Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy
- Category
- Revolver
- Barrel
- 139 mm
- Weight, empty
- 680 g
- Introduced
- 1862
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy was a compact .36-caliber, five-shot single-action percussion revolver, essentially a reduced-size Model 1851 Navy built on the small 1849 Pocket frame. It featured an octagonal barrel with a hinged loading lever and a rebated round cylinder roll-engraved with a stagecoach holdup scene. Barrels were offered in 4.5, 5.5 or 6.5 inches to customer preference.
Built on the tiny 1849 Pocket frame but chambered for the heftier .36 'Navy' ball, the Pocket Navy packed Navy-caliber stopping power into a coat-pocket package, a favourite concealable sidearm of Civil War officers and civilians alike.
Roughly 19,000 were produced by Colt of Hartford, Connecticut in a relatively short run, making surviving examples fairly scarce. It saw use by both sides during the American Civil War. The companion Model 1862 Police used a half-fluted cylinder while the Pocket Navy retained a rebated round cylinder.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC
- Category
- Revolver
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1862 to 1873
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 139 mm
- Overall length
- 279 mm
- Height
- 114 mm
- Width
- 38 mm
- Weight, empty
- 680 g
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Single action
- Firing mechanism
- Single action
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 5
- Magazine
- Rotary
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 229 m/s
- Effective range
- 50 m
- Rate of fire
- 5 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Revolving cylinder
Octagonal barrel
Hinged loading lever
Rebated round cylinder
Single action only
Percussion cap ignition- Roll engraved cylinder
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 27 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 680 g | 1.13 kg | Lighter than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 27 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 279 mm | 330 mm | Shorter than about 80% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 28 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 139 mm | 183 mm | Shorter than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 29 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 5 | 6 | Holds fewer rounds than about 80% |
Answers
Questions about the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy
How much does the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy weigh?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy weighs 680 g (1.50 lb) empty. It is the 4th lightest of 27 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers in the catalogue.
What caliber is the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy is chambered in .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball).
How many rounds does the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy hold?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy holds 5 rounds, fed from a rotary magazine.
How long is the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy is 279 mm (10.98 in) long overall, with a 139 mm (5.47 in) barrel.
Who makes the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy is made by Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC (United States). It was designed by Samuel Colt.
When was the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy introduced?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy was introduced in 1862 and discontinued in 1873.
How does the Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy operate?
The Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy uses a single action, and its firing mechanism is single action.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Union Army
- United States
- Confederate States
- United States
- Civilian market
- 1862
Provenance
Confidence in this record
74%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/colt-1862-pocket-navy' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "colt-1862-pocket-navy", "name": "Colt Model 1862 Pocket Navy", "manufacturer": { "id": "colt", "name": "Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1855, "website": "https://www.colt.com", "logoUrl": null, "description": "American firearms manufacturer headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1855 and now a subsidiary of Colt CZ Group, continuing production of iconic firearms including the 1911 pistol.", "status": "active", "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-02-11 23:44:38", "updatedAt": "2026-02-18 03:43:38", "version": "7143c7ff3f7e156063a240f2df7b4746ee1c0394d7cd5f592d05bac43233d637" }, "category": { "id": "revolver", "name": "Revolver", "description": "Handguns with a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1862, "barrel_length_mm": 139, "weight_empty_g": 680, "action_type": "single_action"}