Original Item: Only One available. This is one of only 5,800 revolvers manufactured, 5,000 of which went directly to the U.S. Army fighting the Confederate States during the Civil War. During the war supplies of revolvers sometimes ran short, so many smaller companies were given contracts for production of percussion revolvers. This was especially true after the Colt factory fire of February 1864. An order was placed in early 1865 for these revolvers, however many arrived too late to see much action. This is an early production example, looking to have seen only light service, and is only the fourth that we have ever seen!

The revolver is in the usual .44 caliber for an "Army" revolver, a Single Action Percussion design with a 6 shot cylinder and 7 1/2" octagonal barrel. The technology used on both the Whitney and Remington Percussion Revolvers were based on the earlier FREEMAN design, which explains the resemblance to those pistols. The revolver is marked clearly on the top of the cylinder strap, on both sides of the sighting groove:

All parts of the revolver except for the cylinder bear matching serial 2400, including the left side of the frame, bottom grip frame, bottom of the barrel, cylinder, loading rammer, arbor pin, and even the insides of both grip scales. Only the cylinder is non-matching, swapped out from revolver 2631 during service. The left grip scale even still has a clear "boxed" script RPB cartouche of inspector Captain R. P. Barry, U.S. Army, who inspected Remington, Starr, and Rogers & Spencer Revolvers from 1860 to 1865. We rarely see these this well marked!

Overall the revolver has a lovely aged look, with the original bluing worn to a a gray patina, showing some areas of past peppering. We do not really see any areas where the original bluing is still present, giving it a lovely "been there" look. The grips are in very good shape, showing just a bit of chipping at the bottom, as well as light overall wear and staining. The left grip scale does have a repaired crack on the front toe.

The pistol is complete, and the action is REALLY crisp and solid. It indexes correctly, the cylinder lockup is near perfect, and there is just a bit of wobble when fully cocked. It does however have a strong mainspring, and the hammer must be pulled back relatively hard and fast to get it to lock into place correctly. It can be taken down to components using the arbor pin lock, which can take a bit of wiggling to get it to come out correctly. We checked the bore, and it is in excellent condition, bright with crisp lands and grooves. There is a bit of past fouling and oxidation, now removed, but this is great for a Civil War black powder percussion revolver. We checked the cap nipple cones, and all are clear, showing wear from use and powder burn.

A rare U.S. Civil war revolver in very good honest used condition with a great bore! Ready to research and display!

Specifications:

Year of Manufacture: circa 1865
Caliber: .44cal
Ammunition Type: Percussion Cap and Ball
Barrel Length: 8 inches
Overall Length: 14 inches
Action: Single
Feed System: 6 Shot Revolver

NOTE: International orders of antique firearms MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services (courier). USPS Priority Mail international will not accept these. International customers should always consult their country's antique gun laws prior to ordering.

IMA considers all of our antique guns as non-firing, inoperable and/or inert. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 921(a)(16) defines antique firearms as all guns made prior to 1899. This law exempts antique firearms from any form of gun control or special engineering because they are not legally considered firearms. No FFL, C&R or any license is required to possess, transport, sell or trade Antique guns. All rifles and muskets sold by IMA that were manufactured prior to 1899 are considered Antiques by the US BATF (United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). Therefore, all of IMA's Antique guns may be shipped to all US States and most nations around the world.

These antique guns are not sold in "live" condition, and are not tested for the ability to feed or load any type of cartridge. They are sold as collector's items or as "wall hangers" not for use, and we make no guarantees regarding functionality aside from what is stated in the description. Any attempt at restoring an antique gun to be operational is strongly discouraged and is done so at the risk of the customer. By purchasing an antique gun from IMA you thereby release IMA, its employees and corporate officers from any and all liability associated with use of our Antique guns.

Pre-1899 Manufacture, no licenses required, allowed to ship to almost any deliverable address across the globe. Please note that for international shipping, these MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services. International customers should always consult their country's antique gun laws prior to ordering.