Colt House Revolver

Colt House Revolver
Type	Revolver
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designed	1870/71
Manufacturer	Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company
Produced	1871–1876
Specifications
Cartridge	.41 Rimfire
Action	Single-action revolver
Feed system	4-5-shot Cylinder

The Colt House Revolver (also called, in its alternate 4-round capacity model, the Cloverleaf) was one of the first metallic cartridge rear-loading revolvers to be produced by the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, back in 1871. The same year, Colt's also patented the Colt Open Top, another metallic cartridge rear-loader, but in fact the Open Top production didn't start until 1872, although a pocket version of the Open Top, a completely different design, went on sales as of 1871, the Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver.

The Colt House Revolver was manufactured from 1871 to 1876 in two different models: the Colt House Model itself and the Colt Cloverleaf Model, the latter being the most produced of both. The House Model is also known among collectors as the Jim Fisk model or the Jim Fisk pistol, since it attained the infamy of being the gun used in the murder of James Fisk in January 1872.

Both models, House and Cloverleaf, were built around a solid hidden spur-trigger frame, a weapon architecture also used by another Colt gun, the Colt Sidehammer (1855). The Sidehammer had a flat-ended grip, while the House and Cloverleaf models had all of them a recognizable "bird's-head" grip. These features (spur trigger, "birds-head" grips, etc) were common on many small pistols and revolvers during that era, such as the classic 2-shot "derringer" pistol.

Finally, both models, House and Cloverleaf, were chambered with .41 caliber rimfire cartridges, available in both long and short sizes. The main differences between the two models were the following:

The Colt New Line (1873) inherited the general shape of the Colt House: a bird's head grip and a solid spur-trigger frame.

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