Colt Model 1849 Revolver with Rare 3" Barrel

This is one of the rarest variations of the Colt 1849 Pocket out there. 5 shot, .31 Caliber, with a super rare 3" Octagon Barrel. The 1849 Pocket in .31 Caliber was Colt's all time best selling Model revolver during the 19th century with over 340,000 produced from 1850-1873. They came standard with 4", 5", and 6" Barrels but once in a blue moon you'll find one with a 3" Barrel. Author of the Colt 1849 Book, Bob Jordan, estimates there were only 400 of these made with 3" Barrels with Loading Levers making them 10x rarer than the 4,000 Wells Fargo Models which came without loading levers. I've heard of these being called the Judge Model or the Trapper Model but either way, it's just plain adorable and maybe you could even call it the grandfather to the snub-nose revolver.

These were made in a time of great unrest in three distinction serial ranges in 1860-61 with a small handful in 1862. This one is in the first batch in the 169,000 range in 1860. Think about the timeframe here. John Brown had raided the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Virginia in an attempt to start a slave rebellion in the South, the 1860 election was looming with the divide growing between the North and South with each passing month. Meanwhile, Sam Colt was busy taking orders for his revolvers...so much so that he had to double his workforce in 1860. This little 1849 was a product of that unrestful time. Despite its age being 164 years old, it's pretty untouched with a nice even patina, traces of blackened silver in protected areas on the brass gripstraps. Most of the cylinder scene is still visible and the markings are all there and legible. It has all matching numbers with the exception of the loading lever which is the norm on these as most broke and had to be discarded, which may attribute to the low survival rate of this variation. More on this below.

The first one of these I ever saw was in the 170-171,000 range (2nd Batch) at a show in Greenville, SC years ago that a dealer friend of mine bought on a Sunday morning when someone walked in the door with it. About a year later, another one turned up in the Greenville area leading me to wonder if there had been a shipment there just prior to the Civil War. There is even an image out there with a Confederate soldier holding one of these 3" 1849's with the loading lever and possibly a second photo of at least a Confederate with a 3" Barrel although it's hard to tell if still has its lever attach or it's simply a Wells Fargo Model (see photos below) so some of these clearly were used by Confederate soldiers. The three inch barrel may have had a niche market but the idea of attaching a loading lever to one of these little guns was impractical at best as it has very little leverage being so short. Being so short, what little leverage it does have is it has right at the weakest point; the cutout for the spring-loaded catch so guess what happened? The result was that most of the ends of the levers broke off. With no ability to secure a broken lever, they would hang down pushing the plunger down into any open chamber on the cylinder that came its way. To make matters worse, the loading lever is what you used to push the barrel off the frame for cleaning and reloading and without it, it was much more difficult to use. The result was that many had their levers discarded or the gun thrown away altogether. Of the two we've found...the one out of Greenville and this one which we found earlier this year in Baltimore, both were missing their loading levers. Fortunately, my 83 year old gunsmith was able to fashion a perfect replacement using an original 1849 loading lever and shaping the fulcrum to the correct contours using pictures in Bob Jordan's book.

Some unique features to this variation is that the 3" barrel tapers down at a faster rate than its longer 4, 5, and 6 in brothers and sisters. The front sight and the barrel catch are a little closer to the muzzle than longer 1849's, the lever has a smaller shaped block at the fulcrum with a more flowing vertical contour as the transition point to the cylindrical lever, and lastly, these are only found at the end of the 168,9XX-169,XXX, 170,3XX-171,8XX, 1837XX-183,8XX ranges with about another 5-10 believed to have been made scattered through the lower 200,000 ranges. I sent a few pictures of this one to Bob Jordan and he replied back that it looked good.

If you're looking for a unique Colt to add to your collection, this is one you won't find every day or even every year. Compared to the few I've seen on the market in the past few years, this one is a bargain given what most are priced for sale or go for at auctions. This is only the 2nd one we've offered in 25 years.

Item# i527

$2,850