Remington-Rider Double Action New Model Belt Revolver

About the Remington-Rider Double Action New Model Belt Revolver

The Remington-Rider Double Action New Model Belt Revolver is a .36 caliber percussion cap-and-ball belt revolver produced by E. Remington & Sons from roughly 1863 to 1873. Designed by Joseph Rider under his May 1859 patent, it is a six-shot revolver built on a solid-frame design with a 6.5-inch octagonal rifled barrel, brass trigger guard, and two-piece walnut grips. Its self-cocking double-action lockwork, which also permitted single-action fire, was an uncommon feature on American revolvers of the period and represented Remington's attempt to popularize the double-action mechanism then favored in Britain and Europe.

Joseph Rider's double-action design gave Remington one of the few American revolvers of the Civil War era able to fire self-cocking, at a time when the double-action mechanism was widely popular in Europe but had met only limited success in the United States.

Remington-Rider Double Action New Model Belt Revolver specifications

Early production examples (serial numbers below about 1,000, circa 1863-1865) had fluted cylinders, while later guns used round cylinders. Standard finish was blued with a color case-hardened hammer, though nickel, half-nickel/half-blue, and silver-plated variations exist. Some revolvers were later factory-converted to fire the .38 rimfire metallic cartridge.