Collier Flintlock Revolvers

Elisha Collier is probably the best-known name in flintlock revolvers - to the extent that any flintlock revolvers are well known. Because of the great cost and required skill to manufacture a functional repeating flintlock handgun without modern machine tools, these weapons were never common, but they were made by a number of gunsmiths across Europe. Collier and a fellow American gunsmith named Artemis Wheeler developed this particular type (the specific contributions of each party are not known), and Collier patented it in England in 1818. He proceeded to market the guns, which appear to have been made for him under contract by several high-end British gunsmiths (including Rigby and Nock).

Collier made three different basic types of guns. They share the main feature of a revolving cylinder which must be indexed manually between shots (seeing them while traveling in India was reportedly the inspiration for Samuel Colt’s idea to connect the mechanical functions of hammer and cylinder to invent the single action revolver). The first two patterns of Collier are flintlocks, differing in lock and cylinder design, as well as having slightly different mechanisms to self-prime. The third pattern was actually made as percussion guns, as Collier’s guns were being made right at the end of the flintlock period and the dawn of the percussion cap. In total, 350-400 guns were made, including 50-100 bought by the British military for use in India.

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[lucasduque]

"Flintlock revolver rifle" is definitelly a combination of words I wouldn't expect to see anywhere other than this channel.

[jaggonjaggon]

repeating flintlocks, now this is the kind of rare, fancy and truly forgotten kinda weapon i follow this channel for

[jffcks]

How fitting that a person named Wheeler would be involved in revolvers

[GoredonTheDestroyer]

"Percussion caps? Concealed ammunition? Bah, it's a fad." - Man using flintlock, probably.

[secretbaguette]

I'm a fiction writer
I'm using 1700s for most of my technology
I need a character with a revolver
I don't want to introduce percussion caps and more advanced technologies than I absolutely have to
I find this video exactly when I need it
The internet is fucking amazing.

[daisyruin]

Even if the common impression of this style of action is a dangerous one, making the most common comments those about chain fires and forward grips, these weapons are some of the most highly engineered for safety that I have seen. Rebated chambers, coverplates, they've had safety taken into account and the users of the contemporary era found them an acceptable risk.

Bravo for finding these and showing them to us.

[GunFunZS]

That frizzen system alone would have been a huge improvement.

[MrPanos]

I once saw a revolver from 1610's! These flintlock repeaters are amazingly crafty!

[howey]

I love the design and engineering of all these old guns they nearly all have ingenious little ideas to make them work

[elidennison]

They need to make modern reproductions of these...

I want one...

[johnnschroeder]

Awesome look at the inspiration for the single action colt! A lot of firepower for its time!

[daveh]

That powder box frizzen is the coolest thing ever!!!!
First thing i wondered when I saw this was "How do you keep all the flash holes primed at once???". So clever!

[BushcraftWoodsDevil]

Thanks for this video. I just finished reading RIVERS WEST, by Louis L'Amour, and a pair of these Collier revolvers are used by the main character. I could not imagine a revolver in 1823, and your excellent video explained all and made the novel much more historically appreciable.

[chuckcochran]

Really a very clever method of delivering priming powder to the pan. That's a pretty remarkable level of engineering for the time frame.

[paddlemaker]

What great examples of rare technology and progression. You always find something awesome Ian!

[ALegitimateYoutuber]

Very clever design, and i find it amazing how many times you see such things throughout history. Yet such innovation never takes off until later. Which baffles my mind, since you should have people who look at such things and go "that is very promising, I should see where this can be taken". Then again i shouldn't be to surprised.

[usagiyojimbo]

Someone should make a book about this. Wait a minute...

[arikaur]

If you combined the Ferguson rifle breech loading mechanism with the self priming method of colliers and made the barrel screw off like a Queen Anne pistol for cleaning or put on a new one while the other one can be clean later I think you could get a really fast firing rifle that's easier to clean up.

[DETHMOKIL]

dang, these are cool. you should publish a book about them!

[vpct]

God I want someone to make a preproduction of these.

The Collier is my dream gun.