Revolvers of the Confederacy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video we’ll take a look at the revolvers used by the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
The South lacked the massive firearms manufacturing capability that the north possessed. So, the confederacy was forced to buy most of the revolvers they needed in Europe, and run the blockade with them, to get them into the hands of Confederate soldiers.
Some southern manufacturers also stepped up to start making revolvers for the cause. Largely they were unsuccessful, but a few companies produced enough to be notable.
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Thanks Mike! I'll keep saying it, these long-format videos are *much* better. I'm really tired of the guys who show a few (or even a lot) of shooting clips but teach me nothing at all. I've *seen* shooting. A *lot* of shooting. I want to learn, and your videos do that.
Thanks Hugh
There’s actually a Kerr revolver used in the movie “Gettysburg,” which was in the hands of a Confederate officer and pointed at Chamberlain at the conclusion of the Battle of Little Roundtop
I hadn't noticed that. Thanks!
@@duelist1954 As Chamberlain makes his way to the bottom of Little Roundtop, he faces a Confederate officer who points the gun at him, cocks it, and fires an empty chamber. Chamberlain then takes him as a prisoner
I remember that. I seem to remember in real life it was a Colt Navy that was pointed at him
I've been enjoying this series on the USA confederate and pocket guns all from this time period
CSA
"Say what you will about Colt"
Colt gifted 1000 1860's illegally to Texas during the war.
As a Texan I only got kind things to say lol
"McCulloch reached out to Sam Colt again and ordered 2,000 of his 1860 fluted cylinder revolvers. Mr. Colt remembered what the Rangers had done for him years before, saving his business and catapulting him to fame. One thousand of the revolvers were smuggled through Cuba, and New Orleans."
Haha! I'm partial to those McCullough Colts as well.
That was during or after war with Mexico, not Civil War. The birth of the Walker Colt. It was Samuel Walker, not Ben McCulloch.
@@glennmatthews414 You may have conflate the two.
Samuel Walker did go to Colt for the Mexican-American War to purchase Colt Patterson's but Colt was out of business.
Sam Colt then with the backing of Texas got Colt up and running again and designed the 1847 Walker.
It's because of this Colt broke the rules during the Civil War and gave McCulloch 1860s because the Rangers and Texas had saved him from
Bankruptcy.
actually pretty honorable. Colt easily could have gone the self interest route and not humor the Texas request at all or else face reprisal from the federal government potentially. However he met them halfway. So ya I think thats pretty respectable. Even if he might view the confederates as adversaries.
Colt was one of the good Yankees
To my eye, the LeMat revolver is the most beautiful revolver of the period.
It would be awesome if someone would make a modern mashup of the LeMat with a Schofield model 3 top-break. You'd get all the capacity of the LeMat with the quick loading of the Schofield.
Shhh! Stop giving away my ideas! [But it's nice to know great minds still think alike. 😉]
There were pinfired and centerfired LeMats, and all beauty of the styling was lost.
Both are equally ugly IMHO, like a broom-handle
I have also dreamed of that !
@@nunyabidniz2868 You're welcomed
love the csa content
edit- the museum of the confederacy had to change its name to museum of the civil war, but there are basically no yankee artifacts. the revolver display in the ironworks is fantastic, highly recommend that facility
Honestly as a person from Texas I really love your series on the Texas rangers that you did. This is absolutely a great historic gun channel.
Mike, thanks for another great history lesson on the arms of the Civil War.
I really appreciate your TH-cam channel and the time that you put into making the videos. I love the history lesson that you give about each gun that you show and shoot on the channel. They are always very interesting and informative. Thank you Mike.
Thanks!
good video! i am in SC, born here 65 years ago, i love the civil war history,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
If they only had FN and Palmetto State Armory in Columbia back then, LOL. Funny how things change and the gun manufacturers have moved to former Confederate states. Ruger is just a half hour from my farm near "Mayberry," NC. I'm from Bucks County, PA with lots of Colonial history, but I when I was seven, I forced my parents to visit Gettysburg battlefield. My first job, when I was 12 in the early 70s, was for a man whose father's first cousin was Uncle Billy Sherman...he told me never to let anyone know I knew him if I ever moved to the South!
Thank you for another most interesting video, Mike. I like all the videos that you do, but these sit-down history lessons just might be my favorites. Having seen just the repos of these Southern revolvers, I have never been interested enough to purchase one. Mostly, I suppose, because I'm primarily a Colt guy. But now, seeing the various Confererate models placed in historical context, the repos have become more interesting and attractive to me.
One last thing regarding you comments on octagon barrels vs round. Yes, the octagonals require more polishing, but I suspect the choice of round is primarily a economic issue. (1.)The size of the stock necessary to make a round barrel is smaller. (2.) Machining a round part is far faster and more efficient than machining a hex. Think about it; a round barrel can be machined in just a lathe, no other machine setups required. (3.) A less talented machinist can do simple lathe work and even setup. (4.) Finally, the finished barrel is slightly lighter in weight, making the overall gun a little lighter, and less nose-heavy in pointing.
I'm the 78 to watch this video on the day (morning) of 8-4 of release,. Thank you Mike for a great history lesson .
Great video, Mike. I had heard of the major ones, but did not know they were actually used by the CSA. The LeMat especially. Others I did not know about. I knew there were others, mostly from one of your videos, but did not know their history. Keep up the great work and educate us in our history.
Exceptional presentation Mike. I've learned more about firearms watching your videos, than I have anywhere else.
If you ever find yourself in the Cumberland Gap, Tn area, Lincoln Memorial University has a museum containing lots of original firearms from this era! They feature arms used by both sides, as well as many other Abe Lincoln affiliated artifacts!
Excellent video Mike. An often overlooked and underappreciated topic of American history.
Great video. I personally like the tilt on the Griswold and Gunnison. it does make it easier to naturally point and AIM in my opinion. In a way its kind of like holding a flintlock pistol.
I totally agree.
Your historical videos just keep getting better as you go. Keep it coming. No one else is really doing this.
Great video. I am surprised by how few Revolvers were available. They must of been highly prized.
There is a Texas Historical Monument on Belt Line Rd close to Lancaster Rd. Dedicated to the gun mfg facility Tucker and Sherrard. I lived there for many years and saw that sign almost everyday. No bldg remains,just the monument. Great presentation btw.
Again one of the most interesting video you have made! This is why I am a subscriber!
Great vid as always your vids have gotten me into black powder shooting many thanks.. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Excellent historical information! Thank you!
You are one of the best videoes and you are right brother and TH-cam is hurting all the outstanding videoes they hate
Forget politics for a minute, confederate weaponry is more interesting, particularly from a collector’s point of view.
The union basically had a couple or 3 major manufacturers of everything, basically just Colt and Remington for revolvers.
The Confederates had some prewar Colts, Colts and Remingtons they captured from the Yankees, whatever people brought from home, Leech & Rigdon, Griswold & Gunnison, and a bunch of other smaller manufacturers including one-I can’t think of the name right now-that was a sort of interesting hybrid of Colt-style lockwork in a Remington-like frame. Some of this was driven by scarcity, some by lack of an industrial base. Sure, the good ones were pretty much all Colt clones, but there was so much more diversity and ingenuity going on trying to make something workable out of whatever was available. Meanwhile all the North had to do was keep their existing 2 factories going, churning out more of existing products.
Tbf even with Colt and Remington the Union still didn’t have enough revolvers (and rifles for that matter) and was still buying up everything it could. It wasn’t uncommon for American and Confederate agents to basically get into bidding wars for European arms surplus and contracts.
Especially for revolvers when the Colt plant burned down.
Fantastiques exposé et résumé, bravo et merci beaucoup Mike.
Thank you for doing all the digging on this video. It was beyond fascinating.
You are a great resource for firearms of the old west and I really appreciate your work. Thank you and keep the videos coming.
I'll try.
I agree that round barrels are easier to manufacture and finish compared to octagonal ones. Based on my machine shop classes, I can say that turning barrels on a lathe, keeping them round, and cleaning them up for assembly is much simpler and allows for more guns to make it off the floor.
Good morning from Syracuse NY brother thank you for sharing your adventures in history
You make Very Interesting and Educational vidoes, Mike. Being a Civil War History Buff, This was quite helpful. I had heard of Spiller & Burr, Dance Brothers, Colt, Le Mat and Griswold & Gunnison (Made more popular by Anson Mount's Cullen Bohannan Character in Hell On Wheels carrying a Gris Revolver). Also the modified La Mat shows up in the TV Shows Firefly and Westworld Remake. You see some revolvers from that era appearing modified for Steampunk Cosplay too. But the other revolver manufacturers you mentioned were completely unknown to me. I appreciate you doing the work researching and presenting these historic firearms. As I may have mentioned before, I have been a fan of your writing since reading your articles in Guns & Ammo Magazine back in the Late 70's and 80's. So You have integrity and credibility in my opinion and I respect you, Sir! And I like the clothing you wear when you shoot out at Duelist's Den. And thanks for the info on Evil Roy. I had been wondering where that name came from, having seen it describing some Cimmaron/Uberti revolvers. Wish You The Best and keep those videos coming!
Thanks James! I appreciate the kind words.
Just subbed. Your info is top notch and your content, very interesting.
Fwiw, you are correct about YT suppressing your videos. Because I've been watching "gun vids" on here for several years now, and this is the first time you've come up in my feed...
I left a comment several years ago asking for this very video, I have always been fascinated by Confederate revolvers and really wanted more information. As you would well know any books about the subject would be very expensive and beyond my modest purchasing ability, so I look for videos, Thank You!
You done a fantastic job with your research, in depth research that you done on these revolvers and I commend you for it. I love listening to you tell about these because it sounds like you love telling about it as much as I love listening to it. Anyway thanks for the video and have a great day! Keep your powder dry
Great job Mike. Love these sit down presentations.
Thanks!
Thumb up, for sure! The first LeMat I saw in a museum in Lüttich/Liege in Belgium ... a real pocket-flak ...
Another excellent video! I really appreciate your no nonsense approach. Informative but not “preachy”. Thanks again.
Great video... educational as always... I look forward to the next topic.
A very interesting and informative video thanks for putting it all together.
You're welcomed..i'm happy to help in any way i can
My favorite episode yet.
Thanks for another great vid! Always delivering great content. Cheers from Sweden!👍
Super interesting and informative as always!
Very informative video. Enjoy your video’s. Thanks for keeping us black powder enthusiast informed on TH-cam. 5star rating. 👍🏻👍🏻
I thoroughly enjoy these longer, well researched videos!
Thanks!
Mike...you have a twin. Went to the Green River Rendezvous in pinedale Wyoming. There was a man there looked exactly like you...same size, goatee, and all. Were you there?
Nope. It wasn't me...LOL
@@duelist1954 ok.....glad I didn't start a conversation with him. Watched you videos for years. I'm in Tennessee and love the old guns, eastern long hunter, rev war, civil war, mountain man ect. I guess cause I'm old too.
Loved it. Very interesting and fills a gap in my revolver knowledge!
Thanks for another great video. I knew about some of the revolvers you mentioned, but there were some others I had never heard of. Keep up the good work. I do happen to have copies of a Leech and Rigdon and Dance and Brothers revolvers.
What about boats ????
Thanks, Mike. Another great video. I really appreciate the time you put into these.
Thanks for another great video, i never knew that there were so many confederate revolvers! Thanks for taking the time to do the research and for presenting us with a video!
I had 2 Kerrs revolvers at 1 time. 1 missing the hammer, 1 missing the loading lever. Other than that, in very good condition. I sold them to a dealer at the Md arms collectors show for 22 hundred dollars back about 15 years ago or so.
Well done, Mike.
Thank you, very well done. Have a super day. :)
Hi Mike, great video, I'm slowly getting my hands on the Italian made repros of the Confederate revolvers, its quite hard work to get some of them in the UK. Still struggling with stock in the post Covid, post Brexit era. Shooting supplies are dwindling fast with some sold at much higher prices. I see some U.S. States are suffering similar shortages so its getting wide spread.
Actually how affective were hand guns during the civil war? Was the rifleman issued one? Yes, cavalry and officers but were they credited with being an effective combatant with a revolver? Love your videos, Thanks for being you.
I would like to know as well.
For cavalry and irregular guerrilla fighters VERY effective. 6 shots vs single shot rifles. Many carried at least two or and some carried at least 6 (2 in holsters, 2 on the saddle and probably 2 more hanging on belt or elsewhere). Check out the movies “Outlaw Josey Wales” and “Ride With The Devil”. Those were based on reality. Look up Terry’s Texas Rangers too. They were similarly armed. Units of state Texas Rangers (Ben McCullough, John S. Ford, etc) were similarly armed. Look up Bill Wilson on youtube (that is who Josey Wales is based on...and his alias given in the end of the movie)
Interesting history lesson. Thanks Mike
I was waiting for this one. Thank You.
Great video Mike. I really enjoyed it. very informative.
Ok Mike... Mind Blown with the Copher.... The idea with the cartridges is definitely interesting. Makes me wonder who actually looked at that later on with modern style cartridges.
Outstanding!
Thanks Mike !
Fantastic history lesson! Thank you
I enjoyed this very much! Keep up the good work!
thank you.
This video was well done, despite a couple major mistakes. Currently, there are six replicas of Confederate revolvers that are available, and I have all six. Dr. Jean Alexandre Francois LeMat's "Grapeshot" revolver, a ten-shooter firing nine .42 cal. thru upper barrel and a 20 gauge buckshot thru lower barrel. The best made Griswold & Gunnison from Griswoldville, Georgia, (one mile outside Macon). The Leech & Rigdon made in Greensboro, Georgia. The Spiller & Burr (made in my hometown of Macon, Ga.) Schneider & Glassick of Memphis, Tenn.(note, these replicas are not marketed as "Schneider & Glassicks", but simply called Colt 1851 Navy revolvers with brass-frames, and octagon barrels of .36 cal. NO COLT 1851 Navies were ever made with brass frames ! So brass -frame Navies best fit the Schneider & Glassick Confederate -type revolvers.) And lastly, the Dance & Brothers "Texas Dragoon" mostly in .44 (a few hundred in .36), made in Columbia, Texas. Your big mistake is you show two different revolvers as Thomas W. Cofer revolvers? The first one comes right after the Spiller & Burr, which appears to be an exact copy of the Colt 1851 Navy, you claim is made by the Augusta Machine Works of Georgia. That IS NOT A T.W. Cofer ! Perhaps Augusta Machine Works made copies of Colt Navies similar to the Rigdon-Ansley revolvers made at Augusta, Ga. Thomas W. Cofer had nothing to do with Colt Navy copies, he was a Portsmouth, Virginia gunsmith who invented and patented his own design ( CSA Patent #9, Aug. 12,1861 ). It was NOT based on the Whitney revolver, it was a different design altogether ! The Cofer did not have the easily removed cylinder like the Whitney. The Cofer 1st Model had a cylinder of two halves that took a special "tit" type of metallic cartridge with powder, ball, and cap as one unit, loaded into front half the cylinder and then the other half joined onto that. The idea was to use a metallic cartridge that circumvented the Smith & Wesson patent of a bored thru chamber. After making a few dozen of these, Cofer realized the manufacturing powers of the South could not produce such cartridges in the metal-starved South. Thereafter, T.W. Cofer continued making his revolvers with the common-type percussion cylinder. But in May,1862, union forces captured Portsmouth , Va., putting an end to manufacturing. ( Thomas W. Cofer was visiting Richmond on business at the time , thus escaped capture).
An added note of interest here with my no. 1 favorite Confederate revolver~ the Spiller & Burr made in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. Not only was the Confederacy short on iron for cylinders and barrels, but as the war went on, there was some shortage of brass also. This caused Confederate foraging parties to range about to collect brass wherever they could find more. Many brass church bells of Macon were melted down to cast revolver frames. Another source was found in the hills of Georgia in many moonshine stills of brass and copper. In some museums you can see Spiller & Burrs that have a slight reddish tint to the brass frames from such stills that were melted down for frames ! Also of note, some originals are seen with grips slightly canted up, as when empty the barrels were held so the grips could smash enemy skulls with their butts , and being a weaker metal, they became tweaked up !
@Bruce Morrison i live in Macon too, but I like the Griswold Pistols.
As a gun owner and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, this video is very interesting.
Thanks!
I'm not sure I'd brag about being in a neo-Confederate organization. You know it's bad when even Confederate reenactment regiments are starting to filter members of your organization out.
Excellent . As a weapons manufacture I say well done and Thank you sir.
Big thumbs up, lots of info I did not knew
Your videos contain a lot of historical information, TH-cam needs to quit censoring videos 👍
Thanks Mike, great video
I thoroughly Enjoyed this video very Informative and it's Historical Value. Of what was and what wasn't made & by whom, I learn something new today.
Thank you..!
😎👍👍👍🎆🇺🇲🎆
Thanks for the research
Thanks Mike.
Thanks Mike. Very interesting!
Except for the Dance revolver (a copy of the thick steel Dragoons), no revolver in .44 caliber was manufactured in the South, as I'm sure you will agree. The reason for this puzzled me until after I started doing some research on steel making technology. Apparently, the steel that was available for revolver cylinders, in the years before 1860, was brittle and not strong enough to enable cylinder walls bored to .44 caliber to withstand chamber pressures, unless it was Dragoon thick. Somewhat before 1860 Colt developed its famous "Silver Spring Steel" using Swedish ore that enabled relatively thin walled chambers and still be safe from chamber wall failure. This made it possible to make "belt holster" revolvers in the more deadly .44 caliber that were as light as the .36 revolvers and nearly as powerful as the old Dragoons. Of course, other Northern manufacturers also had access to this Swedish ore (later the ore from Minnesota was found to also have these properties), but the South did not have this access and so Southern steel was not up to the task of making belt pistols in .44 caliber. Of course, these modern, .44 caliber brass framed "Confederate Navy" monstrosities sold by Pietta were never, ever made in any part of the Confederacy. There are a series of revolver articles at www.geojohn.org/BlackPowder/Revolver.html that goes into detail on shooting these revolvers.
Was in hospital when 5his one came out….time to sit down and enjoy being home
I hope you're recovering well.
Thanks once again for the information you shared with all of us...keep up the good work....
Very interesting video. In 87 I bought a Dixie Arms Uberti Copy Leeech & Rigdon. Still have it.
An excellent, informative video. Thank you! I enjoyed it.
Very informative!!
Several gun company names l'd never heard of!
Keep it up!!
As always good job.
Loved the history you researched!
Another great video! You are awesome, thank you 🤠
Another very informative videos. Keep up the great work
Thanks!
I do not know how I've missed your videos through the years.
Great video!
Thank you, mister tha's a grat narration of history. U rock!...
Excellent history lesson , Phoenix Rebels from Northwest England give a big 👍
It shows you that there was a lot of weapons out there, guns, knives, swords, what have you, what ever you had is what you fight with...
Always fun to watch your presentations.
Hola ,me encantan tus vídeos pues soy coleccionista tirador y apasionado de las armas de pólvora negra,disfruto mucho con tus bien documentados videos , los traduzco y a si los entiendo saludos desde españa amigo coleccionista🤠👍
Thanks for all that you do 💪👍🇺🇸
Always love your history videos .
Good Video
I think I have come across Mike before but yesterday was the first time that I sat down and really watched his videos. Why? Because this past Thursday UPS delivered my very first BP revolver [an interesting note here is that Midwayusa was the only store that had the model I wanted AND would deliver to Michigan because even though the law changed here 7 years ago to facilitate this very few online stores have updated their policies]. Anyway, I had inherited 3 BP carbines, with scopes, 2 side hammer and 1 inline and all 3 use no 11 caps. So I was going to start with those until I saw just how much work they required due to missing parts and poor maintenance. I had already purchased 2lbs of real BP, a capper, no1075 RWS caps (the only ones to be had), a flask that happens to dispense 30 grains, a powder measure and various cleaning accoutrements for 50 cal BP rifles. Then I decided not to bother with modern style muzzleloading rifles and instead go with a 44 cal BP revolver. I bought some over powder wads and .454" Hornady round ball. Midwayusa had the Uberti Remington New Model Army on sale for $334 & out of stock. But they also had the $899 engraved model with faux ivory grips on sale for $445 in stock. So I took it out on Saturday and that was truly a lot of fun; needless to say, I am hooked. But after the fun, you got to clean the darn thing. So happens Mike here has a cleaning series on both the Remington and the Colt New Model Army and that's what used as a guide. But now I want Colt's New Model Army and a few others. Where will it end? With me a happy owner of several historical BP firearms, replica and original, I hope.
As always, nicely done. I have a few old books about these, but it's nice to hear someone talk about the more obscure ones.
Thank you
Good stuff Mike.
Confederate arms manufacturers did a remarkable job considering they lacked access to high quality steel and had to rely on twisted wrought iron for cylinders and brass/wrought iron for frames. You can use those materials, but they lack the tensile strength of steel which can be problematic.
Actually I’m not surprised that much of this isn’t especially well documented. 🤔 If you ask a machinist what you make out of brass they tend to ask “How many X are you making?” If you’re going to make 3 to 20 you would make it out of brass. If you’re going to need 50 or more “X”s you’re probably going to want to make it from steel. 🤔 Industrial centers in the south weren’t numerous, but there were likely plenty of places that could repair a cotton gin that might be able to turn out a brass frame for a revolver if they were pressed.
Thank you Mike .