Revolver "Starr": a weapon not for everyone

Revolver "Starr" in the movie "Unforgiven", 1992

History firearms weapons. Among a number of articles about revolvers of the American Civil War, one of them somehow fell out of my attention, namely the Starr revolver. Although these revolvers were not very successful in the American revolver market, the Starr DA revolvers, like their later Starr SA versions, undoubtedly played an important role in arming the Union army during the American Civil War. In total, more than 21 of these revolvers entered the army of the northerners, and thus the Starr Co company became the third largest supplier of weapons to the Yankee army after Colt and Remington.

Revolver "Starr" model 1858. Re-barreled in Belgium to caliber .45. Photo littlegun.info

The owner of the company was Ebenezer Starr, who was born on August 16, 1816 into a wealthy family known for its numerous commercial transactions with the American government and outright lobbying for its industrial interests. From the 1790s, the Starr family was an important supplier of equipment, military cutlery, sabers and pikes, and entrenching tools such as shovels, axes, and hammers, which she usually ordered from various manufacturers but sold to the armies as her own.



Ebenezer's father, Nathan, was already in the firearms business and sold over 20 flintlock muskets to the army between 000 and 1831.

Ebenezer studied gunsmithing and gained experience as a merchant in his father's factory. He was very interested in all the latest in the field of weapons and, in particular, revolvers. Well, as it often happens, having studied the weapons of other designers, he decided to surpass them and create his own revolver - "the most perfect in the world."

Scheme of the Ebenezer Starr revolver from patent No. 30843. All its main details are clearly visible: a double trigger, a curved trigger, a hairpin (No. 9) for fastening the upper part of the frame

And along the way, he managed to achieve a lot. In any case, on January 15, 1856, at the age of 40, Ebenezer received patent No. 14.118 for a number of improvements to "revolving pistols." So he designed a double-action trigger with a special internal cocking lever and an adjustable trigger. Later, this idea of ​​his will be implemented in his revolvers.

Explosion diagram of all the main parts of the Starr revolver

His first .36 caliber double action revolver was produced in 1857. With the exception of the barrel, which was noticeably longer than other revolvers of the time, his revolver was identical to later heavy .44 caliber revolvers.

Revolver "Starr DA" 1858, converted in Belgium to caliber .45. You can clearly see two notches-clamps of the drum and the second trigger, recessed in its fence. The trigger of the revolver is cocked. Photo littlegun.info

The new sample was tested in the Washington arsenal and was decisively rejected due to malfunctions that arose in it. In his report dated January 21, 1858, Major William Bell stated that the new weapon had many advantages, including a high rate of fire, but its .36 caliber bullets were too weak. In addition, in his opinion, something had to be done with the revolver drum, which often jammed used primers that deformed after being fired. In addition, spent primers were removed from the brand tubes with great difficulty, which was both inconvenient and slowed down the reloading process.

Bone handle of an 1858 army revolver with the emblem of the military unit engraved on it. Photo littlegun.info

In the meantime, Ebenezer was working on a new carbine, which later the army command considered even superior to the Sharps carbines, as well as on his second revolver, already in .44 caliber.

Model 1863 Starr revolver in .44. View from the left. Photo littlegun.info

The modified and improved .36 caliber revolver was finally accepted by the Ordnance Department, even against the advice of Inspector John Taylor. Well, with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the Ordnance Department ordered first 500 revolvers, and soon another 1 Starr revolvers.

On December 4, 1860, Starr received patent number 30.843 for all the improvements he made to the design of his revolver, including his .44 caliber version.

The same revolver. Right view. Since it was already a single-action revolver, there is no second trigger on it. Photo littlegun.info

Some reports and letters suggest that the head of the military artillery department, possibly "supported" by other arms suppliers, was against the purchase of Starr revolvers and therefore constantly emphasized all their shortcomings. However, other officials were perhaps more loyal to the new model, because they were aware of Starr's excellent relationship with the political world, and clearly did not want to "go against the grain."

Although Starr conceived his revolver as an army revolver, he also made and sold several luxurious examples of it in the civilian market. All of them were richly decorated with hand engraving and inlay, and the engraving was of high quality, and the handles were always made of precious wood or bone. The photo shows one of these luxuriously finished Starr revolvers in .44 caliber. This photo clearly shows the head of the stud, which connected the upper part of the frame with the barrel and the drum with the bottom. The connection was very simple - this hairpin simply twisted out of its socket, only losing it was easier than a lung, and after that it became simply impossible to use a revolver! Photo littlegun.info

As a result, on August 31, 1861, the chief accountant of the company, Everett Clapp, sent an offer to the Superintendent of Ordnance, Colonel Ripley, for the supply of 12 .000 caliber revolvers at a price of $ 44 each. Ripley accepted the offer on September 25, but demanded that the price include the cost of a screwdriver, a pipe wrench, and a bullet mold that came with each revolver. Starr agreed, and Ripley eventually increased his order to 23 units on January 11, 1862.

The same revolver. Pay attention to the trigger. This is how he looked when he was put on a safety half-platoon. Photo littlegun.info

However, apparently in the spring of 1862 the contract was renegotiated and the total order was reduced to 15 units at $000 each. Starr ended up delivering 20 .13 caliber revolvers to the northern army over the course of 100 months.

To end the debate between supporters and opponents of the new revolver, on March 18, 1863, the Navy decided to subject the revolver with serial number 9002 to a serious test of reliability and endurance. On them, 500 shots were fired from this revolver without interruption with Johnson and Doe cartridges, designed specifically for Starr revolvers, then 60 Joslin cartridges, and finally, 362 shots were fired with Colt 1860 Army revolver cartridges. There were no misfires, and then the revolver did not even have to be cleaned. So all the envious and ill-wishers of the new revolver were convinced of its high combat and operational qualities.

And so the upper part of the frame was connected to the bottom. Photo littlegun.info

What was a .44 Starr DA revolver? Nothing more than a capsule revolver, the dimensions and weight of which were comparable to the Colt Dragoon revolver. With an empty weight of just over 1,3 kg, it was certainly one of the most imposing revolvers of its time.

The drum had six chambers and was longer than that of the Colt Army, but noticeably shorter than previous .36 caliber Starr revolvers. Photo littlegun.info

The handle provided a secure grip, but the "high" design of the revolver and the heavy weight did not contribute to its reliable retention when firing. This revolver was clearly not intended for delicate female hands, and even for a man, he was far from “handy” for everyone.

The revolver had two different systems of protection against an accidental shot: the first was double locking recesses on the drum, as on the Manhattan Arms revolvers; the second is the classic semicircular shape of the trigger. It allowed, by pulling the trigger only a few millimeters back, to weaken its impact on the primer put on the brand-tube if the revolver accidentally fell, but at the same time, the distance between the frame and the trigger was too small to risk being pinched by clothing.

Here it is close-up - a hairpin connecting the top of the frame with the bottom. Photo littlegun.info

Also, the revolver had not one, but two triggers. One turned the drum and cocked the trigger, the second, located behind the first, lowered it. He could do both at the same time. And he could first cock the trigger, and then make a well-aimed shot by pressing the rear trigger.

The drum lock, respectively, also had two drum lock cams, which guaranteed its blocking in any position.

At the same time, the Starr DA differed from all other revolvers of that time by having a very complex internal mechanism; a closed frame unusual for Americans, with a reclining barrel with a drum, which, however, theoretically made it possible to quickly replace the shot drum with a pre-prepared one and shoot further.

The revolver also used a double trigger: the large front trigger only cocked the hammer and turned the cylinder. Behind this trigger, at the very back of the guard, is a second trigger lever, which was connected to the trigger through a sear lever. This second trigger was actuated by the first hook in double action mode. Photo littlegun.info

Simply cocking the trigger with your thumb was impossible. The shooter could only move the hammer to the half-cocked position, but could not bring it to full cocking without using the trigger. Thus, for shooting in double action mode, the shooter had to have a sufficiently muscular finger, since it was very difficult to press such a double trigger.

This is how it looked when it was dismantled for reloading… Photo by littlegun.info

Although a lever for tight driving a bullet was attached to the revolver, it was much easier and faster to reload it by replacing an empty drum with a fully loaded one, which, by the way, many used. But only for this it was necessary to have not one, but two or even three drums, which made the Starr the most expensive among all other revolvers of the American Civil War era.

In addition, it was quite difficult to reload the drum directly on the revolver using the lever for tight bullet driving. More difficult than reloading the same Colt in the same way. So, in order to reload the Starr without removing the drum, the shooter had to first move his trigger to the half-cocked position. Then, in this position, by lightly pressing the trigger, it was necessary to allow both locking cams to disengage so that the drum could turn freely. This procedure can be relatively simple when using ready-made paper cartridges. However, it will not be easy to load a revolver in this way in a combat situation, and even, say, with frozen hands, especially if the shooter has to equip it with gunpowder from a powder flask and separately stored bullets. In addition, just like with the Colt, the charged chambers had to be covered with “cannon fat”.

The lever for tight driving of a bullet was practically the same as on Colt's revolvers. Photo littlegun.info

Thus, despite the high lethal force and undeniable advantages, the Starr DA, as it turned out during its operation, had many shortcomings, which, probably, became the reason for its low success in the troops. By the end of 1862, Starr was persuaded to discontinue production of his double-action self-cocking revolvers in favor of a large-caliber, long-barreled single-action revolver. And when it appeared in 1863, then ... I liked it much more than the overcomplicated first model.

The bullets of that time, both for rifles and for revolvers, were simply deadly. Museum of the Russian Army, Penza. Author's photo

Although Ebenezer Starr was the Union Army's third-largest supplier of revolvers during the Civil War, after the war his company was unable to compete on an equal footing with Colt, Remington, and the up-and-coming Smith & Wesson firm, and it ended up going out of business in 1867.