Eclipsed in the history of the time by Colt and Remington, there was a third mass produced pistol used in the US Civil war. The 1858 Starr revolver, a product of businessman/inventor Ebenezer Starr. His submission to the army was a double action, rare for the time, 44 caliber revolver. Ungainly compared to the more modern looking Colt 1860 and Remington 1858, Starr figured the double action feature would more than make up for the lack of design aesthetics, which included rounded rather than countersunk flat screws.
The revolver's DA feature received a less than warm reception from Army brass, but the Army needed guns and purchased enough to make the business profitable. With the fire at Colt halting much production the Army asked for more Starr revolvers but wanted a redesign to single action. I would imagine that Mr. Starr was a little miffed at dropping what he considered his invention's best feature, but the redesign went through quickly and the Army bought many more Starr revolvers. Most all Starr revolvers equipped cavalry units in the western theater of the Civil war.
After the war Starr production stopped in 1867 so the revolver was rather short lived, only 9 years. Pietta made some modern repros, but those are probably harder to find than the original guns, although they do sell for less. Not seen much in the movies, a DA Starr makes an appearance in Clint Eastwood's hands in Unforgiven.
The left picture is an origional Starr from 1858, the second picture is a Pietta copy of the single action version, the third is the character William Munny testing his aim.
The revolver's DA feature received a less than warm reception from Army brass, but the Army needed guns and purchased enough to make the business profitable. With the fire at Colt halting much production the Army asked for more Starr revolvers but wanted a redesign to single action. I would imagine that Mr. Starr was a little miffed at dropping what he considered his invention's best feature, but the redesign went through quickly and the Army bought many more Starr revolvers. Most all Starr revolvers equipped cavalry units in the western theater of the Civil war.
After the war Starr production stopped in 1867 so the revolver was rather short lived, only 9 years. Pietta made some modern repros, but those are probably harder to find than the original guns, although they do sell for less. Not seen much in the movies, a DA Starr makes an appearance in Clint Eastwood's hands in Unforgiven.
The left picture is an origional Starr from 1858, the second picture is a Pietta copy of the single action version, the third is the character William Munny testing his aim.
