• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

The Remington Pistols

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Zonie

Moderator Emeritus In Remembrance
MLF Supporter
Joined
Oct 4, 2003
Messages
33,410
Reaction score
8,501
Location
Phoenix, AZ
REMINGTON PERCUSSION REVOLVERS

The Remington Firearms company, often thought of for their “1858 Cap and Ball Revolver” built their first cap and ball revolver in 1857.

This was a far cry from the big .44 caliber pistol that most folks associate with Remington.

The Remington-Beals First Model Revolverwas designed by and patented on June 24,1856 by Fordyce Beals.
Because of Colts ownership of many revolver features the first production of this gun had to wait until 1857 when his patent ran out.

As this gun was a “Pocket Revolver” it was a rather small, .31 caliber 5 shot pistol which used a full frame with a top strap. Unloaded, it weighed 11 ounces.

The top strap had an unusual hump at the rear with the rear sight notch cut into it. It employed a full trigger guard and was without a loading lever, the cylinder pin serving that duty when used in conjunction with a small mallet..
The hammer was positioned by a box lock style frame similar to all later revolvers and the cylinder was rotated by a hand that was moved by a link that was outside of the frame on the left side.

The barrel was usually a 3 inch long octagon, the whole pistol being just a little over 6 inches in total length.

This pistol was only moderately successful with about 4700 built in 1857 and 1858.

The Remington-Beals Second Model Revolver was similar to the first model, the main difference being the full trigger guard was replaced by a spur type trigger guard and the grip was redesigned.
Around 1000 of these Second Model pistols were built in 1858 and 1859.
These guns were marked with “Beals Patent 1856 & 1857...”.
Around 1000 of these guns were manufactured.
It should be noted that this was the only revolver built by Remington in 1858.

The Remington-Beals Third Model Revolver was slightly larger than the 1st or 2nd Model and employed a contained ramming loading lever and were marked with “Beals Pat. 1856, 57, 58...”
This loading lever was the basis for Beals 1858 Patent and the designs use on subsequent Remington revolvers would be the basis for the generally used “1858" when people speak of the later made Remington style of guns.

The barrel length was increased to 4 inches and the cylinder length was increased from 1 1/8 inches to 1 5/8 inches.

Around 1000 of these pistols were manufactured in 1859 and 1860.

As all three of these pistols rotated their cylinders using the outside the frame link (or drum) driven hand to rotate their cylinder they should not be confused with the later Remington New Model Pocket pistol which has all of its moving parts contained within the frame.

In 1860 the Remington-Rider Pocket Revolver , named after Joseph Riders patent for a double action pistol design went into production.

This was a .31 caliber 5 shot pistol with a full trigger guard, a very short strange looking grip and with a true double acting trigger making it one of the first true revolvers to use this feature. (Some pepperboxes also were double action, the term refering to firing the gun by first cocking it and then pulling the trigger or by simply pulling the trigger which would rotate the cylinder, cock the hammer and fire the gun in one motion).

The cylinder on these guns is cylindrical from the front towards the rear but it suddenly steps inward about 1/8 of an inch and then tapers back out to the original diameter. providing material between the nipples to prevent cross (or chain) firing.

These guns continued to be manufactured beyond 1873 utilizing cartridges.

In 1860 Remington decided to get into the big bore market and produced the companies first large frame pistol, the Remington-Beals Army Model Revolver.
It should be noted that this pistol was marked “BEALS PATENT SEPT, 14, 1858...”

This pistol was a .44 caliber, 6 shot single action revolver with an 8 inch octagon barrel and was manufactured in 1861 and 1862.
Although intended for the Army (who bought about half of the 2000-3000 guns made) the Army was not pleased with it.

This models full frame fully covers the threads of the barrel right up to the face of the cylinder.
By doing this, the fouling that develops on the front of the cylinder during the first few shots rapidly locks up the cylinder preventing rotation and thus further firing.
The cylinder did not have hammer safety notches machined into the rear.

Several years ago a reproduction of the Remington Beals pistol was imported from Italy. I own one of these and true to form it tends to be fussy after the first few shots are fired.
The reproduction also has hammer safety notches on the rear of the cylinder and these were not found on the original guns.

Remington also built a Remington-Beals Navy Model in .36 caliber and with a 7 ½ inch barrel.
This model, although looking like the Army version is slightly smaller.

Although smaller than the Army this gun is also marked, “BEALS PATENT SEPT, 14, 1858...”

In response to the Armies displeasure with the cylinder locking problems on the Beals Army, Remington started production of the “1861 Army”, also called the Remington Old Model Army. With this design, Remington redesigned the frame by adding a cutout area in front of the cylinder. This frame cutout exposes the rear of the barrels threads, allowing them to shear off the fouling as the cylinder rotates and its use was continued thru later models of guns.
Apparently to speed up reloading the Old Model came with the upper surface of the loading lever removed to allow the cylinder pin to be pulled forward without lowering the loading lever.
Unfortunately this also allowed the cylinder pin to move forward without the owners knowledge and the Army was less than thrilled with it. In fact, they returned many of these guns to Remington to have a small fillister head screw installed in the top of the loading lever to prevent movement of the cylinder pin unless the loading lever was lowered.

Hammer safety notches were included on the later production versions of this pistol, most (if not all) of the previous designs having none.

There were about 9000 of these Army revolvers built in 1862 and 1863 with about 7500 Navy models being made during the same time period.
Markings on these guns say, “PATENTED DEC. 17, 1861...”

In 1863, Remington issued the New Model Army Revolver which included all of the previous improvements.
There were over 122,000 of these pistols produced from 1863 thru 1875 most of them being used during the Civil War.

Although not in production until 1863 it is marked, “PATENTED SEPT. 14, 1858...” and has therefore become known to everyone as the “Remington 1858".

The smaller Remington New Model Navy was produced from 1863 thru 1878, those made after 1875 being cartridge conversions.

It was during this cartridge era that the calibers were revised from describing the bore size to describing the barrels groove size thus what was commonly known as a “.36" became known as a “.38". Likewise the old “.44" became the “.45".

Following the war, Remington produced the “New Model S/A Belt Revolver” , a .36 caliber, six shot gun with a 6 ½ inch barrel.
Produced from 1865 thru 1873 this model is smaller than the New Model Navy and has a thinner grip but otherwise looks much the same.

The Remington-Rider D/A , also made from 1865 thru 1873 is a .36 caliber, six shot gun with a 6 ½ inch barrel which looks much like the New Model S/A Belt Revolver except for its enlarged trigger guard, made to accommodate the longer double action pull of the trigger.

Remington also made the Remington New Model Police Revolver from 1865 thru 1873 to compete with Colts Police Pistol.
Like the Colt, this was a .36 caliber 5 shot pistol that was much reduced in size to allow for a .36 caliber gun that was easy to carry.

The Remington New Model Pocket Revolver was a .31 caliber five shot single action pistol with a spur trigger guard..
This small Remington looks like a tiny version of the large frame Remingtons except for the spur type of trigger guard.

This model came in three “types”.
The First Type was a all brass framed gun.
The Second Type had an iron/steel frame with a brass spur trigger guard.
The Third Type was completely iron/steel construction.

This tiny revolver was made from 1865 thru 1873 and is currently being reproduced by the Italians and imported by a few American companies.

Knowing that a few Foreign countries have laws dealing with the date that the original guns were built and the cutoff for some of these is 1860 it would be best for those living in these countries not to mention that the "1858 Remington" was not built until much later.

Bibliography:

Richard A. Bourne Co, Inc. Public Auction Boston, Massachusetts: The Nimrod Press, 1980. The Karl F. Moldenhauer Collection of Remington Arms.

Norm Flayderman. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...and their values, 9th Ed. , Iola, Wi: Gun Digest Books, 2007.

Harold L. Peterson, THE REMINGTON HISTORICAL TREASURY OF AMERICAN GUNS New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1966.
 
Zonie, thanks for the concise history of Remington revolvers. :hatsoff:
 
Back
Top