Civil War service pistol barrel length

[gjkershul]

Last weekend I was attending a river through time event sponsored by our local historical society.
As a civilian Civil War reenactor, my duty was to answer visitor questions about equipment when the military reenactors were skirmishing or drilling.

One young lady asked why the Colt and Remington service pistols "had such long barrels"? This young lady, like most Idahoans, is familar with
with modern arms with 4 to 6 inch barrels. The 8 inch barrels of the CW service pistols looked strange to her.

Drawing on my F&I, Rev War, and 1812 experience, I answered her by saying that until just before the Civil War, military pistols had been been almost entirely a horseman weapon carried in saddle holsters and had all had a 12 to 8 inch barrel length. A Cav reenactor rode by at that time and I was able to point out the pommel holsters.

On reflection, I am not comfortable with the answer I gave.

What is the wisdom, opinion, and perhaps actual knowledge of the list as to why service pistols had the 8 inch length in the ACW?

Perhaps the barrel length was to provide an adequate lever length for the loading lever?

 

[HMSLion]

There were several reasons. One was to ensure better performance. Another was accuracy, both theoretical (from the longer barrel and sight radius) and practical (from shifting the center of gravity forward).

And if you compare the percussion revolvers to the single-shot military pistols issued earlier, they are about the same size and weight.

 

[philo426]

And don't forget that a Walker or Dragoon could make a formidable club when the ammo ran out and there was no time to re-load or change cylinders!

 

[DanChamberlain]

Having shot C&Bs for many decades, I have come to the conclusion that they were designed to be easily mastered by self-taught pistoleros. They were never technically meant to be used with the rudimentary sights, at least the Colt offerings weren't. When you hold the 51 Navy or the 60 Army in an extended hand, you can nearly close your eyes and know where that barrel is pointing. They are probably among the most naturally pointing handguns made. In essence, they somewhat mimic the balance and length of the most popular dueling pistols of a previous age. This would not be possible with a 4 or 5 inch barrel.

In addition, if you look at the Colt's pistol, you will see that the line of sight and bore axis was nearly the same as a typical smoothbore musket or shotgun. These were guns meant to be "pointed" and not aimed. The forward heaviness compounded the ability to simply "will" the shot into center mass from reasonable handgun distances.

I've experimented a little with this using non-trained handgunners. With the C&B pistols, they can point shoot more accurately with the long barrel than they can with say a Colt SAA with a 4.75 inch barrel even though the SAA is roughly the same dimensionally otherwise.

Handgunners were not "schooled" in the art of handgunnery in days gone by. They had to be able to pick up their pistol and be reasonably assured of a hit. The extra length barrel facilitated this.

Dan

 

[gjkershul]

Your natural point observation is a good one. Previous martial horse pistols usually did not have sights and those that did would not have useful in a cavalry fight.