Colt Paterson No. 2 Pocket Model

About the Colt Paterson No. 2 Pocket Model

The Colt Paterson No. 2 Pocket Model is a single-action, five-shot percussion revolver, one of the smaller members of the Colt Paterson family built by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company in Paterson, New Jersey. Chambered in .31 caliber cap-and-ball, it used a medium-size frame with a straight grip, an octagonal barrel, and Samuel Colt's signature folding trigger that dropped down only when the hammer was cocked. Like all early Patersons it was originally supplied without an attached loading lever, the powder and ball being seated with a separate tool.

The compact .31 Patersons were the affordable, concealable end of Colt's first revolver line, but the company's commercial failure meant it was the larger .36 Texas Paterson that earned the design its reputation on the frontier, paving the way for the later Walker and Dragoon revolvers.

Colt Paterson No. 2 Pocket Model specifications

Colt Paterson model numbering is inconsistent in period and collector sources; the .31 No. 2 is variously catalogued as a 'Pocket' or 'Belt' model, sitting between the .28 No. 1 (Baby Paterson) and the .36 No. 5 (Texas) holster model. Octagonal barrels were offered in lengths from roughly 2.5 to 6 inches; a 4-inch barrel is representative. Only a few hundred were made before the company failed in 1842.