STANDARD CATALOG OF®
COLT
FIREARMS
BY RICK SAPP
FEATURING PHOTOS
BY PAUL GOODWIN
©2007 Krause Publications
Published by
Gun Digest® Books An imprint of F+W Publications 700 East State Street • Iola, WI 54990-0001 715-445-2214 • 888-457-2873 www.gundigestbooks.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007924538
ISBN-13: 978-0-89689-534-8
ISBN-10: 0-89689-534-3
eISBN: 978-1-4402-2471-3
Designed by Elizabeth Krogwold
Edited by Dan Shideler
Printed in China
AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION
WORKAHOLICS
Developing a book about Colt firearms has been an eye-opening experience. I have always been a particular fan of history and there is plenty of it here – almost two centuries of personality, intrigue and genius.
Most writers begin to spin the Colt narrative at a point where the young Sam, who is perhaps 14 years old, is sitting under a tree. There, he begins to dismantle, and then to reconstruct, an Andy Jackson-era handgun. Perhaps the story is true. It sounds a little too similar to the myth of Isaac Newton’s inspiration about the theory of gravity – he is sitting in a garden and a falling apple hits him on the head – for my taste.
In both cases, the problem with these myths is that genius is evident long before the age of 17, before Samuel Colt spent a year at sea and conceptualized, in the whirling ship’s capstan, an application to a repeating firearm. And it is not “simple” genius – if something so mysterious and complex could be considered simple – that changes the world. It is genius with some other element: curiosity or opportunity, for instance. It is genius with application that changes the world.
In the case of Colt and Newton – and John Browning, another famous name inextricably linked to the Colt enterprise – that additional element was some inner drive that we have of late labeled “workaholic,” as if to be consumed with one’s life work or hobby or obsession was a bad thing!
Thank goodness Sam Colt was a workaholic, that he had a vision and enough motivation to “make it happen.” It is unfortunate that poor health and an early death at 48 may have been the consequence, but the world is certainly a different place because of his struggles and almost single-minded dedication to succeed.
DEDICATION
So this book is dedicated to all of the workaholics of the world, the men and the women. It is compiled in praise of the folks who are singularly obsessed with changing, building, inventing, writing, moving or perhaps removing something in life. It is written in grateful appreciation of their effort, their insecurities and the passions that often wreck or bring misery to their personal lives. It is put together in awe of the brain with the thorn that cannot rest or give up or retreat.
Whatever term is required to keep the world’s workaholics on track regardless of their personal sacrifice – “Seize the day” or “Semper Fi” or “Neither rain nor snow …” or “Go for the gold” – I ask this of the world’s workaholics: please keep on keeping on. This world becomes a different and probably a better place because you are consumed by or fixated on your goal.
And ignore the whining and weeping and wailing, the political correctness that is overwhelming us. To hell with the roses and the diamonds. The kids should work for their college education (like the “boy named Sue,” they will be better people for it). If the spouse needs help drying the dishes, suggest that she (or he) employ a maid service. And when, not if, your invention, your great American novel, your brilliant idea makes page one of the New York Times and you cash the first royalty check on the way to millions of dollars … savor the moment. And then get back to work!
HISTORY: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
This book is about history, but it is about history through the lens of collecting Colt firearms. As such, it encompasses wars and murders – as if they were mutually exclusive – fortunes made, friendships betrayed … in short, the entire spectrum of the human comedy. Nevertheless, this particular compilation is narrowly focused on products, hard goods, and the prices we pay for them.
Before I began studying Colt firearms I had no idea of the controversies, mysteries and unresolved questions surrounding virtually every part of every gun listed in this volume. That amuses and puzzles me, because it seems as though it should be entirely straightforward: X gun was first built in X year with X features for X reasons or to address X needs. But this is an illusion; these determinations only seem straightforward. What I have learned this past year is that every facet of every action involved in making something new – even something as hard and factual and physical as a gun – becomes the subject of an historical obsession. Actually, I like that.
Almost nothing is straightforward in collecting Colt firearms – and the older the gun, the more complex its history becomes. Records are incomplete; factories burn; new models are stolen or pirated; guns are faked; financing fails; collectors with dubious character alter guns or just lie; owners die or just change their mind. Critical spellings are typed incorrectly and passed on for generations. People forget. And all this complexity ultimately means that it is more difficult to make a good decision about investing.
Caveat emptor is the Latin expression. Buyer beware. It certainly applies to collecting. Stamps. Antiques. Firearms.
As a historian, I often wish my subjects were easier to understand, would hold still for analysis. I have been fortunate to write books about Lewis and Clark and their expedition to the Pacific; and about Ulysses S. Grant and his journey through the Civil War. And even those incredibly researched and well documented subjects have gray areas, mysteries. Why, for instance, did Meriwether Lewis – Thomas Jefferson’s personal secretary and the man Jefferson personally chose to lead the expedition – kill himself … or did he? Why did Grant, such a successful military commander, lead his presidential administration so poorly? Why was Sam Colt’s son, Caldwell, such a wastrel and dandy?
All of these questions are what make history and collecting fascinating. We know, as Agent Mulder in The X Files television show did, that somewhere “the truth is out there.”
DOING OUR HOMEWORK
Normally, by the time we are old enough to invest in a Walker Colt we have heard “do your homework” applied to everything from schoolwork to the purchase of a new car to proposing to a potential spouse. Right from the start, we never liked homework, even