Colt achieved massive popularity with the Walker, Army, and Navy revolvers in military service giving them a huge jump in the marketplace and keeping them at or near the top of the revolver game through the end of the Civil War. One of Colt's engineers (R. White) designed and patented the bored through (breach loading) revolver cylinder but was fired by Colt. He moved to S&W effectively giving them a monopoly on cartridge revolvers for several years. This development, along with the top-break action made them very popular and a major competitor to Colt's. Their main drawback was the lack of top strap which limited the power of the cartridges they could fire. In 1873 Colt engineers Mason & Richards designed the Model P, essentially making a much stronger, top-strap equipped version of their earlier '51 Navy cartridge conversions. These retained the immensely popular (and familiar) 1851 grip and also offered overall improved ergonomics. More importantly the new pistol allowed them to utilize larger, more powerful cartridges, earning them the first standard US military pistol contract and a boon for the company on the civilian side as it took their main competition, S&W several more years to come up with a comparably strong action (the swing-out cylinder). In the end it was a combination of design, shrewd business and timing that drove sales and made the "P" the standard by which all other singles are judged.
Oh, and the SAA is just sexy AF.
Oh, and the SAA is just sexy AF.
Yeah, it's ergonomics. Heck even Remington made a Colt clone or two (almost identical to the Colt). With a Colt one could draw and thumb back the hammer in the same motion - the top break SA S&Ws (especially the ones with the 'hump') were awkward to cock on the draw and thus slower to employ. I'm not sure about the earlier Remington ergonomics as I have never handled one.
Now that Colt is owned by CZ we'll have to see if they keep their product line the same, I own several CZ rifles and they are all first rate, best damn trigger's of any factory rifle I ever owned.
I’d assume they’ll consolidate it a bit But you never know. Personally I really hope they move all of the 1911 production to DW and figure out how to make SAAs more than a couple a day.
