CIVIL WAR Era Antique REMINGTON ?Improved? RIDER POCKET MODEL DA Revolver

Civil War era Remington-Rider Pocket Model Double Action Revolver, made circa 1860-1873. Around 2,000 were manufactured originally as percussion revolvers between these years and then as factory ?improved? cartridge versions after 1873. Revolver is a 5-shot, chambered for the .32 rimfire cartridge. The first ones produced in 1860 were black powder and had a ?mushroom? cylinder for the percussion caps. Then, sometime around 1863, Remington took some of them in and converted them to cartridge. Remington?s new approach to the conversion of its percussion revolvers was considerably more diverse than Colt. Remington?s new conversions utilized a conversion method that made use of a two piece cylinder. This required cutting off the back portion of the cylinder below the percussion nipples, drilling the chambers completely through and counter-boring the back of the cylinder to accommodate the cartridge rims. A cylinder cap, with ratchets to engage the hand and openings to allow the hammer to strike the cartridge rim, completed the conversion. Fortunately, the design of the Remington hammer required only slight modification in order to work with the two-piece cylinders, and it would still work with the percussion cylinder. By simply replacing the old cylinder, the gun could be used as a conventional cap-and-ball revolver, which proved fairly handy on the frontier where a box of cartridges couldn?t always be found!The Remington revolvers were available with both cylinders, again making the Remington a more versatile model than a comparable Colt pocket pistol. The way to tell if the gun was released from the factory as a .32 rimfire, or if it was a conversion would be by inspecting the cylinder. If there was a capping groove on the right side, it was originally released as a percussion revolver as the later models made for cartridges, lack this groove. Size: 6".~~ . Detailed condition reports are not included in this catalog. For additional information, including condition reports, please contact us at info@sofedesignauctions.com. 13.