POTD: The Civil War Double Action – The 1858 Starr Arms Revolver
Sam.S 10.05.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have an underappreciated early American double action. The Starr Arms double-action revolver brought some real innovation in the 1860s. Designed by Ebenezer Starr for the Union forces, this six-shooter had a complex double-action mechanism. Reloads were fast in theory since it was basically a top break but this involved unscrewing A SCREW. Around 20,000 Starr Army models and 1900 Starr Navy models saw Union service. But after the war, the Army pressured Starr to nix the tricky double action on the Model 1863. Still, being able to fire double action at all was an impressive feat for an 1860s American revolver design. The Starr Arms revolver highlighted Civil War era experimentation pushing percussion revolvers beyond basic single-action weapons. Its convoluted mechanism was ambitious, if not totally successful. But the Starr showed creative thinking on the path toward “modern” revolver designs.
“An estimated 23,000 of these revolvers were manufactured in the late 1850s and early 1860s; most were purchased by the U.S. Government. Production then shifted to the less expensive and more reliable single action Model 1863 upon the request of the government during the war following the Colt factory fire. Starr revolvers were widely used during the war and were third only to Colt and Remington. This example has the standard “STARR. ARMS. CO. NEW. YORK.” address on left side of frame and “STARR’S PATENT JAN. 15, 1856” on the right. The serial numbers throughout match, and there are small Ordnance Department inspection marks on several components. “
Lot 1124: Martially Inspected U.S. Starr Arms Model 1858 Revolver – Civil War Era Martially Inspected Starr Model 1858 Double Action Army Revolver. (n.d.-p). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved October 4, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/78/1124/martially-inspected-u.s.-starr-arms-model-1858-revolver.
