Remington Model Revolvers
by: Kerry Barlow

  The Remington model 1858 was a 6 shot revolver with a rifled barrel,1 turn in 32". It came in caliber .44 firing a .454 round ball or bullet.The Handgun was produced for many years and was still being produced in various styles until 1875.The Union troops generally had an all steel model and the confederate troops could have steel or steel with brass frame.The Barrel was octagon and had an attached loading rod.The Cylinders were never engraved as were the Colt models. Sighting was done with fixed sites that had very little modification to them,filing of the groove in the top strap was about all that was possible in the field.

 The Remington model 1858 was considered one of the finest revolvers of the civil war, sought after by troops of both sides.The Remington had two large advantages over the colt style revolvers.It had a solid frame wrapping completely around the cylinder.Notice the top strap as it is called over and above the cylinder.This gave the Remington models a huge advantage, both in strength of the firearm as well as accuracy over time.

 A second lesser advantage was the special trigger groove ground into the cylinder in between each firing chamber on the cylinder.To use a Colt style revolver a shootist would normally load only 5 chambers of a 6 cylinder gun,this is because the trigger must rest upon a firing chamber of the weapon.If the revolver had all 6 cylinders loaded the trigger would rest upon a live cylinder,if the gun were dropped or fell upon its trigger the gun could fire. The Remington models had the extra notch for trigger placement. this allowed the gun to be fully loaded, all 6 cylinders and still have the trigger placed in between a firing chamber,by placing the trigger into the safety notch. If the gun were dropped the trigger would simply push deeper into the safety notch causing no problems.It is hard to say how definite an advantage this was when a war was being fought.With the enemy shooting at you presumably a soldier would load all 6 rounds no matter the safety issue.However around camp,while traveling and on horseback the extra safety notch would be a definite advantage.

 I have had the opportunity to fire both the Colt model revolvers and the Remington style revolver.As far as accuracy the guns are very similar and this author is certainly not capable of pushing either weapon to its limits of accuracy.Suffice it to say the handguns were certainly both extremely accurate even by todays standards. I do prefer the Remington style revolver for its extra strong top strap and can see how Civil war troops would prefer the handgun for the same reason.I am sure for the short term of the war, ballistics and weapon accuracy would not change greatly between the Colt or Remington models,however if the guns were dropped,laid upon,fallen upon etc I can see that the Extra strong Remington would have a clear advantage.

 Loading and firing the Remington models are not dissimilar than any of the other style of handguns.It has been said that cleaning the Colt was easier then the Remington because it can be broken down easier.I do not personally agree with this. The Colt did use a wedge to hold the weapon together whereas the Remington used a screw.I suppose if a small screwdriver were not available the Colt would have a minor advantage.

 It is interesting to note the brass frame on the Remington revolvers. This was not originally planned for any aesthetic appeal.It was done because the confederate troops were short on supplies and wished to use the available gun metal for cannons and other weapons. Brass was chosen because it was more available and still supplied the necessary strength in the firearm.Union troops did not have such a problem so all of there Remington's were produced in steel. if you ever come across an original Remington revolver in brass you will now know the reason.