The Colt 1851 Navy was produced from 1851 until 1873  and in that time over 250,000 Navies were made, 215, 340 pistols were produced in Hartford, Connecticut and 42,000 were produced in London, England.  In its day the 1851 Navy was the most popular Colt revolver ever made sold and fired. Chambered for the .36 or .44 ball shot.

The Colt Navy 1851 is iconic and symbolizes the Wild West like no other handgun, it was used by such notables as Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane, the Colt Navy also served on both sides of the Civil War. The Colt Navy was even manufactured by both sides as well...they couldn't get enough of these accurate and reliable revolvers.

The Colt Navy 1851 is a Percussion Revolver more commonly called a "Cap N Ball " gun in that it uses ball shot, percussion caps and black powder as its ammunition source. The days of pushing cartridges into a revolver were a few years away yet.

Below is shown a tin of percussion caps and a bottle of black powder readily available for today's shooters.

The 1851 Navy was the most favoured revolver of the Union Army Officers for its great handling and accuracy, also like other Colt revolvers it had fully interchangeable parts and was easy to disassemble. There are quite a few variations of the Navy including the Sheriffs version and a long barreled shoulder stocked version.

Colt Navy 1851 Sheriff.

It took quite some time to actually load up one of these revolvers, about 3 minutes in skilled hands but many users of the gun would have several pre-loaded cylinders and when all 6 shots had been fired a new cylinder was inserted.

Percussion Pistols were not very reliable guns in that if the powder or percussion caps got damp or were not married up properly, a misfire would result and often did, but its ok as your oppositions guns did the same !

Below is pictured a modern Italian copy of the 1851 Navy.  These reproduction Old West revolvers have become popular with modern day shooters in gun clubs.  A genuine revolver from the 1850's would cost many thousands of dollars as they are now antiquities, so an ideal compromise is one of the faithful Italian reproductions.

The Colt Navy 1851 has quite an appealing look and feel to it, it was a well made gun and in the right hands it was very accurate.  Recent controlled tests have shown that this revolver was capable of putting three shots into a 3inch group at 25 yards.  The Navy 1851 can have a full charge of 26.5 grains of black powder and this will render a muzzle velocity of 910 f.p.s (feet per second) which is quite impressive for such an 'old' gun.

The muzzle velocity meant a flatter trajectory and offered greater accuracy, especially over the distances it would be fired, usually not exceeding 25 yards.  Most fastest on the draw type shoot outs of the old West would have been within this distance of 25 yards and @ 910 f.p.s muzzle velocity, it would drop an opponent with one shot.

One of the best and most famous pistolero's of the Old West was James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok.

1837 - 1876

He was a legendary character in the Old West and a great exponent of the Colt Navy 1851. Wild Bill arrived in the West initially as a stage coach driver and later became a Lawman in the territories around Kansas and Nebraska. He fought during the American Civil War on the side of the Union Army and achieved renown afterwards as a scout, gambler and gunfighter.

During his time as a Lawman Wild Bill engaged in many shootouts, and with his Colt Navy 1851 he was a very accurate and deadly shot, more so as he always remained calm, cool and collected in a shoot out, whilst the other party was nervous and scared.

At the age of 39, Wild Bill Hickok was murdered, he was shot whilst playing poker at Nuttal & Manns Saloon No.10 in Deadwood, Blackhills, Dakato Territory on August 2 1876.

Wild Bill always played Poker with his back to the wall, and one day there were no vacant seats, so for the first and last time he sat at a table with his back to two adjacent doors, he was sneaked up on and shot in the back of the head at close range by a Colt .45 by a coward named as Jack McCall.  Bill was holding 4 cards, 2 black aces and 2 black 8's, forever known now as the 'dead mans hand'

R.I.P Wild Bill a Gentleman gunfighter .

Below a nice close up of a genuine Colt Navy 1851 showing the cylinder and percussion cap nipples at the end of the cylinder.

The Engraved Colt Navy 1851 below is a typical example of some of the work that gunsmiths of the Old West would carry out to make a mans plain looking 'shooting iron' more decorative.

The long curved hammer was designed so it could be 'fanned' back by the shooters left hand.  With the trigger depressed at the same time the gun could be fired very fast.  The under barrel loading lever locked away quite nicely into a latch at the end of the barrel...show on the bottom right.

Many Colt Navy 1851 revolvers were presented in a rather nice case like the genuine example in the photo below.  Samuel Colt, the eternal entrepreneur would often make a gift of such a revolver to clients and Businessmen as the publicity would always attract more business.

The case below contains, the 1851 Navy revolver, ball shot, percussion caps, powder dispenser and adjustment tools.