Discover Top Posts Tagged with #colt ssa

Why were early Colt pistols referred to as Single Action Army or Navy ? Is it because the military bought so many them ?

Good questions! The reasons for those names are quite different and are interesting bits of Colt trivia. The Colt 1851 and 1861 ‘Navy’ revolvers were chambered in .36 rather than the larger .44 calibre ‘Army’ revolvers offered. The Navy name is said to come from the naval scene roll engraved on the revolver’s cylinder - showing the Texas Navy’s victory at the Battle of Campeche in 1843. The Texas Navy had been early adopters of Colt’s revolvers and this was said to be a gesture of thanks and a good PR move.

Colt 1851 Navy (source)The name of the Single Action Army is a little easier to explain. The pistol was developed for the US Army and the Single Action explains that its was manually cocked before each shot rather than double action which allows the trigger pull to both cock and release the hammer. More on the Colt SSA here. Both the pistols were widely popular both in the US and around the world, they were privately purchased by civilians and also by militaries around the world. The Navy was a popular holster gun and was definitely not restricted to naval use.Thanks for the questions.

#ask #question #Colt #Colt Navy #Colt SSA #history #Anonymous