Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)
- Category
- Revolver
- Barrel
- 191 mm
- Weight, empty
- 1.18 kg
- Introduced
- 1862
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Leech & Rigdon revolver is a .36 caliber percussion (cap-and-ball) single-action, six-shot revolver produced for the Confederate States of America between 1862 and 1863. A close copy of the Colt Model 1851 Navy, it differs from the original chiefly in its round barrel (carried on an octagonal barrel lug) rather than Colt's fully octagonal barrel, and - unlike the more numerous brass-framed Griswold & Gunnison - it uses an iron frame, with a brass backstrap and trigger guard and a brass cone front sight. Each chamber is charged from the front with loose powder and a .375-inch lead ball seated by the under-barrel loading lever and capped at the nipple, the gun being manually cocked for each shot. The firm began as Leech & Rigdon, a partnership of Memphis cotton trader and cutler Thomas Leech and scale-maker Charles H. Rigdon; after the partnership dissolved in late 1863 the work continued under the successor firm Rigdon, Ansley & Co. Widely regarded as one of the best-made Confederate revolvers, it was genuinely competitive in quality with the Colt Navy it imitated.
Leech & Rigdon was a factory perpetually on the run from the Union advance: it opened in Columbus, Mississippi, fled to Greensboro, Georgia in December 1862, and then - reborn as Rigdon, Ansley & Co. - moved again to Augusta. Its earliest revolvers left the shop unmarked, with the 'LEECH & RIGDON' stamp only appearing around serial number 60, and the guns are reckoned among the finest Confederate-made handguns of the war.
Leech & Rigdon held a Confederate contract for 1,500 revolvers; roughly 1,000 were actually completed before the partnership dissolved in December 1863. The successor firm Rigdon, Ansley & Co. produced perhaps another 900-1,000, making Rigdon the Confederacy's second-largest revolver maker with roughly 2,400 combined. The first 1,500-pattern guns used a six-stop cylinder with safety pins; later Rigdon, Ansley production switched to a twelve-stop cylinder and a cap-release groove and deleted the safety pins. Early guns (below serial ~60) carry no maker's name, with 'LEECH & RIGDON' stamping beginning around serial 60 and CSA markings added later. Muzzle velocity and energy figures are modern chronograph-derived estimates for .36 cap-and-ball loads; empty weight is approximate. Seven-groove right-hand rifling (with a modest gain twist at the muzzle) is explicitly documented for this maker.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Leech & Rigdon
- Category
- Revolver
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1862 to 1863
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 191 mm
- Overall length
- 330 mm
- Weight, empty
- 1.18 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Single action
- Firing mechanism
- Single action
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 6
- Magazine
- Revolving cylinder
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 210 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 115 J
- Effective range
- 45 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.
Iron frame
Round barrel with octagonal lug- Colt 1851 navy copy
Brass backstrap and trigger guard
Brass cone front sight
Open top frame
Six shot cylinder
Loading lever
Single action percussion
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 | 1.18 kg | 1.13 kg | Heavier than about 80% |
| Overall lengthAmong 27 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 330 mm | 330 mm | Longer than about 60% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 28 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 191 mm | 183 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 29 .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) revolvers | 6 | 6 | Holds more rounds than about 60% |
Answers
Questions about the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)
How much does the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) weigh?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) weighs 1.18 kg (2.60 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) is chambered in .36 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball).
How many rounds does the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) hold?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) holds 6 rounds, fed from a revolving cylinder.
How long is the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) is 330 mm (13.0 in) long overall, with a 191 mm (7.52 in) barrel.
Who makes the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) is made by Leech & Rigdon (United States). It was designed by Charles H. Rigdon.
When was the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) introduced?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) was introduced in 1862 and discontinued in 1863.
How does the Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) operate?
The Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA) 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
- Confederate States Army
- 1862
Provenance
Confidence in this record
62%
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/leech-rigdon' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "leech-rigdon", "name": "Leech & Rigdon Revolver (CSA)", "manufacturer": { "id": "leech-rigdon", "name": "Leech & Rigdon", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1862, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "9e1603a987980f62c75a376f2a7115b1adab5d2764b5a4a5139c9e0d7c774957" }, "category": { "id": "revolver", "name": "Revolver", "description": "Handguns with a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1862, "barrel_length_mm": 191, "weight_empty_g": 1180, "action_type": "single_action"}