Paterson Revolver

[Wolfman0125]

Here are some pics of my Engraved Paterson Revolver. Not sure when this was manufactured.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

Awesome cased set. You should post it in the Blackpowder section where more of the cap n' ball fans reside.

 

[Jim Watson]

Nice outfit. It should be reblued, engraving cut through the blue is not traditional.
There should be a date code in the Italian proof marks, look for two letters in a box.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

I was thinking rebluing too but I think the engraving might be some type of etching that would be hard to see if it was reblued.

 

[jak67429]

That right there is a BBQ gun. Just need a nice tooled tv cowboy holster with silver gauchos.

 

[Wolfman0125]

The engraving is a factory job. I have only found one other cased set like it.

 

[1KPerDay]

Very interesting and definitely looks different. I have an engraved Model 15 with a similar blued/engraved and left in the white style.

 

[Wolfman0125]

That right there is a BBQ gun. Just need a nice tooled tv cowboy holster with silver gauchos.

Oh boy, School is in session.
The Colt Paterson is the grandfather of all Revolvers including the “Peacemaker.”

Gauchos are Cowboys from Argentina and Spain. Not to be confused with the Mexican Vaquero. I think that you mean Conchos. Those are round or oval shaped, ornate metal or shell discs that are often found on the leather-works made by people of the Hispanic or Native American persuasion.

These are Gauchos.


This is a concho.


See the difference?

 

[Jim Watson]

I was thinking rebluing too but I think the engraving might be some type of etching that would be hard to see if it was reblued.

A little holster wear brings it back out in a more natural looking way.

 

[Wolfman0125]

Yeah they look better with wear. However, this one is factory new never fired. The engraving is done entirely by hand. Not laser engraved. As it didn’t exist when it was manufactured. It has very finely etched lines but fairly deep, so if blued, like it would look like it was just a scratched up gun. I believe it was possibly made as a limited edition model in the 70’s or 80’s There is no date stamp. The serial number is Dr4242 made by Pietta.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Oh boy, School is in session.
The Colt Paterson is the grandfather of all Revolvers including the “Peacemaker.”

Well, if school is still in session, the Colt Paterson was not the grandfather of ALL revolvers.

There were lots of firearms with revolving cylinders, but the Collier flintlock revolver is probably the coolest, and most famous.

There is pretty good evidence that when Sam Colt was a young man sailing on the brig Covo, he saw one of Collier's revolvers.

The Collier revolver was quite ingenious. It had enough powder for several charges to the pan in a powder box that also served as the frizzen. However the five shot cylinder had to be rotated manually for each shot.






Here is a video about Collier flintlock revolver by Ian McCollum




What Colt did was patent the system whereby the cylinder is rotated and locked in place automatically every time the hammer is cocked, making the Paterson Colt the first 'practical' revolver. Colt also was able to perfect mass production of revolvers, the Collier revolvers were all made by hand and required very skilled gunsmiths to make them. Consequently there were very few made. Part of Colt's genius was using the 'American System' of manufacturing, where parts could be mass produced and assembled by workers without the high level of skill required to make the Collier flintlock revolvers.

 

[Wolfman0125]

Well, if school is still in session, the Colt Paterson was not the grandfather of ALL revolvers.

There were lots of firearms with revolving cylinders, but the Collier flintlock revolver is probably the coolest, and most famous.

There is pretty good evidence that when Sam Colt was a young man sailing on the brig Covo, he saw one of Collier's revolvers.

The Collier revolver was quite ingenious. It had enough powder for several charges to the pan in a powder box that also served as the frizzen. However the five shot cylinder had to be rotated manually for each shot.

View attachment 1028054




Here is a video about Collier flintlock revolver by Ian McCollum




What Colt did was patent the system whereby the cylinder is rotated and locked in place automatically every time the hammer is cocked, making the Paterson Colt the first 'practical' revolver. Colt also was able to perfect mass production of revolvers, the Collier revolvers were all made by hand and required very skilled gunsmiths to make them. Consequently there were very few made. Part of Colt's genius was using the 'American System' of manufacturing, where parts could be mass produced and assembled by workers without the high level of skill required to make the Collier flintlock revolvers.

I was speaking generally of course. However, yes there were exceptions. Colt made the first revolver that the cylinder would not have to be rotated by hand that had interchangeable parts to be more correct. I was not aware of the one that you mentioned. Good info!
I consider myself schooled. Lol but my schooling was based upon the meaning of gaucho vs concho and a tad upon respect for the historical place that the Paterson holds in shaping the west.

 

[Miguel Loco]

If we're talking history....let's not forget Rollin White......who took his "metallic cartridge" design to Sam Colt only to be summarily dismissed. But he got even when Horace Smith and Dan Wesson bought the patent which prevented Colt from making a metallic cartridge revolver for almost 20 years....and cost Sam Colt millions........but all that was later on. The first revolver using Colt's name was the Walker (even though they were actually manufactured by Eli Whitney Co.)......the Paterson was manufactured by Patent Firearms...which quickly went belly up and left Sam Colt almost penniless.

Sorry for the drivel...I'm sure you all know this....

and after all that, a Paterson still at the top of my "want" list right now.....something very sexy about those things!

 

[Wolfman0125]

I watched the “Underground Railroad” on Amazon Prime and they featured the Paterson Revolver on it. That is when I decided I wanted one. I saw this on Gunbroker and I got this engraved model cased set for 899.00
I was the only bidder because the Seller misspelled Paterson in the listing as Patterson. Therefore it did not come up in search. The auction ended at odd hours, so I lucked out.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

If we're talking history....let's not forget Rollin White......who took his "metallic cartridge" design to Sam Colt only to be summarily dismissed. But he got even when Horace Smith and Dan Wesson bought the patent which prevented Colt from making a metallic cartridge revolver for almost 20 years....and cost Sam Colt millions........but all that was later on. The first revolver using Colt's name was the Walker (even though they were actually manufactured by Eli Whitney Co.)......the Paterson was manufactured by Patent Firearms...which quickly went belly up and left Sam Colt almost penniless.

Colt did not see the possibilities behind White's idea because the prototype that White cobbled together was a kluge that would never work. This is a photo from Roy Jinks' book History of Smith and Wesson of White's patent model. Indeed, bored through chambers was not the principle feature of this model, it had a magazine for loading linen cartridges from the front of the cylinder and an automatic primer feed in front of the hammer. The bored through chambers were almost an afterthought, no wonder Colt did not see the possibilities.






So White patented it himself. This is White's patent drawing from 1855.






Smith and Wesson NEVER bought White's patent. That is a common error. What happened was Daniel Wesson designed a small revolver that used the idea of a cylinder with chambers bored through to except rimfire cartridges loaded from the rear. Doing what we would call 'due diligence' today, Wesson discovered that White's patent included the idea of boring chambers through the cylinder. Wesson contacted White in 1856 and offered to buy the patent rights, but White refused to sell. So an agreement was signed whereby White granted exclusive license to Smith and Wesson to manufacture a revolver having a bored through cylinder. The agreement stated that White would be paid a royalty of $.025 for every revolver S&W manufactured for the duration of the patent. Also stated in the agreement was the fact that White would not have a right to manufacture under his patent, had to pay expenses for any extension of the patent, and had to defend the patent against all patent infringements. This latter stipulation was later used by White when he attempted to extend the patent beyond its initial 20 year life, but White greatly exaggerated how much he had spent defending the patent.

It is true the White patent did prevent Colt from manufacturing any cartridge revolvers during the life of the White Patent. Colt died in 1862, but the Colt company came up with the Thuer Conversion, which used a tapered cartridge in an attempt to get around White's patent. The cartridge was tapered from front to rear, as were the chambers, to get around the idea of the chambers being bored 'through'.

Here is a photo of a Thuer cartridge.






The Thuer conversion was not a financial success, and Colt went on to design several other cartridge conversion revolvers after the White patent expired in 1869. But that is a subject for an entirely different post.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

What Colt did was patent the system whereby the cylinder is rotated and locked in place automatically every time the hammer is cocked, making the Paterson Colt the first 'practical' revolver. Colt also was able to perfect mass production of revolvers, the Collier revolvers were all made by hand and required very skilled gunsmiths to make them. Consequently there were very few made. Part of Colt's genius was using the 'American System' of manufacturing, where parts could be mass produced and assembled by workers without the high level of skill required to make the Collier flintlock revolvers.

That is correct -- the bolt stop is what made revolvers practical.

Saying Colt didn't invent the revolver is like saying the Wright Brothers didn't invent the heavier-than-air flying machine because Otto Lilienthal developed a glider and killed himself trying to fly it.

 

[Wolfman0125]

Anyone else have Paterson Pics? I’d love to see them. Wish I could find some faux ivory grips for mine. As of yet I haven’t located any.

 

[Miguel Loco]

All I have is this one....we were reforming the Pietta grip to better match the original (you can see the front grip strap protruding where it should be). Lots of slow painstaking work. It's still a project on my friends table...... but not to worry, he had 6 others that are finished. Unfortunately at this time he doesn't allow any pics of his completed stuff.

White grips would definitely look great yours......

 

[1KPerDay]

The agreement stated that White would be paid a royalty of $.025 for every revolver S&W manufactured for the duration of the patent.

Is that accurate? I thought it was $.25

 

[1KPerDay]

Here's mine that @Jackrabbit1957 fixed for me. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. The chambers are off center a bit on a couple.



Best guess at this point is that is a defarb'ed Palmetto from the 60s.