If the legendary Colt Model 1836 Paterson revolver was the original "Great Equalizer" of free men, and the vaunted Model 1851 Navy was the "Gun That Won The West", Remington's New Model Army would perhaps be the originator of the modern solid frame hunting and service revolver. Often erroneously called the "Model 1858" by modern shooters and gunwriters because of the Fordyce Beals patent filed in that year which set the groundwork of the gun's design, production of the New Model Army did not start until the US Civil War had been well under way, in 1863.
In the long and often frugal history of military contracts which would make the most vain penny pinchers proud, governments often pursued the most cheapest sources of equipment when procuring arms for a costly and protracted conflict. Thus, actual veterans and those familiar with military and government operations often snort and scowl when a new product is being advertised on civilian media as being "military grade", hypnotizing an entire group of brodozer driving weekend warriors and Saturday morning gun range commandos. The former group of guys KNOW that "military grade" is most often synonymous with being "acquired through the most economic means" AKA "cheap". Such was no different in 1860, at the very beginning of hostilities which would become the titanic rearranging of social and political structures known as the US Civil War. The US Department of Ordnance needed a standard issue sidearm to equip thousands of NCOs and cavalry troopers and it needed a contract fast. Due to the fact that Samuel Colt's firm, already riding the crest of almost two decades of success with their effective EDC-built 1836 and 1851 .36 caliber Belt Revolvers as well as their big bore bear country 1847 Walker and 1848 Dragoons, had enjoyed a near constant audience and patronage among highly influential US military figures of the day, it was no surprise that Colt Firearms was immediately awarded this contract to be valid as long as the hostilities lasted.
During the same time as Colt's Hartford Connecticut plant was churning out Model 1860 Belt Revolvers for the US Army, another Northeast gunmaker, Eley Remington and Sons, had been busy on perfecting the design of the revolver through numerous improvements and experiments which would eventually result in a rugged solid frame pistol with fewer moving parts and a very fast interchangeable cylinder system that would enable a mounted soldier to reload in a matter of seconds, all in a package that delivered a bear-dropping .44 caliber powerhouse. This improved design, finalized in the Fordyce Beals Patent of 1858, would not enter production until 1863 as Remington's lawyers battled agents from Smith and Wesson in their own turbulent war regarding S&W's attempts at monopolizing the production of self contained metallic cartridges under their Rollin White Patent. When Remington's New Model Army finally underwent production, the Civil War had entered it's third bloody year with no end in sight and hundreds of thousands of lives lost. Due to the US Dept. Of Ordnance's desperate need for more equipment in a new and brutal landscape of mechanized and industrialized warfare, Remington's handgun quickly became the second most popular standard sidearm next to Colt's. Reports quickly came back from the battlefield further solidifying Remington's reputation as a gun manufacturer. Many soldiers liked the more rugged solid one-piece frame design of the New Model Army over Colt's open frame, which had the entire assembly of the barrel and cylinder being supported on a single central pin. The New Model Army also had fewer moving parts, making it much easier to clean on the field. Cavalrymen and scouts serving on the frontier were immediately drawn to another Remington feature, the ability to quickly reload by switching out cylinders via a single pull of a central locking shaft like changing the magazine on a modern semiautomatic pistol, enabling troopers to keep up a sustained fire while moving.
When the Civil War finally ended and westward expansion began in earnest, Remington Arm's now legendary New Model Army had become the standard bearer of revolvers carried by sheriffs, hunters, soldiers, outlaws, and homesteaders. Production of the gun continued at Remington's factories until 1876, when a nearly identical cartridge revolver replaced the New Model Army as the Model 1875. The hundreds of thousands of New Model Army's in circulation remained the primary sidearm of many adventurers throughout the rest of the 19th century all the way until the middle of the 20th. Even as late as 1922, when the moonshine distillers of Appalachian coal country were engaged in a bitter and lethal guerrilla war with overstepping federal Prohibition enforcers, you will find plenty of rugged and self reliant hill country buckskinners whose primary means of sustenance and defense was an old Remington percussion or cartridge converted New Model Army and a single shot High Wall rifle. And in the words of one of the most legendary cowboys of the Old West, William "Buffalo Bill" Cody when writing about the Remington revolver, "it has never failed me". Indeed, based on it's renewed popularity as a reproduction handgun produced by the Italian firms of F.lli Pietta and Aldo Uberti/Beretta, the design has never failed anyone who picked one up.
This pair of Remington New Model Army's was a gift given to Union general Ulysses S. Grant by Mississippi River traders Otis Nelson Culter and William C. Wagley upon Grant's 1863 victory at the Battle of Vicksburg which cemented Union control over the entire Mississippi. The revolvers, ornately engraved over every inch of their surfaces and sporting ivory grips bearing 3D portraits of Grant and the Seal of the United States of America on both sides, were sold by Rock Island Auction Company in the May of 2022 for a top price of $5,170,000.
VIDEO OF THE AUCTION:
LINK:
Ulysses Grant's Revolvers Sold for $5,170,000 - Full Mag News
Two revolvers belonging to former President Ulysses S. Grant went up for auction at Rock Island Auction Company and managedRead More
fullmagnews.com
And last but not least, if the new owners of these revolvers decide to fire them and if the need for spare repair parts ever arises, they can EASILY keep these pistols running by using Aldo Uberti reproduction Remington parts. Since 1985, Uberti's faithful reproduction of the New Model Army has kept to EXACT tolerances and dimensions of the originals. Cylinders, bolts, and other action components made by Uberti are drop-in fits for original Remingtons, with no modifications or work needed.
A DETAILED BREAKDOWN REVIEW OF UBERTI'S NEW MODEL ARMY REPRODUCTION: Price: $300-400 at Dixie Gun Works and Midway USA. These are target and hunting grade reproductions which match the originals to every exact point.
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