Remington Rider Pocket Revolver Mfr.'d 1860-1868

[Gungading]

I was given this little beauty by my mother-in-law (yeah, some are real dolls) back in the early 70's. 1970's, that is. I traveled a lot for work but, from time to time, I tried to learn more about it.

As an aside, a "friend" told me he'd pick up a matching .44 calibre Remington Army revolver and rifle combination for me on one of his trips down south. He did indeed find a matching set and when he got home, he brought them out for me. After I had handled them for a few minutes since they were such fine specimens (and indeed they were beautiful - I love the Remington shape), he told me he had decided to keep them. And that, dear friends and gentle readers,is why there are " " marks bracketing the word friend.

Getting back to my current piece, I learned via American-Firearms.com that I have one of the 115,000 pieces made between 1860-1868, called by various names but usually known as the Rider Pocket Revolver. As you'll see from the photos, there's some nice floral engraving on both sides of the frame and on the back strap, but faded somewhat on the mushroom cylinder. The wooden grips are obviously home-made, where the original grips were hard rubber, I think. Everything is superbly nice and tight. To my untrained eye, the surface seems nice and clean. The bore looks clean, has some shine to it, and I can see the lands and grooves though I don't know how deep they should be in this small a barrel. The serial number on the right side of the grip frame is BD14271 - is there any special meaning to the BD?

If I were to find some rubber grips, I would consider myself blessed but, in the meantime, does anyone have an idea of the current value of this piece?

[CALIBRE44]

Gungading: Rider Pocket Model in .31 cal. According to Ball's book, estimated 20,000 produced, between 1860 and 1888. Serial numbers were in batches, meaning more than one could have the same #. Your looks to have been originally blued with brass trigger guard. Unusual front sight, as the only ones I've seen have a bead sight. What # is on the under side of the barrel? Could you post a picture ( outdoors in natural light) of the # in question? Most were produced as cartridge models, .32 rf. There are 2 in this picture.........Jim

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[Gungading]

Thanks, Jim. So, you're saying this not what is considered a bead sight? I took your advice and here are some better pictures. As you should be able to decipher, there are two stamped numbers, both .31 - the one to the left being larger and poorly done, the one to the right being smaller but clearer. This seems to me to be the mushroom percussion cylinder of the .31 caliber. The gate opening looks like it would fit only the percussion cap, not a cartridge.

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100_2919.jpg (1.21 MiB) Viewed 3190 times

[CALIBRE44]

That is a nice clean example of a percussion model. Searching the Web, you do see that dovetail front sight. That appears to have been an option. However the stocks look poorly fitted and homemade................Jim

[Gungading]

Yes, those wooden grips look like a stopgap effort that could have been much better done while waiting to find the proper rubber grips. Otherwise, a nice specimen, I think. Thanks for the feedback, Jim. Now, I'm off to see where I can get an estimated value.

[Gungading]

And those are some wonderful examples of Remington's in your case! Remington was always the prettiest handgun to my taste.

[CALIBRE44]

Original stock will be very hard to find. You may have to consider a parts gun with nice grips, and sell off the remaining parts.................Jim