Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy
- Category
- Revolver
- Barrel
- 190 mm
- Weight, empty
- 1.19 kg
- Introduced
- Not recorded
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy is an Italian-made cap-and-ball revolver reproducing the brass-framed .44 caliber percussion revolvers carried by Confederate forces during the American Civil War. Built by F.lli Pietta as a modern black-powder replica, it pairs a blued octagonal barrel and six-shot cylinder with a brass frame and trigger guard, echoing the Southern copies of the Colt 1851 Navy that used brass in place of scarce steel. It is loaded from the front of the cylinder with loose black powder, a lead ball, and a percussion cap on each nipple, and fired single-action.
The original 1851 Navy revolver was a Colt design chambered in .36 caliber. During the American Civil War, Confederate makers such as Griswold & Gunnison produced brass-framed copies because the South lacked the steel of Northern arsenals. Pietta's .44 caliber 'Confederate Navy' honors those brass-frame Southern revolvers, and remains a popular choice among cowboy-action and black-powder shooters.
Marketed in .44 caliber with a brass frame, distinguishing it from the steel-framed .36 caliber Pietta 1851 Navy. Offered in several barrel lengths including a 5.5-inch Sheriff configuration.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- F.lli Pietta
- Category
- Revolver
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- In production
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 190 mm
- Overall length
- 327 mm
- Weight, empty
- 1.19 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Revolving
- Firing mechanism
- Percussion
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 6
- Magazine
- Revolving cylinder
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Brass
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 270 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 340 J
- Effective range
- 25 m
- Maximum range
- 50 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.
Octagonal barrel
Brass frame
Brass trigger guard
Loading lever
Color case hammer
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 37 .44 Caliber Percussion revolvers | 1.19 kg | 1.25 kg | Lighter than about 60% |
| Overall lengthAmong 37 .44 Caliber Percussion revolvers | 327 mm | 349 mm | Shorter than about 70% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 37 .44 Caliber Percussion revolvers | 190 mm | 191 mm | Shorter than about 60% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 37 .44 Caliber Percussion revolvers | 6 | 6 | Holds more rounds than about 60% |
Its place in the rankings
Answers
Questions about the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy
How much does the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy weigh?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy weighs 1.19 kg (2.63 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy is chambered in .44 Caliber Percussion.
How many rounds does the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy hold?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy holds 6 rounds, fed from a revolving cylinder.
How long is the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy is 327 mm (12.9 in) long overall, with a 190 mm (7.48 in) barrel.
Who makes the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy is made by F.lli Pietta (Italy).
How does the Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy operate?
The Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy uses a revolving action, and its firing mechanism is percussion.
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
Provenance
Confidence in this record
75%
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/pietta-1851-confederate-navy' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "pietta-1851-confederate-navy", "name": "Pietta 1851 Confederate Navy", "manufacturer": { "id": "pietta", "name": "F.lli Pietta", "countryCode": "IT", "foundedYear": 1960, "website": "https://www.pietta.it", "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-02-18 03:40:48", "updatedAt": "2026-02-18 03:40:48", "version": "993d1133323c03a0356719379b5b8e94fa507a0b1b87e12e66e231d5873bbd60" }, "category": { "id": "revolver", "name": "Revolver", "description": "Handguns with a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers" }, "country_of_origin": "IT", "year_introduced": null, "barrel_length_mm": 190, "weight_empty_g": 1191, "action_type": "revolving"}