Reeder Custom Guns - The 1862 Police Model .36 caliber

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The 1862 Colt Police is what I consider the epitome of the Colt percussion pistols. Small enough to be a "Pocket Pistol" yet holding 5 shots of the .375" diameter ball and shooting hard enough to be a decent man-stopper. It was adopted by the New York Metropolitan Police Force.

It is a little handful.
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And despite very rudimentary sights, it can be pretty accurate. This was the .375" ball over 12.0 gr. of Pyrodex P at 50 feet. I was sitting down, resting my elbows on the table, holding the gun in two hands.

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which is the .36 (Navy) version of the 1860 .44 Army. It packs an extra shot and is notably more bulky. That little '62 is about the size of a Bearcat Ruger but it's .38 cal! Way ahead of it's time.

I've been wanting to ballistically compare the .31 and .36 C&B belly-gun power. Shoot some soap maybe. I think the .31 is about like a .22 LR in power.

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I have one also. Paid $20 for it from someone who had paid $10 for it at a tag sale and had no idea that it was loaded and capped with wax covering the caps for about 15 years in their closet. I took it to the range and fired all 5 cylinders then cleaned it up. It’s my only black powder handgun. [image]

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In the cap and ball era for the pocket pistols: Wells Fargo, Baby Dragoon, 1849 Pocket, 1862 Pocket, and 1862 Pocket Navy. It is more difficult to get them to shoot reliably than the bigger guns but well worth the effort. I would not hesitate to carry a Colt Pocket Model once I had made sure it was as reliable as possible.

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The 1862 Police Model .36 caliber

Really nice pistol and durn fine shooting.

That's one of my favorites! I have a 1861

.36 Police

Great little five guns! Colts number one seller