


His first product was a ring-lever revolving rifle, available in. In March, 1836, Colt formed the Patent Arms Company and began operation in an unused silk mill along the banks of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. Even so, an early model was used in the Seminole Wars in 1838. On occasion Colt rifles discharged all their rounds at once, endangering the shooter. But after firing six shots, the shooter had to take an excessive amount of time to reload. They were officially given to soldiers because of their rate of fire. Ĭolt revolving rifles were the first repeating rifles adopted by the U.S. Colt began experimenting with revolving rifles in the early 19th century, making them in a variety of calibers and barrel lengths. Revolving rifles were an attempt to increase the rate of fire of rifles by combining them with the revolving firing mechanism that had been developed earlier for revolving pistols. However, the rifles were generally disliked by soldiers, and were ultimately discontinued due to serious design flaws. They were used to a limited extent on the Pony Express, and made a brief appearance in the American Civil War.

Colt revolving pistols and rifles were attractive mainly because of their high rate of fire. They were mainly based upon the Colt Model 1855 Sidehammer Pocket Revolver developed by Elisha K. The design was essentially similar to revolver type pistols, with a rotating cylinder that held five or six rounds in a variety of calibers from. The Colt New Model Revolving rifles were early repeating rifles produced by the Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1855 until 1864. 15-inches, 18-inches, 21-inches and 24-inches
