Colt's FIRST METAL CARTRIDGE GUN .. Was A Derringer?

 So - youse jokers seem to like obscure detailed information about guns .. Colt's are said to have sold more than 60,000 of these derringers between 1870 - 1912 having acquired The National Arms Company in 1870 (Sam Colt had died 10 January 1862).  - The National Arms Co built some 30,000 brass framed derringers before Colt's takeover ... They also built Moore's Patent Revolvers in the .32/.41 TEAT FIRE cartridge - designed to beat the Rolin White Patent for drilled through chambers. 

The National Arms Moores Patent Revolver in .32 Teat Fire caliber:

.32 Teat-Fire Cartridges - Designed by Daniel Moore & Patented by partner David Williamson in 1864 for the 'National Revolver' produced by Moore's Patent Fire Arms Company and by The NATIONAL ARMS Company of  Brooklyn, New York.

Teat-Fire Cartridges were made (by Ethan Allen) in both .32 and .41 caliber - AND there were both ROUND TEAT & FLAT TEAT versions.

These Are .32" Caliber .. four FLAT - two ROUND

Teat Fire Cartridges were Made By Ethan Allen

First Two Below, poor things↓     - at far right the .41" has a Round one ↓

                   have Flat Teats↓

Link to an *SUPERB* cartridge article:

  https://www.oldammo.com/april10.htm

These revolvers were popular during the American Civil War selling around 30,000 before Colt's bought the business. - The fulminate priming mixture was in the TEAT that projected through the back end of the cylinder chambers. - Another interesting link HERE:  https://www.historynet.com/daniel-moore-challenged-big-boys-number-reliable-handguns/

The all-metal National Arms Derringer in .41 Rimfire:

If you missed - you might use the gun as a KnuckleDuster ..

Colt's 1st Model Derringer .. with iron frame in .41 Rimfire ..

Colt's 2nd Model Derringer ..

Originally manufactured by The National Arms Company from 1860, but after they were acquired by Colt in 1870, production continued with these Derringers - but Colt changed the brass frames to iron. - Caliber was .41 inch rimfire?(I think)

Colt's 3rd Model Derringer ..

Also known as the Colt THUER Derringer:

Brass frame with a 2.5 inch steel barrel in .41 Rimfire short caliber .. deadly up close. 

- Thuer developed the 'automic ejector' for this model .. Rumour states there were guns in .41 centerfire made for the British market.

.41 short - 130 grains soft lead, 

13 gns black powder 111ft/lbs @ 685ft/sec.

Then There Was Colt's 4th Model Derringer ..

Released in 1959 in .22" Short rimfire - this Colt gun was rubbish ... or at least it was made of rubbish pot-metal 'ZAMAK' zinc alloy - built to look pretty & sell - intended mainly for display. Despite their shortcomings AND THE FACT that these plated tinsel decorations were made by BUTLER Assoc. Inc. for Colt's - 1959-63. They sold well enough to justify a second production run 1970-73. 

Plated Pot Metal and Plastic fake Pearl Grips make me shudder. - Throughout this period Colt's was owned-controlled by good-old boys PENN-TEXAS CORPORATION merging Fairbanks-Whitney Corporation - Colts Industries

"All that glisters is not gold" .. Bill Shakespeare

- Even after Colt stopped putting their name on that silly gat, Butler Assoc. Inc. built even more, under their own label and they made a better fist of it than Colt - by actually adding a steel barrel liner in some of the earlier guns - that you might confirm with a magnet ...

NO - Butlers didn't "copy" Colt's - they just carried-on making them without Colt.

Bubba wants one 'cos they purty' and R L Wilson would have sold and certified him one - a Sam Coults "personal carry pistol" for ten thousand greenbacks eh.

- I'm too polite to mention the 1998 BOYCOTT of Colt products ..

Marty K.

P.S.: Ethan Allen, Gunmaker - also Patented and made the LIPFIRE Cartridge as an improved alternative to Pinfire Cartridges that might still try to get around that pesky patent ..

M.K