Colt Walker: Difference between revisions

The Walker Colt is the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun ever made. It was created in the mid-1840s in a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker (1815-47) and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814-62). Walker wanted a handgun that was extremely powerful at close range, and that is precisely what he got. The Walker Colt holds a powder charge of 60 grains (3.9 g) in each chamber, more than twice what a normal black powder revolver holds. It weighs 4 1/2 pounds (1.9 kg), has a 9-inch (229 mm) barrel, and fires a .44 caliber (11.2 mm) round ball.

Samuel Walker carried two of his namesake revolvers and used them to great effect in the war with Mexico ¹. Unfortunately, big-bore handguns were not enough to save Walker from his fate; he was killed in battle the same year that his famous handgun was invented, 1847. Only 1100 of these guns were originally made, which makes originals extremely difficult and expensive to obtain.

The Walker Colt followed the first successful Colt Revolver, the Paterson model produced between 1836-42. The Republic of Texas was the major purchaser of the early revolver and Samuel Walker became familiar with it during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was engaged in the US/Mexican War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles (USMR- colloquially, but inaccurately, called "Dragoons.") He approached Samuel Colt requesting a large revolver to replace the single shot Aston Johnson holster pistols in use. The 44-.45 caliber revolver would be carried in saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers. The Walker colt was almost sixteen inches long and weighed 4 pounds nine ounces. The initial contract called for 1,000 of the revolvers and accoutrements. Colt commissioned Eli Whitney Junior to fill the contract and produce an extra 100 revolvers for private sales and promotional gifts. The Walker Colt was used in the Mexican War and on the Texas frontier.

Problems with the Walker included its very large size, ruptured cylinders attributed to primative metallurgy or (more likely) loading the original picket bullets backwards into the chambers and, an inadequate loading lever catch that caused the lever to drop during recoil. Subsequent contracts beginning in 1848 followed a rapid evolution of the revolver and included shorter chambers and a positive catch for the loading lever. The Walker was quite powerful with modern replicas producing energy in excess of 500 foot pounds with picket bullets and round ball. The Walker Colt is regarded as the most powerful repeating handgun up until introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935.

• Percussion Pistols and Revolvers. History, Performance and Practical Use by Johnny Bates and Mike Cumpston Lincoln, NE 68512, iUniverse, 2005 isbn-13-978-0-35796-3
• The Colt Whitneyville Walker Pistol by Lt. Col.Robert D. Whittington Hooks, Texas, Brownlee Books, 1984