A Gambler's Fifth Ace
The small 1849 Colt Pocket "five shooter" put famed gunmaker Sam Colt in business for keeps.
Categories: Shooting from the Hip
By: Phil Spangenberger 09/01/2007
Pocket Colt Shoots Out Competition
Public opinion spurred Colt to implement additional changes to the Pocket Colt (the first few had an estimated 150 run). Colonel Colt added a rammer assembly for easier loading and a cutout in the recoil shield so that capping could be accomplished without taking the pistol apart. Other improvements included affixing a roller bearing at the base of the hammer, placing tiny "safety" pins between each chamber, as opposed to just a single pin, and replacing rounded stops cutting into the cylinder with rectangular stops. Colt also lengthened the frame and barrel design, and modified the trigger and guard. The most notable cosmetic change made to the gun was engraving a "stagecoach holdup" scene by rolling it onto the cylinder. (Some early models, however, featured the "Ranger and Indian" fight scene as found on the Dragoon and Baby Dragoon models.) These features constitute what has become known as the standard 1849 Colt Pocket Model pistol.
Produced in a wide variety of configurations and barrel lengths, the 1849 Pocket Model Colt became one of the most famous handguns of its time. It outsold all of the company's other models as well as those manufactured by competitors. City dwellers in the East mainly purchased the five shooters for travel "insurance" and home protection. But many of these Pocket Colts also went west for California's Gold Rush.
Initially promoted in California in March 1851, as the "New Pattern...with patent lever," Colt's improved '49er quickly became a favorite with miners, express agents and other argonauts who needed a small pocket revolver. On San Francisco's Barbary Coast, gamblers sometimes referred to such hideout guns as a "fifth ace." The demand in the Golden State proved so great that Colt's factory in Hartford was unable to keep up with the orders. The large belt model Colt, which sold for around $16-$18 each in the East, was selling for as much as $250-$500 apiece in the West. Even the less expensive .31 caliber model commanded prices around $100 on the West Coast. The gun proved to be a favorable alternative for folks who found the heavy Dragoon a bit inconvenient.
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