The Colt Navy Revolver
The Colt Navy revolver is the first revolver to ever be made in America in 1851. It was used by the Confederate States of America, Great Britain, the Russian Empire, Poland and Austria-Hungary. The Colt Navy Revolver weighs 47 oz. and is 14 inches long. It has a .36 calibre round and is a single action shot , in other words, you must pull the hammer back and pull the trigger. This process was repeated until the wielder had to reload the gun. This gun revolutionized wars because the soldiers no longer had to reload their weapon after every shot.
Although this is not the first version of a revolver, it is by far the superior pistol of it's time. The pepperbox revolvers were the first with a revolving barrel however, they had a serious drawback. The barrel had to be manually turned and shooting one bullet could cause the rest of the gunpowder to ignite and shoot off the other bullets as well, not to mention you had no idea if the barrel had proper alignment with the chambers. Colt's revolver was just simply an adaption of Collier's revolving flintlock pistol, he added a locking pawl to keep the cylinders in alignment. With the invention of the percussion cap, it made firing the gun much more safe, reliable and faster. However, Colt's greatest addition to the revolver was the use of interchangeable parts. Later models of revolvers allowed the user to cock the hammer just by simply pulling the trigger, these are called, double-action revolvers. With single-action revolvers, the user pulls back the hammer, putting tension on a coiled spring in the grip, this tension is released when the trigger is pulled. This occurs simultaneously with double-action revolvers.
Although this is not the first version of a revolver, it is by far the superior pistol of it's time. The pepperbox revolvers were the first with a revolving barrel however, they had a serious drawback. The barrel had to be manually turned and shooting one bullet could cause the rest of the gunpowder to ignite and shoot off the other bullets as well, not to mention you had no idea if the barrel had proper alignment with the chambers. Colt's revolver was just simply an adaption of Collier's revolving flintlock pistol, he added a locking pawl to keep the cylinders in alignment. With the invention of the percussion cap, it made firing the gun much more safe, reliable and faster. However, Colt's greatest addition to the revolver was the use of interchangeable parts. Later models of revolvers allowed the user to cock the hammer just by simply pulling the trigger, these are called, double-action revolvers. With single-action revolvers, the user pulls back the hammer, putting tension on a coiled spring in the grip, this tension is released when the trigger is pulled. This occurs simultaneously with double-action revolvers.
Below is a small video showing how a double-action revolver is fired and what mechanics are behind it.