A History of The Colt Revolver and the Other Arms Made by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company from 1836 to 1940 [Hardcover]

Charles T Haven (Author), Frank A. Belden (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 736 pages
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (December 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517011697
• ISBN-13: 978-0517011690
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take Hope, Wheelgunners of the World!, October 10, 2007

By 

John M. Lane "statesman and philosopher" (Hardin, Montana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History Of The Colt Revolver And Other Arms Made By Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company From 1836 To 1940 (Hardcover)

The HISTORY OF THE COLT REVOLVER first came out in 1940. The book I have is the first Bonanza Edition which adds a co-author and several additional pages bringing it up to a massive 711 pages including a useful glossary and index.

This is not an integrated narrative by the two authors. They wrote a lot of the commentary and analysis, but also included a lot documents from Colt, well-heeled collectors and sundry museums.

I love books like this because of the all the odd, unexpected bits of information they include. It's a big, lavish, old-style buffet of information and documents.

I have a number of Colts, including a couple I carried in law enforcement. Haven and Belden included plenty of information about them and also other Colt products including semi-automatic pistols, single-shots, and whatever else caught their fancy. This includes a welter of Patents.

The tone and approach of this book are dated, but it's a lot of fun and quite useful for browsing and even serious research on Colt. This is a big, heavy book. It made me wonder if they declared it finished when it got too heavy to lift.

If you're a wheelgunner, this is the book for you. Ahh, those were the days!

If the organization had been a little tighter and some of the illustrations had been in color, I'd have given it five stars. It's worth buying if you can find one in decent shape.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A History of the Colt Revolver by Haven & Belden, December 19, 2009

By 

Terry B. Carr - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of The Colt Revolver and the Other Arms Made by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company from 1836 to 1940 (Hardcover)

This book has been around a long time. I have an original 1940's publication. The book is a must for both book collectors and Colt firearms collectors. While the book is a little long on the company's history and patent paper details, the rundown of Colt models and the quality of the photos (at least on my original copy) are excellent. There is also a rather large section on advertisement sheets on all the models which is also quite interesting. The photography is excellent, but as might well be expected in the 1940's, all in black and white. The NRA is offering a new edition for around $30.00, but have not seen it and cannot attest to the quality of the reprint. You must remember, however, it only covers the models up until 1940, when the book was first published.