Summary

Colt New Double Action Army and Navy centrefire revolver, cal. .38 in. Colt, rifled round barrel 81 mm (4 in) long. Revolver has been sectionised to illustrate mechanism.

Made by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co, Hartford, Connecticut, serial number 163413, 1902.

Physical Description

R.H.side plate removed, cylinder halved, and section of barrel removed. Six chambered [only three extant] fluted cylinder with cylinder stops and grooves on outer surface, cylinder is a swing-out model to allow for loading and extraction, solid steel frame, steel rounded trigger guard, steel back strap, all metal components an overall brown patina, black two-piece finely chequered hard rubber grips with 'COLT' framed in an oval at grip upper on both sides, lanyard ring in butt. Pin style front sight not typical of this model and may be a later addition, cylinder catch on frame. Stamped on L.H.side of frame above grip is the rampant Colt logo. Two-line Colt address stamped on barrel with third line of patent dates. Some barrel text removed through sectionising.

Significance

This revolver was originally catalogued as a Colt New Service model. Several features suggest that this is not the case, amongst them the rectangular cylinder stops and additional grooves associated with the New Army and Navy model (neither being a feature of the preceeding 1889 DA Navy model or the subsequent 1898 New Service model), the ejector rod head typical of this model, safety catch, patent date stampings, and solid jointless frame with removable R.H.side plate - here removed to illustrate mechanism. This model was produced in both service and civilian variants, and the lack of any service markings suggest this to be the latter. It's barrel length of 4 inches was not a standard length for the civilian models and it may have originally been 4 1/2" or 6" and shortened, which may also explain the pin style front sight, also not standard to the model.

More Information