Gun Review: Uberti’s Colt 1860 Army black powder revolver (VIDEO)

By Terril James Herbert

The gun world takes notice when the US military adopts a new firearm, particularly when it comes to new service pistols. In the spirit of the Army’s recent adoption of the Sig P320 automatic pistol, I decided to take a look at one of the United States’ first service handguns. For that we have to rewind to 1860 with the adoption of the then brand new Colt 1860 Army pistol — a 44 caliber percussion revolver that was space-age compared to its predecessors. The adoption could not have come at a worse time, as South Carolina left the Union in that year. The American Civil War (1861-65) was just around the corner.
Background
Colt’s 1860 Army revolver owes itself in large part to metallurgical technology advancing at speed in only the previous ten years. Colt’s revolvers of that time were made of wrought iron, which had obvious pressure limits. Colt found success with their 1851 Navy, a belt sized gun in 36 caliber, but the large 44 caliber bore required by the US Army at the time for use on both horses and men could only be contained by very large handguns, like the five pound Colt Walker and the only slightly

Source: Guns.com