Percussion Revolvers Weren't Perfection...
but far outnumbered cartridge guns in the real old west
Part 1 of 4
Copyright, C. E. Harris, 1997, All Rights Reserved
No man-made implement has influenced our perception of an era as
much as has the revolver in the American West.  A resolute man
armed with a six-shooter (or two) could adequately defend himself
against small groups of adversaries who were armed with single-
shot muzzle loaders, lances, bows and arrows.  Profound though
the advantage of the revolver was, its mechanical reliability,
accuracy and lethality were not of the exaggerated  proportions
ascribed to it in folklore.  It, nonetheless, was far more
effective than any hand-held weapon preceding it.
Popular fiction, movies and television give the impression that
cartridge revolvers almost completely replaced muzzle loading
ones soon after metallic cartridges became available.  This was
not the case at all.  Richard Hacker (1981), states that the vast
majority of handguns used on the American frontier were of the
"cap & ball" variety.  This conclusion is also supported in the
writings of Elmer Keith (1961) and others.
Percussion revolvers were the dominant personal weapon for nearly
40 years from about 1850 until well into the 1880s, at least ten
years after the appearance of the famous Colt Single Action Army,
or its competitors. The ubiquity of the percussion revolver is
attributable to the simple fact that cartridge guns and their
ammunition were expensive for working class users of their era.
During the mid-1870s a used, cap and ball revolver could be had
for a dollar or two, whereas a new Colt or Remington cartridge
gun cost $18, a sore lick for a four-bit-a-day cowhand.  Powder,
scrap lead and tins of percussion caps more easily available to
the countryman who had need of a handgun than expensive and hard
to get factory cartridges made to fit the expensive cartridge
guns then available.  It is true that metallic cartridge guns
were preferred by the military, lawmen, shipping companies, and
monied merchants, bankers or other townspeople who could afford
them, but these did not comprise the majority of handguns in
circulation.
The average civilian settler, farmer, rancher or frontiersman was
of simple means and had to rely on his firearms daily, far away
from the expensive factory-made cartridges at the hardware store
back in town.  He seldom had any viable choice but to use
percussion revolvers.   According to Hacker and other references,
Wild Bill Hickok, John Wesley Hardin and Buffalo Bill Cody all
made their reputations with cap & ball sixguns.   After the Civil
War, mustered out soldiers of both sides often retained or
purchased their sidearms and moved West by the thousands, taking
their cap & ball six-guns with them.
Early revolvers were most often used "up close and personal."  
Hacker's research went beyond the usual gleaning of historical
anecdotes from famous gunfights, by conducting firing tests of
percussion revolvers to evaluate their practical combat
reliability and accuracy. He concluded that most early revolvers
were pointed instinctively, rather than being deliberately aimed
at any great distance.  Typical gunfights "in and around town"
were at "spitting distance" of a few yards, and almost certainly
within 50 feet or less.
Indian fighting of the 1860s, '70s and '80s favored
longer range engagements to keep the enemy beyond
hand-to-hand combat range, so deliberate, aimed fire was deemed
more important by the Army.  According to Keith and other
references, cavalry troopers were encouraged to develop
sufficient skill with the revolver at ranges over 50 yards, to
shoot from behind cover, at an approaching enemy to take his
horse out from under him.  Advocates of cool, deliberate fire
preached "speed's fine, but accuracy's final!"  With a big .45
Dragoon or .44 Remington, a skilled trooper could make an
adversary feel downright uncomfortable at ranges up to 100 yards,
if he took his time.
Colt's first revolver, the Paterson, was a folding trigger, 5-
shot model introduced in 1836.  The first combat use of revolvers
is attributed by James Serven to Patersons used in the Texas war
for independence from Mexico.  Although never produced in great
numbers, the Paterson Colt quickly proved its superiority over
the single-shot, .54-calber muzzle loading horse pistols of the
period.   According to Hacker, Kit Carson carried a pair of .36
caliber Texas Patersons and used them to help defeat a party of
100 Kiowa and Comanche Indians who attacked a Santa-Fe bound
wagon train in 1841.
He attributes the success of the Colt Paterson to the fact that
it gave five chances to down an opponent, while the man armed
with only a single-shot pistol had to be good with his saber!  
The Patersons were never intended to be reloaded while in combat. 
The M1842 H. Aston swivel-rammer single-shot .54 caliber muzzle
loader would have been easier to reload in the saddle than a
revolver.   The Paterson would not have been fired more than the
number of rounds in the cylinder in a real combat situation.  It
was difficult to manipulate for repeat shots, and slow to reload,
due to lack of a loading lever. 
Some Patersons were provided with extra cylinders, which could be
carried loaded, but exchanging cylinders required field
disassembly and reassembly which included 1) drifting out the
barrel wedge, 2) pulling the barrel and cylinder forward and off
the frame, 3) substituting a fresh loaded cylinder for the empty
one, 4) replacing the barrel on the frame, 5) reinserting the
barrel wedge - - provided you hadn't lost it in the meantime - -
and seating it, 6) cocking; and 7) firing.  The above sequence
required about thirty seconds, under ideal conditions, if
attempted without the distractions of a bouncing horse or arrows
whizzing past your ear!
Extra loaded and capped cylinders had to be treated carefully,
and were generally carried in sturdy leather pouches.  Out of the
gun, a capped revolver cylinder was a virtual hand grenade.  If
dropped on a hard surface, it could discharge, perhaps several
times, being as likely to kill or injure its owner as the
adversary.  It was far more practical to carry a pair of loaded
revolvers so that a dozen shots were available.  Many famous
gunmen, such as Kit Carson, and Wild Bill Hickok, did exactly
that.
End Part I  -  Continued Next Message
'73 de KE4SKY, Regards, Ed
 
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