Not much seen is the revolver made by James Cooper's company in Pennsylvania, moving from Pittsburgh to Philly over it's life from about 1850 to 1869. Unlike the other imitators wanting to cash in on Sam Colt's gold mine 1849 revolver, top in the photo, Cooper was able to get around the patent because the hand on his revolver mounted on the trigger. This was part of the rare for it's time double action. The DA was rather new and not received well initially, but the company gained ground, most of the guns sold were from 1864 to 1869 and .36 caliber like the one seen here, middle right. The smaller 31 caliber was fading out and competitors like the Manhattan, middle left in the photo and Colt's 1862 Police, bottom, were small guns in 36 caliber. The ball diameters are actually .32 and .375 respectively.
Parts are unobtainium scarce and I bought two broken guns to get one operational. The DA pull is hard for a small gun, a testament to hard spring pressure to set off caps and a very early understanding of DA mechanics.
Parts are unobtainium scarce and I bought two broken guns to get one operational. The DA pull is hard for a small gun, a testament to hard spring pressure to set off caps and a very early understanding of DA mechanics.
