Kerr's Patent Revolver

About the Kerr's Patent Revolver

Kerr's Patent Revolver was a five-shot single-action percussion revolver designed by James Kerr in 1855 and manufactured by the London Armoury Company from 1859 to 1866. Most were made in .44 caliber (54 bore). Its distinctive feature was a side-mounted hammer on a back-action lockplate identical to those of contemporary percussion rifles, making the action simple and field-repairable without model-specific spares. Roughly 7,500 were run through the Union blockade to the Confederacy, where they were prized as some of the best revolvers the South received.

Confederate officers reportedly rated the London Armoury's Kerr revolvers as the finest sidearms reaching the South, and the firm exported more revolvers to the Confederacy than all Southern revolver makers combined produced at home.

Kerr's Patent Revolver specifications

The interchangeable back-action lock was the design's selling point for armies far from gunsmiths. A small number were made in .36 caliber (80 bore). The London Armoury Company became dependent on Confederate sales and dissolved in spring 1866, a year after the war ended.