JT's Starr Model 1858: The Double-Action Revolver the War Forgot

JT in Iron Oath Sentinels: JT carries a Starr, but he would much rather have his stolen LeMat.

The Starr Model 1858 was a six shot, .44 caliber percussion revolver, and it did something most Civil War handguns could not. It was a true double action design, meaning a long pull of that big looping trigger both cocked the hammer and fired the gun, so a cavalryman could work through all six chambers faster than a man thumbing back the hammer on a Colt. Its hinged frame broke open at the top, which made cleaning and reloading far quicker in the saddle.

The Army eventually decided the double action was too complicated for green troopers and pressured Starr into a simpler single action version, buying around twenty five thousand of those. In all, more than forty seven thousand Starrs were made, making it the third most issued revolver of the entire war, before it slipped into the shadow of its famous rivals and was very nearly forgotten.