PALL MALL PEACEMAKER
Cowboy Colt – with English understatement
I suppose an ordinary fellow would be simply fascinated by the hunk of old iron, but to me the silver-grey patina and worn walnut grips seemed to come alive
TTH EAM ERICA NCI VIL War, 1861-1865, was the last great conflict to be fought with muzzle-loaders while breech-loaders taking self-contained cartridges were fast becoming popular. In 1873, the Colt factory, under their new boss, Richard Jarvis, introduced the .45 calibre Single Action Army revolver which caught the attention of the US Ordnance Department and soon became the standard issue side arm of the United States Cavalry. Most of the last Indian Wars were fought after the Civil War, and the world was fascinated by tales of fierce fights with Indians (now called Native Americans), romantic stories of cowboys, daring outlaws, and deadly gunfighters of the Wild West. The most-mentioned gun was always Colt’s famous six-shooter. In later years, travelling Wild West shows run by Buffalo Bill Cody and others took the thrills of the West to England and Europe, and the star of the show was again the Colt revolver. Everybody interested in guns wanted one.
By this time, a gentleman named Frederick August Kunow Waldemar von Oppen was running Colt’s London Agency at No 14 Pall Mall. In 1874 the Colt factory began shipping out their new breech-loading six-shooters to meet the demand of British customers. The guns were snapped up and many more were shipped to von Oppen. In 1876, he arranged for his agency address of 14 Pall Mall to be added to the Colt address stamped on the barrel. I recently examined one of these Colts and even had the wonderful experience of firing it.
Words cannot describe the thrill that I felt when the gun owner passed me the old Colt. I suppose an ordinary fellow would be simply fascinated by the hunk of old iron, but to me the silver-grey patina and worn walnut grips seemed to come alive and I could feel the tingle of nearly one hundred and fifty years of history in my hand. You see, on checking the serial number on the revolver, we found it had been made in 1878.
On closer examination the first thing I noticed was the stamping along the 5½-inch barrel which read: COLT’S PAT. FIREARMS MFG.CO. HARTFORD, CONN, USA. DEPOT 14 PALL MALL, LONDON. Interestingly, when my friend bought the Colt on a London sale it came with a separate 4½-inch barrel stamped only with Colt’s Hartford address. Whether the gun was originally ordered with the second barrel or if this was a later acquisition is unknown.
PEERING THROUGH AN empty cylinder chamber I was surprised to see a shoulder mid-way. This confused me so I looked for a calibre stamp and finally found a small one on the side of the trigger guard that read .45 CAL and, under that, a capital B. Scratching my head, I hauled out Norm Flayderman’s Cartridges of the World and found the regular .45 long cartridge used in the Colt SAA as well as two
shorter cartridges – one called the .45 Webley and the other listed simply as the .450 revolver round. Obviously the Pall Mall Colt would take either of the two shorter rounds because the shoulder within the chamber would not allow the longer American cartridge to be inserted. I searched through a few other reference books and discovered two more short fat .45 cartridges, one referred to as the .45 Boxer and a very similar one called the .450 Eley. Now I was really confused. Could the .45 B stamping on the gun mean .45 Boxer? Besides that, British revolvers also used a .455 and .476 cartridge as well as a similar .442 Webley (for the Royal Irish Constabulary) and another called the .44 Webley. Heck, talk about cartridge confusion.
The .45 Boxer cartridge was an underpowered number charged with only 13 grains of black powder and a 225 grain bullet. Phased out in 1875, it was replaced by the .450 Eley cartridge that retained the Boxer primer but was charged with 18 to 20 grains of powder and a 230 grain bullet. I also discovered that the stamp .45 B did NOT stand for .45 Boxer but .45 British, making me think any of the short .45 cart-ridges could be used in the Pall Mall Colt. Incidentally both the short rounds mentioned were used in British-made revolvers such as the Adams and the Webley, and both were pretty squib-like compared to the long American .45 cartridge charged with 40 grains of powder. The Pall Mall revolver is a Colt, but clearly spoke with a British accent.
THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY we set up a target at fifteen long paces and I marked the shooting position with the toe of my boot. My pard passed me a full box of short Fiocchi cartridges and told me to load up. Flipping open the loading gate I slipped in a stubby cartridge – and found it would not go all the way in. So I tried another cartridge to discover that it too appeared to be just a tad too long. The shoulder within the
cylinder would not allow the round to be fully inserted. Closely examining the Fiocchi rounds I discovered they were head stamped with the calibre .455. Disappointed, I turned to my companion and grumbled, “I thought this gun could take any short .45 ammo”. My pal was equally confused and passing me a small box said, “Try these”.
The box held a mishmash of old original cartridges as well as hand-loaded rounds made from cut down .45 cases reloaded with light charges of modern powder. I carefully selected six reloaded rounds that all easily slipped into the chambers. I have fired many Colt revolvers taking regular long cartridges so it sure felt strange feeding in those puny-looking little rounds.
Going into action with the Pall Mall Colt I felt that I should have been wearing a bowler hat and carrying a brolly, or maybe wearing a red tunic. Taking a double-handed shooting stance I opened up with six slow, deliberate shots. When we walked up to the target, I found I had succeeded in putting two out of six slugs into the black and the rest were scattered around the bull.
My companion then loaded up with four reloads and, for interest sake, two old original cartridges to see if they would fire. Also taking slow, deliberate aim and using a two-handed hold, he fired his first four shots. These were followed by a dull click as one of the original old cartridges failed to fire. The second old cartridge did fire – we heard the distinctive doef of a black powder load and got the usual cloud of smoke. The dud round was replaced and my pal took another shot.
My companion’s shooting resulted in three hits in the black – well, four actually, if you count the bullet from the black powder round striking sideways and cutting the edge of the bull. Out of twelve shots, we put six into the black and six on the paper that would all have been body hits on a live target. Not too bad for a Colt made in 1878 firing a mixture of hand-loaded and ancient ammunition.
In later years, travelling Wild West shows run by Buffalo Bill Cody and others took the thrills of the West to England and Europe, and the star of the show was again the Colt revolver