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Title:	REVOLVER -  REMINGTON-BEALS REVOLVER NAVY MODEL .36 SN# 2610
Maker/Manufacturer:	REMINGTON-BEALS, F.
Date of Manufacture:	1860-1862
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1238
Measurements:	OL: 33.7CM 13 3/8" BL: 18.5CM 7 3/8" 46 oz.

Object Description:

REMINGTON-BEALS REVOLVER NAVY MODEL .36 SN# 2610
Manufactured by Remington Arms, Ilion, N.Y. - Standard Remington-Beals six-shoot, solid frame, percussion, single-action revolver. Octagonal barrel. Blued finish with casehardened hammer and brass triggerguard. Two piece walnut grips. Blade front sight. 5-groove rifling. Weapon weighs approximately 2.10 lbs. Many of these were purchased by the military but not inspected.

Markings:
Barrel: BEALS PATENT SEPT. 14, 1858/MANUFACTURED BY REMINGTONS' ILION, N.Y. 2610.
Grips: No military inspector's marks.

Weapon transferred to the Springfield Armory NHS on 28 December 1978.

1909 Catalog #7006 - "Revolver. Beall's (sic) Army Revolver. Six shots. Cal. 44. Metallic cartridge. Showing alteration from paper to metallic cartridge." (NPS Note: This weapon has not been altered.)

Notes: "In 1858, Fordyce Beals invented a spur-trigger, single-action, percussion revolver, and was issued U.S. Patent #21,478. The unique feature of his pistol was the manner of securing the cylinder pin with the loading lever. This arrangement would have far-reaching implications for Remington's large frame revolvers for years to come. Beals' patent covered his design whereby the loading lever retained the cylinder pin. This was an important patent assigned to Remington in that it allowed one to change a spent cylinder with a loaded one simply by lowering the loading lever, pulling the cylinder pin forward and removing the spent cylinder. After inserting the loaded cylinder, the cylinder pin was returned to its original position and the loading lever was raised and locked into place.
Beals would receive at least eight more patents for revolvers and single-shot rifles in the decade that followed. All of these patents were assigned in whole or in part to the Remingtons. His first successful partial revolver, which came to be known as the Remington-Beals Navy Revolver, was an excellent weapon. Beals designed a 6-shot, .36 caliber, percussion revolver with 7 1/2" octagonal barrel and walnut grips. This developmental work occurred in mid and late 1860, and the first weapons were ready for testing in the spring of 1861. The term Navy revolver refers to a .36 caliber weapon, while the Army revolver refers to .44 caliber revolvers.
Remington manufactured more than 14,500 Remington-Beals revolvers before it was replaced by the Remington Model 1861 Navy, also known as the Remington Old Model revolver." - Remington Society of America Journal, 1st Quarter, 2005.

"Remington-Beals Navy Model Revolvers were produced c. 1860 - 1862, with the total quantity of approximately 15,000. They were almost identical to the Army Model, but made to a slightly smaller scale. Percussion, .36 caliber, six-shot round cylinder, 7.50" octagon barrel, with the barrel threads concealed by the frame. Walnut grips, blued finish with case-hardened hammers; serial numbers started with number 1 on up, and the serial range duplicates in the Model 1861 Navy Revolver production. - Ball

"This was the first martial-type revolver produced under Fordyce Beals' U.S. Patent 21,478 of September 14, 1858, and approximately 15,000 of this Navy model were turned out before the similar Army model, in .44 caliber was introduced. Between August 17, 1861 and March 31, 1862, 7,350 Beals Navy revolvers were purchased by the U.S. government. Records also show that 1,100 were purchased on the open market, but these may have been part of the 7,350 total.
A small number of these arms apparently saw actual naval service, since specimens exist having a small anchor stamped on the barrel. Regardless of where used, or by whom, it is apparent that a great many of the Beals Navy revolvers saw considerable service during the Civil War." - Reilly

"Primarily to fulfill the needs of forces being raised in the 'western theater' (the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys), Major Peter V. Hagner, chief of the Ordnance Department's New York Agency, purchased all of the Remington-Beals 'Navy' (.36 caliber) revolvers he could locate in New York. Initial purdson & Co. would furnish 1,049 Remington revolvers that month at a price of $22.50 each. These prices, however, were short lived; the same company provided another 1,500 Remington Beals revolvers to Major Hagner on May 19th, 1862 but for $16.61 each.
The force behind the drop in prices was none other than E. Remington & Sons. Between August 17th, and October 12th, 1861, E. Remington & Sons had made their direct non-contractual sales to the War Department of 1,100 Beals Navy revolvers at the low price of $15.00 each. Between December 18th, 1861 and March 31st, 1862, Remington would sell another 6,150 Beals Navy revolvers to the War Department at an average price of $15.03 per revolver. Before any contract would be officially confirmed for Remington revolvers, more than 11,800 Beals Navy revolvers would be in U.S. service.
On July 29th 1861, supported by letters of recommendation from New York Ordnance Inspector, Major William A. Thornton and New York Agency chief, Major Peter V. Hagner, Samuel Remington ventured to Washington and met with Chief of Ordnance Colonel James W. Ripley. After showing Ripley his letters of recommendations and a sample of the Beals Navy revolver, Ripley offered a contract for 5,000 of Remington's revolvers, but in .44 ('Army') caliber at $15.00 each 'with the greatest possible dispatch.' Samuel Remington wrote an acceptance letter immediately and returned to Ilion to begin work on the contract.
The contract of July 29th, 1861 was in progress when Congress created the 'Commission on Ordnance and Ordnance Stores' to review the contracts let by the government under the corrupt supervision of Secretary of War Simon Cameron. To protect his contract, Samuel Remington returned to Washington, and on April 4th, 1862 testified before the commission, returning again on the 7th and 24th of the same month. As a result of his appearances, two new contracts for revolvers were executed on June 13th 1862. One of these was a revision of his July 29th, 1861 contract, calling again for 5,000 revolvers but in .36 caliber and at $12.00 each. Deliveries under this contract began on August 11th." - Howard M. Madaus, Simeon Stoddard & Paul Goodwin

"Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Remington sold Beals Revolvers to a wide range of customers, including a few in the South. Many New York dealers had large quantities of Remington-Beals revolvers on hand when the fighting broke out in the spring of 1861. By early 1862, the New York small arms merchants had sold to the Ordnance Department on the open market more that 4,000 .36-cal. Remington-Beals revolvers.
Samuel Remington traveled to Washington in the fall of 1861, offering to sell his revolvers to the government at a cost of $15. each - or $10 less than what Colt was charging the Ordnance Department for its .44-cal. revolvers. Even with the reduced cost, the Army by the end of March 1862, had taken delivery from the Remington factory of only 7,250 .36-cal. revolvers and 850 .44-cal. Beals revolvers at a cost to the Army of $15. each.
The Navy first test fired the Beals revolvers at the Washington Navy Yard in the spring of 1862. The Beals revolver delivered to the Navy Yard was fired 600 times. The test results found the accuracy of the Remington slightly better than the Colt but indicated the Colt was, overall, superior to the Remington. Additional tests conducted later that su
"A sale to the State of South Carolina of 1,000 Remington revolvers in 1860 is recorded (C.L. Karr, Jr., Remington Handguns). Karr notes it as "Beals .44 (?)." - Edwards

"During the Civil War, from 1 January 1861 through 30 June 1866, the national government purchased 3,477,655 muskets, rifles, carbines and pistols, 544,475 swords, sabers and lances, 2,146,175 complete set of infantry accouterments, 1,022,176,474 small arms cartridges, and 1,220,555,435 caps for small arms. The following is a list of specific arms:
2,814 - Beall (sic) revolvers $38,315.79." - Hartzler, Yantz & Whisker

References:
Ball, Roberts W.D. REMINGTON FIREARMS: THE GOLDEN AGE OF COLLECTING. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1995.
Edwards, William B. CIVIL WAR GUNS. Castle. Secaucus, N.J. 1982.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 7th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.
Frasca, Albert J. & Robert H. Hill. 1909 CATALOG OF THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MUSEUM ARMS & ACCOUTERMENTS. Revised. Springfield Publishing Co. Carson City, Nv. 1995.
Madaus, Howard M., Simeon Stoddard & Paul Goodwin. THE GUNS OF REMINGTON: HISTORIC FIREARMS SPANNING TWO CENTURIES. Biplane Production Publishers. Dayton, Ky. 1997.
Reilly, Robert. UNITED STATES MILITARY SMALL ARMS, 1816-1865. The Eagle Press, Inc. Baton Rouge, La. 1970.