Colt Model 1849 Pocket Revolver

By far the most popular firearm during the Pre and Post Civil War era was the .31 caliber Colt Model 1849 Pocket Revolver. From 1847 to 1873 about 325,000 .31 Pocket Models were manufactured by the Colt Firearms of Paterson, New Jersey. Yet, most of these revolvers were manufactured at Colt’s Hartford factory in Connecticut. These revolvers were designed by Samuel Colt, an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (aka Colt Firearms). The Pocket Model revolvers all have a traditional "Colt-style" frame, generally with brass grip straps and trigger guard, and a case-hardened steel frame. In appearance, the frames are almost identical to the larger 1851 Navy and .44 caliber 1860 Army Models, with the exception of being smaller, and so having a proportionately larger trigger guard, it was difficult to fit all four fingers onto the grip, even for a person with average-sized hands.

The Colt Model 1849 Pocket Revolver is a bit of a misnomer as the revolver started to be manufactured in 1850 instead of 1849 which the model number suggests. The revolver employs a standard design with an octagonal barrel with a length of 5 in., a creeping style loading lever, brass trigger guard and back strap, and walnut grips. The cylinder on this particular model of the 1849, is engraved with a “Stagecoach” scene that featured a stagecoach holdup scene, the cylinder would have held five .31 ball/conical bullets. This revolver would have an effective fringing range of 25 yards (75 feet) The small size and light weight of the Pocket models would have been attractive to noncombat personnel and civilians during the Civil War.