Glad I ain't a cowboy!

I don't think your Flamming and posting other forums on Muzzleloading.com is funny. The statement was Military use. The revolver was first used by the country of Texas. Texas had a Navy and Army as well as the Frontier Rangers. The handgun became a primary weapon for the first time by the Texas Military. The Colt Walker was the first serious hand held military weapon for mounted troops. These Colts were issued to military with extra cylinders. These same weapons were used in the Mexican war. I think the use of handguns as a primary weapon starts with their use by the Texas military. The revolver would later be used in the Civil War. History is more than a narrow view of one time period. And please your persoal attacks are not welcome. :shake:

GOD BLESS THE
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
a sovereign nation at the times being talked of and many think that way today

" The easy way today is lube the chamber over the round ball with a high heat lube. I use Mobile One gear lube, a non petro.'

I used to use one of those little one handed grease guns to lube the top of the ball it is a really quick way to lube the cylinders.

Hey Redwing...it just never seems to end does it? and what did they carry in those little leather "bags" about the size of a couple of cyliners, that were carried on the belt?

I think your accusation of flaming is out of line. There was NO flaming on my part. Your accusation is a 'personal' attack! :cursing:

Please add me to your "Ignore List". Thanks. :grin:

There is one thing for sure. The American GI of any war is one smart cookie. The Civil War GIs were just as smart as their later counterparts. They often carried many six guns and extra cylinders if not issued they would have picked them up. It is just the GI way. The most splended rough and ready Light Cavalry Frontier Rangers of Texas made the use of dual handguns each issued with extra cylinders a fighting force. The use of horse and Walker Colt by these men brought down the 300 year old Comanche empire. This type of war fare by the Texas Rangers established the handgun as an important tool of Americas Armies. Last post on this subject.

May be a modern thing ~ I've been cleaning my Colt 2nd Generation revolvers after I shoot them for over 30 years now and they are still in excellent condition.

I will agree that a lot of the civil war soldiers and frontiersman in practice, either were not able or simply did not clean their guns as regularly as a lot of shooters do today. One can look at the original guns and see the affects of the corrosive nature of black powder.

junkman_01 said:

Your accusation is a 'personal' attack! :cursing:

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Sounds like most of your posts that I've seen. You attack and ridicule on a regular basis, and it annoys the manure out of me. So how 'bout you can it, huh? :youcrazy:

"I think your accusation of flaming is out of line. There was NO flaming on my part. Your accusation is a 'personal' attack!"

Jeese! somebody give him a dougnut and shut the door.

:surrender:

Dusty 14 said:

GOD BLESS THE
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
a sovereign nation at the times being talked of and many think that way today

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not to get too far off topic, but wasn't the Republic of Texas possessed of a building in London, used as their embassy, which was later the Cutty Sark headquarters?

or was that one of those 'urban legend' rumors?

well, i just looked it up on Google (for whatever accuracy that's worth) and it seems that i was wrong, but not completely so. the small bit of building used as the legation of Texas to the court was owned by the same folks who founded and ran the Cutty Sark scotch empire. there's a plaque there.

it's pretty decent scotch, but i prefer the McLelland single malts. (booze snob that i am).

Back to the cylinder issue, does anyone have or know of primary source material (invoices, orders, lists of issued equipment, letters or diaries) that indicate that spare cylinders were used or issued? I'm not talking about books that claim such or that gun parts were found and assumptions made, but original documentation that it was done.

As an fyi, in Joshua Chamberlain's (from the 20th Maine)book, he describes the use of extra cylinders for use in combat. Now as to 'was it military issue' that I do not remember. but he did refer to multiple cylinders.
Also the cavalries of the time had multiple revolvers as changing a barrel would be very difficult while in combat. That is why the still had swords.

my 2p worth.

Cheers, DonK

Chamberlain was a member of the volunteers. So many of our military units in the War Between the States were volunteers and state militia units and the officers carried personally owned sidearms. These sidearms could be ordered from the factory with an extra cylinder and many cased sets have these spare cylinders in them.

Few Civil War soldiers were ever "issued" a sidearm, so the "issue" of them being "issued" a revolver with a spare cylinder is largely a "non-issue".

Dan

Well, to add fire to this side issue: there's a neat little green book, "The Colt Whitneyville-Walker Pistol" by LCol Robert Whittington that goes into the history and use of the Walker in great detail, even the hand written receipts by such notables as COl Hays. Nowhere did I find a mention of spare cylinders. Yeah, I grew up with the "spare cylinders for Walkers" story, and this book was an eyeopener. Lot of good facts, like burst barrels was a common malfunction, attributed by some to the bullets being loaded point first & jamming on the barrel when fired. Remember, those "joined for the fun" guys in 1847 were more used to round balls.

DanChamberlain said:

Few Civil War soldiers were ever "issued" a sidearm, so the "issue" of them being "issued" a revolver with a spare cylinder is largely a "non-issue".

Dan

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That's sort of a non-reply :wink:

Looking at records, the state of Ohio alone ordered an awful lot of pistols. Not for every soldier, of course, but every cavalry trooper got one.

Issue or not, many people claim this sort of thing was common yet they offer precious little in the way of support. Was it possible? Of course it was. Sam Colt would have put anything in a cased set. The question is, was it common and can we prove it?

DonK's reply shows that one man in the war says he saw the use of spare revolver cylinders. Of course it doesn't say from whence the spares came, but it does point to the fact that it did indeed happen.

Maybe I've been reading too many CW diaries myself lately, but I don't like historical claims that are made without some sort of proof.

On the James D Julia auction site, I have seen cased Paterson revolvers that include a spare cylinder. I don't recall seeing any for cased models of later patterns.

Does anyone have any figures on the spare cylinders shipped from the factory? That would be a good primary source of info.

I don't believe you will find what you're looking for, largely because I don't believe "run-of-the-mill" pistol orders included spare cylinders.

Like I said, "few" Civil War soldiers were issued revolvers, certain cavalry units notwithstanding. Probably 99% of the revolvers carried in the war were personally acquired, with cased sets being popular among the officer ranks. At the same time, I've seen lovely cased sets with and without spare cylinders.

Dan

Dan, I don't think I'll find it either, because if it existed, it would have been duly noted at some point when this argument crops up.