POTD: Louder Than Thunder…er? – The Colt 1878
Sam.S 02.06.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a piece of Colt double action linage. This is a Colt Model 1878 Frontier “Six Shooter”. These full-size and full cartridge double action revolvers were the follow-up to the Colt 1877 “Lightning” and “Thunderer” which were rather small framed and were chambered for 38 Colt and 41 Colt. The Colt 1878 was not meant to replace 1877 by any means. It was just a necessity to submit a larger double-action revolver to the market but more importantly (on Colt’s mind) to the military.
Spoiler! the US military swiftly rejected it after it was found to fall out of time and suffer from light primer strikes. A lot of these things would subtly be amended over time and both the 1877 and 1878 would continue to be in production for a good couple of decades or so (give or take a few years). The Colt 1878 would see a slight revamp thanks to conflicts in the Philippines where a double action big bore revolver was necessary. This was dubbed the Model 1902 and would showcase those changes mentioned earlier. Parting note: these were chambered in all sorts of calibers ranging from .32 all the way up to .46. They were most commonly found in 45 Colt.
“The barrel has the two-line Hartford address on top and “COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER” marked on the left. The underside of the barrel is correctly marked “44” is small font. Matching partial serial number “905” marked on the rear of the cylinder. Assembly number “405” marked on the rear of the loading gate and left of the grip frame. “O.E.” and “GWR/1961″ carved on the underside of the right grip panel.”
Lot 1117: Colt Model 1878 Frontier Six Shooter Revolver – Colt Model 1878 Frontier Six Shooter Double Action Revolver. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved February 5, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/87/1117/colt-model-1878-frontier-six-shooter-revolver.
