Colt Ring Lever rifles

Colt Ring Lever Rifle
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	United States Army Texas Navy
Wars	Second Seminole War
Production history
Designer	Samuel Colt
Manufacturer	Patent Arms Manufacturing Company
Produced	1837–1838 (First Model); 1838–1841 (Second Model)
No. built	200 (First Model); 500 (Second Model)
Specifications
Barrel length	28 in (71 cm) or 32 in (81 cm) (First Model 32 in only)
Caliber	.34, .36, .38, .40, and .44 (Second Model .44 caliber only)
Action	Single-action
Rate of fire	8 shots per minute
Feed system	8-round cylinder

The Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle and Colt Second Model Ring Lever rifle are two early caplock revolving rifles that were produced by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company between 1837 and 1841. The First Model, produced between 1837 and 1838, was the first firearm manufactured by Samuel Colt, developed shortly before the advent of the Colt Paterson revolver. The First Model was succeeded by the Second Model, produced between 1838 and 1841, which featured minor variations in design and construction. Both models are distinguished from later Colt revolving long-arms by the presence of a small ring lever located in front of the trigger. This lever, when pulled, would index the cylinder to the next position and cock the internal hidden hammer. Although complicated in design and prone to failures, fifty First Model rifles were ordered by the U.S. Army for use against Seminole warriors in the Second Seminole War.

The First Model Ring Lever rifle features a 32-inch (81 cm) octagonal barrel with a browned finish. The finishes of the other metal parts are blued. The rifle features a circular trigger guard, which lies behind the ring lever. The ring-shaped lever is used by the operator to both cock the internal hammer and rotate the cylinder (as opposed to cocking an external hammer on later single-action revolvers). The First Model was offered in .34, .36, .38, .40, and .44 calibers with an eight-shot revolving cylinder, though ten-shot examples were produced in very limited numbers. The cylinder features a roll engraving depicting a deer hunted by a centaur and a group of horsemen. The front and rear edges of the cylinder were originally square, though later improvements yielded a rounded rear cylinder edge. These improvements also included the addition of a cutout in the recoil shield to enable capping the nipples without disassembly and the addition of a loading lever. The rifle features a walnut stock with crescent buttplate and a raised cheekpiece featuring an inlaid image of four horse-heads. The First Model is distinguished by the presence of a top strap located over the cylinder, a feature absent from nearly all successive Colt revolvers until the development of the Colt Single Action Army in 1873.

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