User:Mike Searson/List of Colt firearms

List of Colt firearms ...

Colt's Manufacturing Company (formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Samuel Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century. Colt's earliest designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from earlier single-shot pistols. While Sam Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones. Colt has had some of the world's most famous and prolific firearms designers and engineers working for them such as John Browning, Elisha K. Root, Francis A. Pratt, Amos Whitney, Henry Leland, Edward Bullard Sr., Worcester R. Warner, Ambrose Swasey, Rollin White, Charles Brinckerhoff Richards and William Mason.

Colt's firearms have seen use in every major conflict from the Crimmean War to the present-day. From revolvers to machineguns, the company has had a hand in the development of firearms for close to 200 years. In 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Colt Manufacturing Company now serves the civilian market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military, and private security markets worldwide.

Handguns
The years in brackets indicate the year when production started, not the year of the model's patent.

Black powder revolvers
Black powder revolvers made by Coly are of the single-action type, meaning that the hammer must be cocked manually and the single action of the trigger is to drop the hammer and cause the weapon to fire. Black powder revolvers manufactured by Colt are loaded through the front of the cylinder. A measure of black powder is poured into each chamber and a bullet is seated over the top. A percussion cap is then placed on a nipple on the rear of each cylinder. The percussion cap ignites the powder when struck by the hammer and the resulting explosion is what fires the projectile.


 * Colt Paterson revolver (1836) was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United States, France, and England, and it derived its name from being produced in Paterson, New Jersey.  Initially this 5-shot revolver was produced in .28 caliber, with a .36 caliber model following a year later.  As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver; a user had to disassemble the revolver partially to re-load it. Starting in 1839, however, a reloading lever and a capping window was incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without requiring partial disassembly of the revolver. This loading lever and capping window design change was also incorporated after the fact into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a folding trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger only became visible upon cocking the hammer.


 * Walker Colt revolver (1847) was a single action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six charges of black powder behind six bullets. It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt and was the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made.
 * Colt Dragoon revolver (1848) was designed as a solution to numerous problems encountered with the Walker Colt. Although it was introduced after the Mexican-American War, it became popular among civilians during the 1850s and '60s, and was also used during the American Civil War.


 * Colt 1851 Navy revolver (1851) was a cap and ball revolver. It was designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850. It remained in production until 1873, when revolvers using fixed metallic cartridges came into widespread use.


 * Colt Army revolver (1860) was a .44-caliber revolver used during the American Civil War, made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces.


 * Colt 1861 Navy revolver (1861) was a .36-caliber revolver was a six-shot, single-action percussion weapon produced by Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1861 until 1873. It incorporated the "creeping" or ratchet loading lever and round barrel of the .44-caliber Army Model of 1860 but had a barrel one half inch shorter, at 7.5 inches. Total production was 38,000 revolvers.


 * Colt Model 1862 revolver (1862)

Cartridge revolvers

 * Colt Single Action Army "Peacemaker" revolver (1872)
 * Colt Lightning, Thunderer and Rainmaker revolvers (1877)
 * Colt Model 1878 Frontier revolver (1878)
 * Colt New Army/Navy Revolvers (1882 to 1903)
 * Colt M1917 revolver / New Service / M1909 / Colt Shooting Master
 * Colt Police Positive revolver
 * Colt Police Positive Special revolver / Viper (D Frame)
 * Colt Official Police revolver / Officers Model (Match, Target & Special) / New Army & Navy (E/I frame) / Colt .357 (I Frame)
 * Colt Detective Special / Cobra / Agent (D frame)
 * Colt Diamondback revolver
 * Colt Trooper revolver (I frame), Trooper Mk III (J frame), and trooper Mk V (V Frame)
 * Colt Python revolver (I frame)
 * Colt Anaconda revolver (AA Frame)
 * Colt King Cobra revolver
 * Colt SF VI, DS II, Magnum Carry (.357 Magnum)

Semiautomatic pistols

 * Colt M1900 semiautomatic pistol (1900)
 * Colt M1902 semiautomatic pistol (1902)
 * Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless semiautomatic pistol (Model M, 1903)
 * Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket (Model N, 1908)
 * Colt M1911 semiautomatic pistol; also known as the Government Model (Model O, 1911)
 * Colt New Agent semiautomatic pistol
 * Colt 2000 semi-automatic 9 mm
 * Colt Cadet 22
 * Colt Mustang
 * Colt Delta Elite a modified Colt M1911A1 chambered for the 10mm Auto
 * Colt Double Eagle Pistol