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One hundred No. 5 Patersons along with one hundred Paterson
carbines were purchased for use by the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Squadron
and were shipped in December 1841. Thus, these No. 5 revolvers
can also be seen as setting the stage for the large quantities of
Colt firearms subsequently used by the U.S. military from the Colt
percussion revolvers of the antebellum era and Civil War to the
Single Action Army revolvers used by the U.S. Cavalry during the
Indian Wars in the late 19th century through the Colt Model 1911
and 1911A1 pistols used during World War I and World War II and
beyond.
This early “Texas Colt” bears the two-digit serial number “23” on
the rear of the barrel lug, rear face of both cylinders, the cylinder
turning ring, trigger, right side of the front strap, inside of the back
strap, and the butt of the right grip. The wedge is blank. It is in the
Model A configuration described on page 132 of “The Paterson Colt
Book” by R.L. Wilson as having a “double curve barrel lug, straight-
sided barrel lug; large letters in barrel address; square shoulders on
cylinder; blued frame...” The barrel has a small blade front sight and
“~*Patent Arms M’g. Co. Paterson, N.J.- Colt’s Pt.*~” reading from
the breech towards the muzzle. The squareback cylinders have the
stagecoach hold-up scene and “COLT”.
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