Colt Model 1849 - For Young Shooters

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 7/28/20 | F Jardim

[w1n1]

The five shot .32-caliber Colt Pocket Pistol Model 1849, is the smallest and lightest at 25 ounces perfect for the youthful novice, who might enjoy the Old West flavor.

The first handgun I ever shot was a target .22LR S&W Model 17 revolver with a 6-inch barrel and those hefty checkered target grips. I was a skinny 12-year-old, and the gun was much too big for me. It was only a K-frame, but that thick-walled long barrel got it almost to 40 ounces and it was every bit of 11 inches long.
Though the recoil was negligible, it was a strenuous undertaking for me at that age to just hold it up, and it required both hands just to get a grip on those big stocks. I loved it, but it was hard to shoot well.

Even though a youngster may passionately want to shoot a handgun, I ask myself, "Is this kid physically big and strong enough to handle a pistol safely?" Most of what adults would consider medium-sized handguns are simply too big for youngsters with small hands and slim arms.
My solution was to find a handgun that was kid-sized. Those little .22 LR and .25 ACP pocket pistols are actually perfectly scaled for little hands, but I believe they are a poor choice because they require a really tight (vise-like) grip to shoot without jamming, the slides are hard to pull back because of the heavy blow back recoil springs, and the safety discipline of any autoloader requires the additional steps of removing the magazine and checking the chamber.

THE REVOLVER LOOKED TO BE a better choice, for youthful novices who you suspect might enjoy an Old West historical flavor to their shooting experience (just about all boys), replicas of the Colt’s Patent Firearms black powder, cap-and-ball, pocket revolvers are perfectly proportioned in grip size and weight.
The five shot .32-caliber Colt Pocket Pistol, commonly called the Model 1849, is the smallest and lightest at 9 inches long (with the usual 4-inch barrel) and 25 ounces. There are lighter versions of this pistol, but they sacrifice the integral loading lever to save weight, and that makes them just too awkward to load, even for adults. Read the rest of Colt Model 1849 pocket pistol.

[nevergore]

Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s a black powder pistol?
Not really a good choice for a young novice...

[real saxophonist]

You think that matters to ‘Am Shooting Journal’? The most dangerous firearms blog on the internet.

[Swordmaker]

You think that matters to ‘Am Shooting Journal’? The most dangerous firearms blog on the internet.

It starts getting things wrong in the first sentence. The 1849 Colt Pocket Pistol was a .31 caliber, not a .32 caliber. It says so on the rear, left side of the trigger guard on every such model made.