Remington-Beals Navy Revolver

About the Remington-Beals Navy Revolver

The Remington-Beals Navy Revolver is an American .36 caliber cap-and-ball percussion revolver designed by Fordyce Beals and manufactured by E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, New York. The first of Remington's solid-frame military revolvers, it featured an integral top strap that gave the frame greater strength than the open-top Colts of the period, paired with a roughly seven-inch octagonal barrel screwed into the frame and an under-barrel loading lever. Produced in small numbers during 1861 and 1862, this six-shot single-action revolver saw service early in the American Civil War and established the design that would evolve into the far more numerous Remington New Model Army.

The Beals Navy marked the moment Remington broke into the military revolver market that Colt had long dominated, and its solid-frame top strap would become the hallmark of every Remington percussion revolver that followed.

Remington-Beals Navy Revolver specifications

Based on Fordyce Beals' patent of September 14, 1858 (U.S. Patent 21,478). Only about 14,500 Beals revolvers (Navy and Army combined) were produced before the design was superseded; the Navy variant fired the smaller .36 caliber round ball. Distinguished from later Remington revolvers by its Beals-pattern loading lever and German silver cone front sight.