Colt Vs. Adams, The Adams RevolverIn 1851 Robert Adams of London invented the Adams Revolver, known

Colt Vs. Adams, The Adams RevolverIn 1851 Robert Adams of London invented the Adams Revolver, known in history as the first double action revolver.  His hope was to gain lucrative contracts with the British Military, however he was not the only competitor in the field.  Samuel Colt also was looking to secure contracts with the Brits with his Colt series of single action revolvers.When compared to each other the Adams and Colt revolvers had several advantages and disadvantages.  The Adams was double action while the Colt was single action only, giving the Adams an advantage.  Many British soldiers prefered the Adams because it allowed them to shoot on instinct without having to cock the hammer.  Both were made in similar calibers, although the Adams held only five rounds while the Colt was a sixgun. The biggest advantage Samuel Colt had over Robert Adams was mass production.  The Adams revolver was handmade by individual gunsmiths, causing the pistol to be great quality pieces but rare and expensive.  Colt became one of the first manufacturers to utilize assembly line manufacturing, and as a result Colt could produce tens of thousands of dependable and simple revolvers at prices that everyone could afford.Samual Colt began manufacturing his pistols for the British Navy, even setting up his own factory in London, but one stroke of luck would win Adams his much desired military contracts.  In 1855 Lt. Frederick E.B. Beaumont, a veteran of the Crimean War, improved the Adams design by linking the trigger to a spurred hammer.  Before the Adams was a hammerless pistol, making it double action only.  Now the pistol could be used in both double action and single action.  The British military loved the improvement and immediatly adopted the Adams Beaumont Revolver as their official sidearm.  Samuel Colt closed his London factory.Adams wasn’t done however, in an attempt to undercut Colt he liscensed the Massechusetts Arms Company to manufacture his revolvers for the civilian market.  But the American public could not afford to buy the Adams Revolver, and Adams could not match the production numbers or price of the Colt. While revolver production flourished, the downfall of the company was already brewing.  Robert Adams began selling stock in order to finance the growth of his company.  Eventually he lost control of the company and a board of directors was appointed.  They wanted to decrease the production of revolvers and increase production of military rifles.  Adams strongly opposed this decision, but without controling interest in the company he could do nothing to stop this decision.  In 1859 he sold his shares of the company’s stock and left.  After Adams’ departure the London Armoury Company manufactured Enfield Rifles for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, but the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865 spelled doom for the company, and it went into receivership in 1866.  Adams continued to manufacture his revolver  in Birmingham until his death in 1880.  The Adams Revolver continued to be the official sidearm of the British military unitl replaced with the Enfield Mark I in 1880. -- source link

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