Colt Walker

Colt Walker
Type	Revolver
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1847–1848 then evolved into subsequent designs
Used by	Republic of Texas United States
Wars	Mexican-American War
Production history
Designer	Samuel Colt, Captain Samuel Walker
Designed	1847
Manufacturer	Eli Whitney, Jr. at Whitneyville, Connecticut for Saml. Colt, New York City
Produced	1847
No. built	1,100
Variants	Colt Whitneyville Hartford Dragoon Revolver, quantity about 240
Specifications
Weight	4.5 lb (2.0 kg)
Length	15.5 in (390 mm)
Caliber	.44 ball, revolver .454 in (11.5 mm), dia.
Action	single-action
Muzzle velocity	1,000 to 1,200 feet per second (300–370 m/s)
Effective firing range	100 yards (91 m)
Feed system	six-round cylinder
Sights	blade front sight, hammer notch rear sight

The Colt Walker, sometimes known as the Walker Colt, was a single-action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six charges of black powder behind six bullets (typically .44 caliber lead balls). It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt.

The 1847 Colt Walker was the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made. It was created in the mid-1840s in a collaboration between Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817–47) and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814–62), building upon the earlier Colt Paterson design. Walker wanted a handgun that was extremely powerful at close range.

Samuel Walker carried two of his namesake revolvers in the Mexican–American War. He was killed in battle the same year his famous handgun was invented, 1847, shortly after he had received them. Only 1100 of these guns were originally made, 1000 as part of a military contract and an additional 100 for the civilian market, making original Colt Walker revolvers extremely rare and expensive to acquire. On October 9, 2008, one specimen that had been handed down from a Mexican War veteran was sold at auction for US$920,000.

The Republic of Texas had been the major purchaser of the early Paterson Holster Pistol (No. 5 model), a five shot cal .36 revolver, and Samuel Walker became familiar with it during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was engaged in the Mexican-American War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles. He approached Colt, requesting a large revolver to replace the single-shot Aston Johnson holster pistols then in use. The desired .44-.45 caliber revolver would be carried in saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers. The Colt Walker was used in the Mexican-American War and on the Texas frontier.

Medical officer John "Rip" Ford took a special interest in the Walkers when they arrived at Veracruz. He obtained two examples for himself and is the primary source for information about their performance during the war and afterward. His observation that the revolver would carry as far and strike with the same or greater force than the .54 caliber Mississippi Rifle seems to have been based on a single observation of a Mexican soldier hit at a distance of well over one hundred yards. The Walker, unlike most succeeding martial pistols and revolvers, was a practical weapon out to about 100 yards.

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Wikipedia