Colt Model 1862 Police Percussion .36 – EXCELLENT CONDITION, CIVIL WAR PISTOL, RARE UN-CONVERTED GUN

The Model 1862 Colt was produced from 1861 through circa 1873 and about 47,000 were manufactured. This five-shot .36 caliber percussion revolver featured a rebated and half-fluted cylinder, allowing a larger caliber cylinder to be fitted to the small Pocket size frame, as its name implies they were intended for concealed carry by security forces. Many of these guns saw service through the Civil War and beyond. As metallic cartridges became more prevalent about 70% of Colt Model 1862 Police revolvers were converted to fire the new ammunition. Factory manufactured guns in their original configuration are consequently rare and command higher prices than their converted counterparts. The frame, hammer, and lever were case-hardened and the remainder of the revolver was blued. The grips were of one-piece walnut with silver-plated brass back-strap and trigger-guard. The barrel address is ‘ADDRESS COL. SAM COLT NEW-YORK U.S. AMERICA’ with COLTS/PATENT stamped on the left side of the frame. PAT SEPT. 1Oth 1850 is stamped within one of the cylinder flutes.

This gun conforms to other model 1862 revolvers being blue & color case hardened with 5 1/2″ round barrel, brass pin front sight and 1-line New-York U.S. America address. Left side of frame has a small “COLTS PATENT”. Left side of trigger guard is stamped “36CAL”. Brass trigger guard & backstrap contain a one piece varnished walnut grip with last four digits of matching SN in backstrap channel. Cylinder is typical half flutes rebated and has a patent date in one flute. This gun was made at the height of the Civil War near the end of 1863 or early in 1864. This popular Civil War sidearm generally saw very hard service during the war. This is a wonderful example in high condition that survived in near-new condition.

This gun was last auctioned in 2014 by Morphy Auctioneers, which noted the gun’s provenance from the Norm Flayderman Estate Collection*. The condition of the gun has not changed since then: Excellent overall, all matching including wedge and grip. Barrel retains about 80% plus original blue with minor scratches and stains; frame, loading assembly and hammer retain 99% of their original case colors; cylinder retains about 60% strong blue overall with light drag line and small scratches consistent with barrel; trigger guard & backstrap retain 80% of their original silver plating. Screws are fire blued and in excellent condition, the hammer shows some fine pitting on both sides. Grip is sound and solid and well-fit retaining about 90% of its orig bright varnish with largest loss of varnish on left grip near frame where it appears dark with the finish worn away with similar but smaller wear on the righthand grip panel.  Mechanically the gun is in fine working order with a strong mainspring and timed cylinder rotation, all five cylinder nipples and safety pins are in excellent condition. The bore exhibits as bright with crisp rifling with a few areas of frosting.

Vintage Firearms is pleased to offer this rare Model 1862 Police, a perfect fit for any Colt or Civil War collection.

*Norman Flayderman was perhaps best known for his book Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values, published 1980 which to this day is considered the bible of American arms collecting.

We employ a full time gunsmith on premises and can perform alterations to suit your needs within a few weeks of purchase. Common requests are: -stock bending to suit your particular requirements -addition of any specified butt pad to increase length of pull -alteration of chokes to suit your shooting preferences -lengthening of chambers and forcing cones -darkening stock color with penetrating stains -restoring any part of the gun including rust blue, charcoal blue, bone and charcoal case color, wood restoration and checkering recuts. If you like one our guns but it needs “tweaked”, let us know and we can quote you a time and price. Some enthusiasts like the guns “as found” and others want them “just so”. We often list guns as found and let the particular buyer choose how they want their gun to fit or look.