Welcome Tio Mio and Wheelgun

I was over at the safe looking at all of my revolvers to try and find one with  find a wheel. This confused the bejesus out of me as I could not find any. There were a whole bunch of cylinders though! I was brought straight though going to ourCAS range and looking at the cannon. It has two big old wheels one on each side. I was further confused as Galco does notmake a wheelgunner holster to fit the cannon. Nothin is makin sense any more.

Well Jack, not sure who first called the revolver a wheelgun, perhaps it dates to the legend that old Sam Colt got his idea for the revolving cylinder from looking at a ships wheel as a young man at sea.. ? Chris

...reading book of the .44?
or as I like to say, wheel men shoot wheel guns.
 

Al, you are a man of many talents! Chris

I read 'Sam Colt And His Gun' in the 4th or 5th grade. I seem to remember him talking about taking a 'turn at the wheel' and watching the caprtan revolving giving him the idea and he started carving parts out of wood to carry out his idea. I called them wheel guns myself and finally caved in and refer to them as revolvers or sixguns (sometimes I guess they would be five or more guns). All in fun!
 
I wonder what sixgunners take on this subject is?
 
If you can find a Wheelgunner holster for a cannon please let me know.

Jack, you and Don need to talk cannons, he is infatuated with them! Sorry Don, just couldn't resist outing your love of the BIG bores! Chris

There were forms of revolving chambers and barrels before Sam Colt. His contribution may have been in the form of removing the need to hand turn those, by combining the cocking motion with the turning action. He may well have been influenced by the "dogging" mechanisms used on some ships wheels. The guns existing before Colt are fact, the influence an educated guess based on his words.

Country, you're spoiling the legend, if we can't believe old Sam or Pecos Bill or .............. where's the fun of wantin' to be a cowboy? Chris

Aw, c'mon. I have seen the guns, and the legend still lives, it just changed the parts he invented.  besides there's still no doubt. "God created man, but Col. Colt made them equal"

Don't know if this helps or hurts the discussion,FYI.  Chris
 
Samuel Colt invents the revolver.
By Mary Bellis
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt was born at Hartford in 1814 and died there in 1862 at the age of forty-eight, leaving behind him a famous name and a colossal industry of his own creation. His father was a small manufacturer of silk and woolens at Hartford, and the boy entered the factory at a very early age. At school in Amherst a little later, Samuel Colt fell under the displeasure of his teachers. At thirteen he took to sea, as a boy before the mast, on the East India voyage to Calcutta. It was on this voyage that he conceived the idea of the revolver and whittled out a wooden model. On his return he went into his father's works and gained a superficial knowledge of chemistry from the manager of the bleaching and dyeing department. Then he took to the road for three years and traveled from Quebec to New Orleans lecturing on chemistry under the name of "Dr. Coult." The main feature of his lecture was the administration of nitrous oxide gas to volunteers from the audience, whose antics and the amusing showman's patter made the entertainment very popular.
Selling the Colt Revolver
Samuel Colt's ambition, however, soared beyond the occupation of itinerant showman, and he never forgot his revolver. As soon as he had money enough, he made models of the new arm and took out his patents; and, having enlisted the interest of capital, he set up the Patent Arms Company at Paterson, New Jersey, to manufacture the revolver. He did not succeed in having the revolver adopted by the Government, for the army officers for a long time objected to the percussion cap (an invention, by the way, then some twenty years old, which was just coming into use and without which Colt's revolver would not have been practicable) and thought that the new weapon might fail in an emergency. Samuel Colt found a market in Texas and among the frontiersmen who were fighting the Seminole War in Florida, but the sales were insufficient, and in 1842 the company was obliged to confess insolvency and close down the plant. Samuel Colt bought from the company the patent of the revolver, which was supposed to be worthless.
Nothing more happened until after the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846. Then came a loud call from General Zachary Taylor for a supply of Colt's revolvers. Samuel Colt had none. He had sold the last one to a Texas ranger. He had not even a model. Yet he took an order from the Government for a thousand and proceeded to construct a model. For the manufacture of the revolvers he arranged with the Whitney plant at Whitneyville. There he saw and scrutinized every detail of the factory system that Eli Whitney had established forty years earlier. He resolved to have a plant of his own on the same system and one that would far surpass Whitney's. Next year (1848) he rented premises in Hartford. His business prospered and increased. At last the Government demanded his revolvers. Within five years he had procured a site of two hundred and fifty acres fronting the Connecticut River at Hartford, and had there begun the erection of the greatest arms factory in the world. 
S&W then got the patent for the bored through cylinder from Rollin White in 1855 and this patent lasted until 1869 when others, including Colt, could legally use it. Hence the 1873 Colt revolver was born out of the transition from cap and ball to cartridge revolver during those years between 1869 1nd 1873.
Now I feel so bad that I may have debunked or enhanced the legend, I don't know which. I think what Colt did was be the first tuse a revolvingcylinder instead of revolving barrels like the pepperboxes etc. You're right, Colt combined everything into a neat package, but it's obvious he had a lot of setbacks getting there, thank God he succeeded. Chris
 

HE MAY HAVE MADE IT WORK SUCCESSFULLY BUT THE FLINT LOCK COLLIER REVOLVER OF 1800  PRE-DATED HIS 1836 PATERSON. GERMAN CRAFTSMEN ALSO MADE REVOLVERS AS EARY AS 1600. 

I think that answers any questions or doubts or misconceptions I had, countrygun is right. Thanks SIXGUNNER for the correct info. Chris

Sometimes the truth,about our idols,and their legend is hard to bear. Ask anyone who, way back when, bought William Shatner's "Musical" album.

Who is William Shatner? Yes, I am down in the dumps now that Ole Sam has been outed; does this mean I have to get rid of my Colt 45? I sure hope not, I wanted one for so long and now I have one I sure hate to part with it just cause Sam fibbed a bit..........Chris

Holy Bull Dung! Looks like I started a lively one. As always, The great one has given te true story. I have a close friend in Western Washington that has a pair of very deluxe relovers that I think came from Russia but I am notpositive but they were evaluated by one of the large auction houses around twenty yearsago and they pre dated Sam Colts Patterson by a good 30 years and carried a very high dollar value then. They are stored away to be a retirement and education for kids.

Back to what started this rucus.
SIXGUNNER, what isyour take on that term? As I mentioned I used it years ago as slang when some gunwriter was using it. I thought about it and haven't used the term in reference to a revolver for so long I can't remember.
On another note, I hope you enjoyed 'Before Barbed Wire' Amazing photo's of a different era.