Tag Archives: Colt sidehammer

A horseman with double Roots

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Unidentified soldier in Union uniform with gauntlets, shoulder scales, and cavalry “Company K” marked Hardee hat holding both two Colt Model 1855 Root sidehammer pistols and cavalry saber. Ambrotype/Tintype in LOC collection.

Colt factory superintendent Elisha K. Root’s sidehammer revolver was very popular with individual soldiers in the conflict while Colt made some 17,000 Model 1855 carbines as well over a nine-year period in several barrel lengths and caliber options.

More Colts than you can shake an auction paddle at

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Rock Island Auction has over 500 Colts up for their September Auction including 40 Pythons (!) and a bunch of really nice rares such as a Third Model Hartford London Dragoon, “D Company” Walker Model 1847, and a set of Model 1851 Navy “Squarebacks.”

This is my favorite, though:

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Stamped with “U.S.” marks and a silver-gray patina, this Single Action Army in .45LC includes a rare “Ropes” type flap holster of the type used during the Spanish-American War. If a gun could talk…