Leadeye
Active Member
While not as popular as Colts there were an number of American copy cats around the time of the civil war. The Manhattan revolver company was formed by a group that planned on taking advantage of the expiring patents on Colt's 1849 revolver in 1857. Below is a 1st series gun with it's competition the Colt 1849 on top. A robust copy, the Manhattan was a .36 caliber as opposed to the 1849 in .31, which would lead you to believe that it was aimed at military sales. The company however chose to focus on civilian sales, but it was a popular gun with Union officers. Manhattan did add a feature that Colt did not have and that was additional cylinder notches that allowed the mechanism to be locked in place between the nipples.
The company doesn't last long, being one of the casualties of the 1873 economic depression, but the revolvers were made in fairly large numbers for the time. They turn up from time to time in good condition like this example, still able to send balls down range when over 160 years have passed.
The company doesn't last long, being one of the casualties of the 1873 economic depression, but the revolvers were made in fairly large numbers for the time. They turn up from time to time in good condition like this example, still able to send balls down range when over 160 years have passed.
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