Nick Ketchum

Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut in Sent into the Navy in 1831, where he got his idea for the repeating revolver after noticing the ships wheel locking into position. The original idea was that the barrels would rotate, instead of a single barrel with a rotating cylinder. In he worked on making a working model of the weapon so he could obtain the U.S. patent.

1835 the British patent was granted the U.S. patent was granted. Colts patents gave him the monopoly on cap- and-ball handguns until 1857.

The same year Colt got his American patent, he raised 300,000 dollars, seven million by todays standards, and tried starting his Patent Arms Manufacturing Company in Paterson, New Jersey. Due to his product breaking upon firing, the panics of 1837 and 1839, and lack of demand, his company declared bankruptcy in Colt remained adamant that this mishap was a good learning experience and would help him in the future.

Before Colts company closed in 1842, Colt sold his revolver to army officers fighting the Seminole Indians and Mexicans. The Texas Rangers praised the Colt and it became the weapon of choice.

The rangers were losing battles to the Comanche and Apache tribes, who had grown accustom to the single- shot, Kentucky-type rifles, as those rifles almost always needed to be reloaded off horse back. The Indians would draw out their fire then ride in and slaughter the gunmen as they reloaded. The rangers needed a weapon that was light, accurate, easily reloaded on horseback, and fired in rapid succession at multiple targets.

The Indians called Colts revolver The Spirit Gun. Its ability to release bullets in rapid succession and easy use caused the tribes to fear and admire it. This title would also go to the Winchester repeating rifle upon its introduction into Western society

Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers was a regular user of Colts revolver and thought it was a good weapon, but noticed shortcomings the weapon had. Walker then decides to write Colt about the weapons flaws and his admiration for it. Colt takes Walkers changes to the drawing board and produces his next model Colt named it the Walker model after the man who suggested the improvements

Rollin White, one of Colts workers who had quit, made the modern model for cartridge based revolvers, and obtained his patent on April 3, White went to Colt and offered to sell him the design, but colt refused him, and decided to wait to make cartridge based revolvers when the patent ran out in Rollin then goes to Horace Smith & Daniel Wesson, who accepted Whites offer. Remington then struck a deal with Smith & Wesson to try and save itself from bankruptcy after overbuilding its factories during the Civil War.

Colts refusal saved Remington from declaring bankruptcy, and gave Smith & Wesson a firm standing on the market.

Colt died in His company stayed afloat and went on to create the most popular Colt model of the West, the Single- Action Army Model, otherwise known as the Peacemaker.

Anderson, Jervis. "The Handgun: Romance and Tragedy." Anderson, Jervis. Guns in American Life. New York: Random House, Inc., Silva, Lee A. Sam Colt's Big Buisness Blunder was a Boon to Other Gunmakers. Leesburg, February Document. Smith, Scott S. "Colt's Revolving Chamber Fired Up Gun Afficionados." 31 March EBSCOhost. 23 November Willkins, Frederick. The Paterson Colts in Texas. Leesburg, August Document. 23 November 2013.