Colt Model 1855 "Root" Sidehammer

About the Colt Model 1855 "Root" Sidehammer

The Colt Model 1855 Sidehammer, commonly called the Colt Root revolver, was a compact single-action percussion pocket revolver designed by Colt factory superintendent Elisha K. Root and patented on Christmas Day 1855. It is notable as the only solid-frame, side-hammer percussion revolver Colt ever produced; the topstrap-equipped solid frame would not reappear in Colt's line until the 1873 Single Action Army. Early First Series guns were chambered in .28 caliber, while later Second Series models used .31 caliber, both loaded as five-shot cap-and-ball with a creeping loading lever and fired by a side-mounted hammer.

Elisha K. Root was Colt's master mechanic and factory superintendent, the man who actually built out Colt's revolutionary mass-production armory, and the sidehammer revolver bearing his name is the only solid-frame, side-hammer percussion revolver Colt ever made. The same sidehammer action was scaled up to power the Colt Model 1855 revolving rifles and carbines, and its creeping loading lever became standard on Colt's later 1860 Army, 1861 Navy and 1862 Police revolvers.

Colt Model 1855 "Root" Sidehammer specifications

Sources disagree on a few points: overall length is given as 8 in (203 mm) by most sources versus 6.97 in by militaryfactory, hammer side is cited as right (dealer sources) versus left (militaryfactory), and one source erroneously lists six shots rather than five. Weight varies with barrel length (~17-20 oz). Roll-engraved cylinders show cabin (.28) or cabin/stagecoach (.31) scenes.