the townspeople.
Becoming then for some time a student of a boarding school, Samuel did nothing but entertain his classmates with pyrotechnics. One of these amusements caused a fire in the school, which meant the end of education for Samuel. After that, his father sends him to study sailing on the brig Corvo.
As the inventor later said, it was what he saw on the brig that inspired him to create his revolver. As a teenager, Colt overheard two soldiers talking about the success of the double-barreled rifle and the impossibility of building a pistol that could fire five or six times without reloading. Even then, Samuel decided that in the future he would certainly deal with this problem.
Colt was inspired by the helm of the ship on which he sailed. Whichever direction the captain chose, each of the helm spokes always formed a straight line with a special sleeve where it could be secured. This mechanism fixed the steering wheel in a certain place, regardless of its position.
Immediately on the ship, Colt assembles a model of his pepperbox revolver from scrap wood with an automatically rotating barrel, the idea of ​​​​which prompted him to fix the steering wheel mechanism.

Pepperbox revolvers looked like this
Pepperbox revolvers by this time were the latest fashion in small arms. They had several rotating barrels, this made it possible not to reload the weapon after each shot. But the rotation was usually carried out manually, which took a lot of time, in addition, the multi-barrel concept greatly affected the accuracy and reliability of the weapon.

The number of barrels for pepperbox revolvers reached 24, like this instance of the Belgian company Mariette.
Colt's innovation was that he came up with a reliable mechanism for automatically turning the barrels after each pull of the trigger so that they were fixed exactly against the bolt. This was the first step towards a single-barreled multi-shot revolver.
After returning to the US, Colt returns to work at his father's factory, but this time he is already doing his favorite thing - designing weapons. However, the easy life did not last long, soon the father ran out of money that he could invest in the production of his son, and he had to start earning on his own.
To do this, Colt chooses a very unusual way - he creates a mobile laboratory for the synthesis of laughing gas, with which he travels around America. But the inventor remains true to his dream and, after some time, having collected a small accumulated money, he decides to invest them in the production of the first revolver.
By this time, Colt had already abandoned the idea of ​​​​multi-barreled weapons in favor of a single barrel and a rotating drum. Borrowing another $300 from a friend of his father, Samuel hires a gunsmith to create the first copy of his revolver. This process took several years, and on February 25, 1836, Colt finally patented his invention in the United States under the name Colt Patterson, in honor of the city where the production of the revolver was located. In addition, he also receives a similar patent in the UK.

The next model, the Colt Dragoon, was designed to be fired from a horse. It was lighter than its predecessor, the design solved some of the problems faced by the owners of the Walker.

Next was a Colt Wells Fargo revolver, designed, apparently, for the Wells Fargo company, which was engaged in transportation. Oddly enough, but despite the coincidence of names, there is no evidence that the revolver really has anything to do with the transport company.

This model became especially popular among security guards, detectives and gold miners, who at that time were more than enough - the Gold Rush was in full swing. This revolver was distinguished by its small weight and size, which made it easy to hide it under clothing.
During the Civil War, one of the most popular types of small arms was the Colt Army revolver. It was the last model produced during the lifetime of Samuel Colt, who died in 1863.

The official cause of death was gout, although there were persistent rumors of poisoning. The fact is that during the Civil War, Colt, being a resident of the northern state, shamelessly sold 2,000 brand new revolvers to the Confederate army, which, of course, many did not like.
To justify Samuel, we can say that he did not fundamentally distinguish between buyers and always tried to sell his weapons to both sides of any conflict. For example, during his visit to Turkey, he assured Sultan Abdulmejid I that the Russians had been buying his revolvers for a long time, which persuaded him to a large-scale order. Colt's words were true, only he kept silent about the fact that he had previously said the same thing to the Russians about the Turks.

If God created people and Lincoln freed them from slavery, then Colonel Samuel Colt made them truly equal - provided, of course, that each of the equality seekers had a 45 or at least 36 toy on hand in time. caliber.

Desire is the beginning of passion, and passion is the beginning of all beginnings!

Samuel Colt was born July 19, 1814 in the town of Hartford, in the family of the owner of a textile factory, Christopher Colt. When the boy was four years old, one of his relatives gave him a bronze toy pistol for his birthday.

This was ahead of his future fate.

The next day the boy stole a pack of gunpowder from his father and began to experiment. It's not hard to guess how it ended. There was just a small explosion in the house. Thank God, there were no injuries, severe fright and fire. However, this did not discourage little Sammy from engaging in machines, mechanisms and ... pistols!

Exactly ten years later, secretly from everyone, he personally designed and manufactured at his father's factory, in a repair shop, a four-barreled pistol that fired simultaneously from all four barrels. What happened next, history is silent, but, apparently, the tests passed ... not very successfully. Throwing this "stupid idea", in the sense of shooting simultaneously from four barrels, he still "did not get sick" with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating a perfect, ideal pistol. And so, when, at the age of 17, Samuel blew up a raft with gunpowder on the lake, leading electric wires to it and blowing up the gunpowder with a spark from a battery he made himself. However, as a result of a mistake, the explosion of a mine brought down a huge stream of water on the assembled audience. He was saved from the crowd by a tall young man, a meeting with whom determined Colt's life path. It turned out to be the mechanic Elisha Ruth, the future designer and organizer of the Kolt production.

The father, after this incident, apparently fearing for his factory, quickly sent the boy away from his native city. To study. To university.

Sam had trouble with his studies, and after a while in the university laboratory ... an explosion thundered. Who was the reason, it was not difficult to guess!

Afraid to appear home after such a shame, Samuel got a job as a sailor on the merchant ship Corvo. It was while sailing on this ship that he came up with his first drum revolver design, which then became the prototype of all revolver designs around the world. Observing the work of the ship's mechanisms, he drew attention to two of them: the steering wheel with fixation after each turn and the mechanism for raising the anchor chain, which rotated only in one direction. Based on the principles of operation of these mechanisms, Colt created the first, then still wooden model of a rotating drum with fixation, the basis for the design of any drum revolver. Spitting on overseas countries and delighted with his great discovery, he spent several months to create a prototype of the world's first revolver. This significant event happened in 1835. And although neither friends nor gunsmiths believed that "this thing could shoot," Samuel Colt patented his invention in America, England and France. In the patent application, Colt pointed out the main difference between his system: the central ignition of the charge and a cylindrical bullet (before that, bullets from pistols and revolvers were spherical).

It was this patent application that determined the rest of Samuel's life.

Having received an American patent for his first revolver on February 25, 1836 (in France he received a patent a year earlier), 22-year-old Samuel Colt, then borrowed money from his wealthy businessman uncle and, having registered the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co, opened a gun shop in the city of Patterson. Here the first working sample of a revolver appeared - "Colt Paterson".

The main advantage of the Colt Paterson revolver was, unlike other pistols of that time, that it allowed for quick shooting and confronting several opponents alone.

And yet, despite the positive reviews, the Colt company was slowly but surely going to ruin. Purchasing batches of revolvers did not exceed 100 pieces. As a result, the workshop, which had already grown into a small factory, was closed in Paterson, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to somehow stay afloat, Colt went on a tour of the United States with his popular science show with nitrous oxide, while simultaneously trading in waterproof ammunition and those same underwater mines with an electric fuse, the prototype of which he tested at the age of 14. For mines, he, without any hope, filed a patent, which, a few years later, brought him millions of dollars.

This continued until one of the officers of the Texas Ranger Corps, Captain Samuel Walker, praising the excellent fighting qualities of the new revolver, knocked out a government order for 1000 revolvers for the Texas Expeditionary Force.

The reason for this was the successful outcome of the battle of his group of 16 people, armed with revolvers designed by Colt, with 80 Indians. At the same time, not a single person from the detachment was even injured !!! It was then that the Texas Rangers forever refuted the Indian philosophy: “Trunks are for suckers, knives are the choice of real warriors!”

Such combat episodes and reviews of the rangers simply could not be ignored by officials of the military department, and fueled the demand for Colt revolvers. Sales, and with it profits, began to grow rapidly. In 1846, when the war with Mexico began, the government urgently ordered Colt another thousand new, modified revolvers. At the same time, Captain Walker met with Colt and asked him to take him as an assistant. Colt and Walker create a new model of the Colt-Walker revolver, which marked the beginning of the industrial production of this type of weapon.

However, in order to fulfill this, at that time, huge government order, a new plant was needed, and Colt begged Eli Whitney (the son of the inventor of the cotton gin) to give production to his unused textile factory in Connecticut. It was there that the world's first weapons production on an industrial scale was launched. After the brand new revolvers entered service with the army, the name of Colt became known throughout America. Therefore, even after the end of hostilities with Mexico, government orders continued to flow like a river.

In 1852, Samuel Colt received a large government order for revolvers for naval officers.

That same year, he bought a piece of wasteland near his hometown of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. It cost a lot, even for Colt, money. But even more expenses were required by the newest weapons factory, equipped with the latest science and technology, which had been standing on this wasteland for more than three years. However, Colt did not lose here either! During the Civil War alone, the Colt company delivered hundreds of thousands of small arms, mostly revolvers, to government troops. All expenses paid off very quickly! In total, for a century and a half, the company manufactured at this plant more than 30 million revolvers, pistols and rifles with the branded engraving "Colt".

Colt was an innovative inventor not only in the field of weapons production. It was he who, for the first time in business, began to engage in marketing and advertising, organized targeted distribution of samples of his products.

In 1851, S. Colt entered the international market - not only weapons, but also labor, opening his first factory in England. At the same time, he systematized the development, design and production of various models of his revolvers and guns, using, wherever possible, the unification of parts.

When the opportunity arose, Colt divided production: in addition to the mass production of revolvers and shotguns, a line of expensive exclusive weapons was opened. These were works of weapon art, decorated with exquisite engraving and woodcarving. Exclusive samples of weapons from the Colt company were presented at the most prestigious exhibitions and auctions, presented as a gift to politicians and royalty: "Colts" were kept in the collections of Nicholas I and Alexander II, the Danish King Frederick VII and the Swedish Charles XV.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War, the health of the "gun king" deteriorated sharply. Samuel Colt died on January 10, 1862 in Hartford, at the age of 47.

The funeral of the colonel of the US Army was held at public expense - the guard of honor was part of the 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, led by the governor, General Thomas Seymour. America said goodbye to Colt in a purely American way - with volleys of thousands of rifles and revolvers of his production - in a word, so, according to the local newspaper, "the cannonade was like on a battlefield."

The "great equalizer" left behind a fortune estimated at $15 million - simply unimaginable money at that time. Around that time, the state of Alaska was sold by Russia to the United States for about HALF OF THIS AMOUNT!

The management of the company passed to his widow Elisabeth, who managed not only to keep the brand of the company high, but also to lead it to further prosperity.

reference Information

Few people know that the world-famous, equal to God and Lincoln, Colonel Colt did not serve in the army for a single day! And yet, he was a real colonel! It’s just that he received his title already being a millionaire, for his support in the elections from the governor of Connecticut. That's how it happens!

And yet….

1. The first underwater mine; 2. the first drum revolver "Colt Paterson"; 3. the first cartridge revolver "Single Action Army", with the original nickname "Peacemaker", because where he fired, the world came well, very quickly; 4. the famous gangster machine «Tommy gun»;5. the legendary Colt 1191, which was in service with the US Army for more than 70 years (you heard right - seventy years, from 1911 to 1985!); 6. modern American assault rifle "M-16"; all these are "children" of the firm founded by Samuel Colt.

And yet, Colt's passion, what he considered the main achievement of his life, was precisely the revolver. And it is precisely as the inventor of the revolver that Samuel Colt is known all over the world.

Material from the encyclopedia

“Samuel Colt (1814-1862) - the inventor of the revolver, an American, fled from his father's house to India at a young age and during the journey made a wooden model of what later became known as the revolver. Returning, he studied chemistry, lectured on it in the United States and Canada, visited Europe in 1835 and took patents for his invention in London and Paris and founded a company for the production of revolvers, but in 1842 he went bankrupt; For 5 years in a row, revolvers were not made and became a rarity.

When the government ordered the inventor 1000 pieces, he had to make a new model, since it was impossible to find a copy previously made by the company anywhere. This order was the beginning of Colt's prosperity. He replaced a small workshop in Whitneyvilles with a large one in Getford, in 1852 he founded a huge trading post, doubled in 1861, on the shallows of the Connecticut River. From here, a huge mass of revolving mechanisms was annually sent to Russia and England.

Look, nothing is said here about underwater mines, nor about the Tommy gun, or the M-16. All this came later, after his death. And the lifetime monument to Colonel Colt was, in his personal opinion, an ordinary revolver!

Here they are, Colt revolvers, which became classics during the life of their creator.

1. Five-shot "Colt Paterson" model 1836. Caliber 0.36 in. (9 mm). The first pistol in the world, firstly, equipped with a fuse, and secondly, allowing rapid fire, firing back from several opponents. The rate of fire was achieved due to interchangeable drums, two of them came with the revolver and it was possible to buy as many more as you like.

2. "Dragoon" or "Big Colts", produced in three versions. Caliber 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), size - almost 40 cm! A sort of small repeating shotgun without a butt! Not everyone could accurately shoot from it - the weight of this "toy" was four pounds (over one and a half kilograms!).

3. "Colt - Navy" Model 1851, caliber 9 mm, designed for the navy, but was also popular on land. The features of this weapon were an octagonal drum (probably so that it would not roll when rolling) and the complete absence of a front sight! And why shoot accurately at sea?

4. Army "Colt" of the 1860 model, the main weapon of the war between the North and the South. Caliber - 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), but the weight is less than that of the "Dragoon" - only about a kilogram;

5. Upgraded "Colt-Navy". Model 1861. Produced in caliber 0.45 and 0.36 inches. He began his military career during the Civil War and remained popular until the Second World War.

The rest of the weapons "hits" of the Colt company were created by his followers after his death. And the Peacemaker revolver, and the Tommy gun, famous for the gangster "showdowns" of the Prohibition era, and the American M-16 assault rifle, which is in service in more than 20 countries around the world.

By the way, it was in Colt's guns that the pump-action reloading scheme was first used, in contrast to the "winchester" system, in which the gun is reloaded with a special bracket near the trigger. Then Winchester also tried to introduce it into his guns, but, after experimenting, he refused. These two systems have long been the strongest competitors in the American gun market. Colt won here too!

Today, the company, founded in 1847 by Samuel Colt, remains one of the world's leading manufacturers of firearms. Its model line extends from miniature ladies' pistols to heavy army machine guns, "shoulder" anti-aircraft weapons and other "lethal tools".