Colt House Pistol
- Category
- Revolver
- Barrel
- 76 mm
- Weight, empty
- Not recorded
- Introduced
- 1871
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Colt House Pistol, popularly called the 'Cloverleaf', was a small Colt pocket revolver and the company's first solid-frame design built from the ground up for metallic rimfire cartridges. Produced from 1871, it chambered the .41 Short rimfire and was offered with a four-shot deeply fluted 'cloverleaf' cylinder or a five-shot round cylinder, with recessed chambers as a safety feature.
As Colt's earliest solid-frame revolver and first purpose-built for metallic rimfire cartridges, the House Pistol introduced recessed chambers as an advanced rimfire safety feature that Colt would not reuse for many years.
The 'Cloverleaf' name comes from the four-leaf-clover appearance of the four-shot fluted cylinder. A five-shot round-cylinder variant was also made. Barrels were offered in 1.5-inch and 3-inch lengths. Also nicknamed the 'Jim Fisk Model' after financier Jim Fisk was killed with one in 1872.
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
- 1871 to 1876
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 76 mm
- Overall length
- 171 mm
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Single action
- Firing mechanism
- Single action
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 4
- Magazine
- Revolving cylinder
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Brass
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Nickel plated
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 130 m/s
- Effective range
- 10 m
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.
Solid frame
Cloverleaf cylinder
Spur trigger
Birds head grip
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall lengthAmong 415 revolvers | 171 mm | 260 mm | Shorter than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 431 revolvers | 76 mm | 127 mm | Shorter than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 434 revolvers | 4 | 6 | Among the smallest capacities |
Answers
Questions about the Colt House Pistol
What caliber is the Colt House Pistol?
The Colt House Pistol is chambered in .41 Short Rimfire.
How many rounds does the Colt House Pistol hold?
The Colt House Pistol holds 4 rounds, fed from a revolving cylinder.
How long is the Colt House Pistol?
The Colt House Pistol is 171 mm (6.73 in) long overall, with a 76 mm (2.99 in) barrel.
Who makes the Colt House Pistol?
The Colt House Pistol is made by Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC (United States).
When was the Colt House Pistol introduced?
The Colt House Pistol was introduced in 1871 and discontinued in 1876.
How does the Colt House Pistol operate?
The Colt House Pistol 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
- Civilian
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
68%
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-house-pistol' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "colt-house-pistol", "name": "Colt House Pistol", "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": 1871, "barrel_length_mm": 76, "weight_empty_g": null, "action_type": "single_action"}