While externally similar to a standard Colt 1860 Army cap-and-ball revolver (inset, l.), the gun being discussed is a breech-loading, .44-cal., center-fire, 1860 Army Model Richards-pattern ...

Check it out on gunandswordcollector.com. Additional Reading: The Guns of Manassas, 1861 The Guns of Gettysburg Colt 1860 Army Richards "Cartridge Conversion" Revolver ...

The Colt Model 1860 army revolver was manufactured from 1860 through 1873. The total production consisted of more than 200,000. The six-shot, .44-caliber revolver was the primary handgun used by Union ...

In July 1873, the Army adopted the Colt and ordered 8,000 revolvers, along with a substantial run of 3,000 Smith & Wesson Model 3s, to replace its obsolete Colt 1860 Army Percussion revolvers.

Before the Colt Single Action Army, pistols used percussion caps to ignite a powder charge that had to be hand-loaded into each chamber of the revolver's cylinder. This was a slow and cumbersome ...