Colt M1892 | |
---|---|
Type | Revolver |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
Used by | United States Army United States Navy Federal Army North-West Mounted Police British Army |
Wars | Spanish–American War Philippine–American War Second Boer War Boxer Rebellion Mexican Revolution World War I |
Production history | |
Designer | Colt |
Designed | 1892 |
Manufacturer | Colt |
Produced | 1892–1908 [1] |
Specifications | |
Mass | 2.07 pounds (.94 kg) |
Length | 11.5 inches (292 mm) |
Barrel length | 6 inches (152 mm) |
Cartridge | .38 Long Colt, .41 Long Colt |
Action | Double action revolver |
Muzzle velocity | 750 ft/s (230 m/s) [2] |
Feed system | 6-round cylinder |
Sights | Iron sights |
The Colt M1892 Navy and Army was the first general issue double-action revolver with a swing out cylinder used by the U.S. military. [3]
In 1892, the revolver was adopted by the United States Army chambered for .38 Long Colt cartridges, and was given the appellation "New Army and Navy". Initial experience with the gun caused officials to request some improvements. This would be an ongoing condition, resulting in Models 1892, 1894, 1896, 1901, and 1903 for the Army, as well as a Model 1895 for the Navy and a Model 1905 Marine Corps variant. [3]
The revolver featured a counter-clockwise rotating cylinder, which could be opened for loading and ejection by simply pulling back on a catch mounted on the left side of the frame behind the recoil shield. It was easily manipulated by the thumb of the right hand, and upon release the cylinder could be poked out sideways with the shooter's forefinger. Empty cases were removed by simply pushing back on an ejector rod to activate a star extractor. The six-shooter could then be quickly reloaded and the cylinder clicked back into place. [3]
Sights were the basic rounded front blade and topstrap notch. The finish on all military revolvers was blue, though civilian guns could be nickeled or with other special finishes and embellishments. [3]
The M1892's counter-clockwise cylinder rotation tended to force the cylinder out of alignment with the frame over time, and this was exacerbated by relatively weak lockwork used to "time", or match individual chambers to the barrel. [4] In 1908, Colt improved and strengthened the lockwork, and changed the cylinder rotation to a clockwise movement.
A Model 1892 revolver was recovered from the USS Maine after it exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898. It was presented to then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, who would later become President of the United States. Roosevelt brandished this pistol to rally his Rough Riders during the famed charge up San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. This revolver was on display at Sagamore Hill and was stolen from there in 1963, recovered and then stolen again in 1990. It was recovered in 2006 and returned to Sagamore Hill on June 14, 2006. [5] [6]
This revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints arose from the military concerning the revolver's cartridge chambering. Beginning in 1899, combat reports arose from the Philippines campaign regarding the poor performance of the M1892's .38-caliber ammunition. Specifically, users complained that the .38 bullet repeatedly failed to stop charging Filipino rebels at close ranges, even when hit multiple times. The complaints caused the U.S. Army to hurriedly issue stocks of .45 caliber revolvers, and played a central role in its decision to replace the M1892 with the .45 Colt M1909 New Service revolver in 1909. [7]
In the rush to furnish arms to the rapidly expanding Army and Navy after the United States entered World War I, surplus stocks of these old Colts were inspected, refurbished as needed, and then issued to rear-echelon Army troops and Navy officers as a substitute standard side arm.
During its service life, the M1892 series received modifications to the basic design, including cylinder lockwork, the addition (in 1894) of an interlock between the cylinder latch and the trigger and hammer, different barrel markings, the addition of a lanyard ring in the Model 1901, and a reduction of bore diameter in the Model 1903 in an effort to increase accuracy. [3]
The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special, .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, or 9×29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson.
The Colt Single Action Army is a single-action revolver handgun. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and was adopted as the standard-issued pistol of the U.S. Army from 1873 to 1892.
The .45 ACP, also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it was adopted as the standard chambering for Colt's M1911 pistol. The round was developed due to a lack of stopping power experienced in the Moro Rebellion in places like Sulu. The issued ammunition, .38 Long Colt, had proved inadequate, motivating the search for a better cartridge. This experience and the Thompson–LaGarde Tests of 1904 led the Army and the Cavalry to decide that a minimum of .45 caliber was required in a new handgun cartridge.
The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR is a smokeless powder cartridge with a 0.357 in (9.07 mm) bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. Wesson of firearm manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Winchester. The .357 Magnum cartridge is notable for its highly effective terminal ballistics.
The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as an official US military handgun cartridge for 19 years, before being replaced by the .38 Long Colt in 1892.
The .38 Long Colt, also known as .38 LC, is a black powder cartridge introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875. In 1892, it was adopted as a standard military pistol cartridge by the United States Army for the Colt M1892 revolver. The metric designation for the .38 Long Colt is 9.1×26mm. It is slightly more powerful than the .38 Short Colt, also known as .38 SC. The original .38 SC and .38 LC differ in case length, bullet diameter, weight, and design and are not interchangeable; however, modern production .38 SC ammunition is now loaded with a smaller, internally-lubricated bullet which can be fired from firearms chambered in .38 LC or .38 Special. The modern .38 LC can be fired from a .38 Special firearm, but not from a firearm designed for the .38 SC, since the case length is too long.
The .44 Remington Magnum, also known as .44 Magnum or 10.9x33mmR, is a rimmed, large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers and quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, guns chambered for the .44 Magnum round, its parent case, the .44 Special, and the .44 Special's parent case, the .44 Russian all use 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter bullets. The .44 Magnum is based on the .44 Special case but lengthened and loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity and energy.
The .38 S&W, also commonly known as .38 S&W Short, 9×20mmR, .38 Colt NP , or .38/200, is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877. Versions of the cartridge were the standard revolver cartridges of the British military from 1922 to 1963. Though similar in name, it is not interchangeable with the later .38 Special due to a different case shape and slightly larger bullet diameter.
The .30-40 Krag, also known as the .30 U.S. and .30 Army, was a rifle cartridge developed in the early 1890s to provide the U.S. armed forces with a smokeless powder cartridge suited for use with modern small-bore repeating rifles to be selected in the 1892 small arm trials. Since the cartridge it was replacing was the .45-70 Government, the new cartridge was considered small-bore at the time. The rifle ultimately selected for use by the Army was the Krag–Jørgensen, formally adopted as the M1892 Springfield. The cartridge was also used in the M1893, M1895, M1897, and M1900 Gatling guns.
The M1895 Lee Navy was a straight-pull magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle. The Navy's official designation for the Lee Straight-Pull rifle was the "Lee Rifle, Model of 1895, caliber 6-mm" but the weapon is also largely known by other names, such as the "Winchester-Lee rifle", "Lee Model 1895", "6mm Lee Navy", and "Lee Rifle, Model of 1895".
The .45-70, also known as the .45-70 Government, .45-70 Springfield, and .45-21⁄10" Sharps, is a .45 caliber rifle cartridge originally holding 70 grains of black powder that was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873. It was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge, which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War, and is known by collectors as the "Trapdoor Springfield".
The Colt Army Model 1860 is a cap & ball .44-caliber single-action revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces.
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The .38 ACP, also known as the .38 Auto, .38 Automatic, or 9×23mmSR, is a semi-rimmed pistol cartridge that was introduced at the turn of the 20th century for the John Browning-designed Colt M1900. It was first used in Colt's Model 1897 prototype, which he did not produce. The metric designation for the round is 9×23mm SR (semi-rimmed), which is not to be confused with other 9×23mm cartridges.
The Springfield Model 1892–99 Krag–Jørgensen rifle is a Norwegian-designed bolt-action rifle that was adopted in 1892 as the standard United States Army military longarm, chambered for U.S. caliber .30-40 Krag cartridges. All versions and variants were manufactured under license by the Springfield Armory between 1892 and 1903 and famously served as the longarm during the Spanish–American War.
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The Colt Revolving Belt Pistol or Navy Pistol, sometimes erroneously referred to as "Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber" or "of Navy Caliber", is a .36 caliber, six-round cap and ball revolver that was designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850. Colt first referred to this Revolver as the Ranger Size model, and then Revolving Belt, but the designation "Navy" quickly took over.
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