# Colt 1851 Navy? Not sure.



## Babbalou1956 (Sep 2, 2014)

My nephew just inherited what looks like a Colt 1851 Navy, which is very similar to a 36 caliber Dragoon from what I've found online, maybe smaller. 6 holes in the cylinder appear to be 36 caliber or very close to that. I got pictures but I haven't researched free photo hosting so here's a link that shows what is looks like: Martial Colt 1851 Navy U.S. Marked Revolver for sale.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Seeing photos of someone-else's gun won't help.

Please find a way to post photos of the gun in question, and all of its various markings.
Use the for-sale Navy Colt photos as a guide.


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## Babbalou1956 (Sep 2, 2014)

Found a free photo host. Hopefully this works: nope, will try again. I hate techie stuff.


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## Babbalou1956 (Sep 2, 2014)

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Well I figured out how to drop in these links. On my Mac they do become pics when I click on them, which surprised me. If it's crap instead of pics let me know & I'll continue to experiment.


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## Babbalou1956 (Sep 2, 2014)

Disregard this, invalid links but duplicates.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Well, we are now well beyond my pay-grade. An expert, I'm not.
Nevertheless, it seems to me to be a really, truly Colt's Model 1851 Navy revolver.

However, there are the following problems:
1. It's a "parts gun." Its serial numbers don't match. This may be because of old repairs, but usually it's not.
2. The roll-engraving on the cylinder is almost wiped out, which bespeaks of hard use. The rest of the gun seems in better condition.
3. The bore is terrible. It was "ridden hard and put away wet." Maybe it was from a battlefield pick-up gun, with serious problems.
4. The shield on one side of its grip is real and original, I think, and may indicate wartime use (although it was probably a private purchase). But we don't know whether all of the other parts are original to the gun, and that includes the grip. The whole thing may be (probably is?) an assemblage of remaindered parts from other badly-damaged guns.

As a real Colt's revolver from the Civil War era, and even if it's indeed a "parts gun," it still has some value.
Just don't expect it to have high value, or to be of interest to a collector.

And remember that I'm not an expert on this.


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## Babbalou1956 (Sep 2, 2014)

Yeah the barrel is filthy. Lots of soot. I'll ask my brother to clean & out & get a better pic. It did look pretty corroded though. I had to hit the road after I took pics. I never knew my aunt had this. Would love to get some history on it, where she got it, how long she had it etc. but she passed in Feb.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Back 70 years, when I was younger, if you wanted to shoot an old-time gun, you had to get yourself a real, old-time gun.
There were regular shooting matches for people who had them. Shootable 1851s and 1860s were in great demand. Real ones, that is.

People would pay today's equivalent of $5,000.00, for a shootable .44 Model 1860 Colt ($500.00, back then).
The result was lots of "parts guns," mis-matched serial numbers and all, assembled from the usable parts of otherwise-unusable guns.
That may be the origin of the pistol your aunt had, and your nephew inherited.

Way, way back, even before that, people assembled "parts guns" from the usable parts of otherwise-unusable guns, just for everyday use. This was especially true if money was scarce.
That, too, could be the origin of your nephew's pistol. This origin would be the most likely one, if all of the parts now showed the same amount of wear.
However, it seems to me that the cylinder shows more wear than the rest of the gun. (But, of course, I'm going by your pictures, not the real gun.)


All of the following information would be helpful to you:
What was your aunt's background?
What was her father's (your grandfather's?) background?
Where did they live? What did they do?


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