Original Colt Navy With a SURPRISE!!!

[Southron]

A friend of mine recently acquired an original, low serial number Colt Navy from an Estate. The condition of the gun was fairly decent. When he carried it to the range to "target" it, he was in for a surprise. On the first round, he noted a puff of smoke issuing from the top of the barrel!!!!

What he had was a Colt Navy with a crack in the top of the barrel

HUH!!!

Now I had always assumed that Old Sam Colt had forged his barrel assemblies and then machined them to their final form, including drilling the bore, reaming and then rifling it. On this original Colt, it was obvious that the barrel had been lap welded by a blacksmith!!! The crack in the top of the barrel...one of the old lap welded joints had given away.

The crack in the lap weld st the top of the barrel probably explains why that Colt Navy was originally put away and not used by the original owner. Guess Old Sam Colt didn't have much of a Warranty program back then!

 

[mike116]

Hope he only loaded one chamber.   PITA to pull the balls from the other 5.

[Southron]

My understanding is that he fired only one round because that was all it took to discover the flaw.

[Mad Dog Stafford]

Hi Southron, what is your friend going to do with it?
I mean, how is he going to fix it?

[mike116]

My understanding is that he fired only one round because that was all it took to discover the flaw.

I should hope so. Glad he noticed it immediately.  I mean that I hope he only loaded one chamber for the test fire so that he didn't have to pull the other five balls to unload the rest of the cylinder.

[StrawHat]

My understanding is that he fired only one round because that was all it took to discover the flaw.

I should hope so. Glad he noticed it immediately.  I mean that I hope he only loaded one chamber for the test fire so that he didn't have to pull the other five balls to unload the rest of the cylinder.

Pull the cones, pour out the powder and drive the balls out with a brass drift.  At least that is how I have done it.

kevin

[mike116]

Me too.   I just don't want to have to do it.   I also have a ball puller I made just in case but I haven't had to use it yet.

[Captainkirk]

That was just the pressure relief, doin' it's thing!

[Southron]

He unloaded the other five chambers. A week or so later, he traded the revolver to a dealer after informing him of the flaw in the Colt Navy.

[ssb73q]

Hi, this just goes to prove that Sam Colt was the first handgun maker to experiment with a vented handgun? A vent in the top of the barrel keeps recoil from raising the handgun and allows a quick next shot. I have a 1911 .45 ACP and .45 Colt revolver with barrel vents. That old Colt should bring a premium IMO. 

Regards,
Richard

[StrawHat]

...Now I had always assumed that Old Sam Colt had forged his barrel assemblies and then machined them to their final form, including drilling the bore, reaming and then rifling it. On this original Colt, it was obvious that the barrel had been lap welded by a blacksmith!!! The crack in the top of the barrel...one of the old lap welded joints had given away...

Not sure it shows anything about lap welding, just that the iron used in the barrel had either some slag or a void in the metal.  If they were welded, a lot more would show up with flaws.

Kevin

[Southron]

I kinda wonder IF Sam Colt did the same thing that Amoskeag did a decade later, after they landed a big government contract for the Special Model 1861 Rifle-Muskets at the beginning of The War of Northern Aggression.

Amoskeag had installed all of the gun making machinery in their plant except for the barrel rolling machinery. The machine tool manufacturer that was building the barrel rolling machinery informed the management of Amoskeag that the delivery of the barrel rolling machinery would be delayed by several months.

So rather than letting their plant remain idle for several months, Amoskeag managment hired a dozen or so blacksmiths and put them to work making barrel blanks "the old fashioned way" by lap welding a skelp of iron around a mandrel. This allowed Amoskeag to get into production and delivering rifle-muskets immediately rather than waiting for the long delayed barrel rolling machinery to be delivered and installed.

So, there is the possibility that Sam Colt had some of the early '51 Navy barrels lap welded up while the forging dies for the barrel assembly was being completed. At least that is my theory.

Recall that while Sam Colt was a gifted inventor, he was also a very good businessman and he wanted to get his new product, the '51 Navy to the market with the least amount of delay.