Walch Revolvers

The revolvers of John Walch of New York City require more than passing mention. He felt a man could never be too well armed, especially in lawless New York, where the Metropolitan Police had been organized only a couple of years before and were still not sure who would rule the roost: the Tammany Tiger, the Tenderloin element, or Law and Order. (Come to think of it, the same problems exist today in New York or any city!)
Walch cured the problem of being undergunned by designing a six-shooter and then jamming six more

Walch revolver of unique two-hammer design discharged first one shot, then a second, from same chamber before rotating cylinder one index notch as both hammers were recocked. View of pistol in Independence Hall, Chicago, collection shows two triggers but both charges could be fired at once with safety, manufacturer claimed.

shots into the elongated chambers. His patent model was a little less sophisticated. Starting at front with a conventional 6-inch barrel probably robbed from a Pocket Colt, he created a hand-chiseled frame holding a strange cylinder with conventional in-line nipples at the back and a strange bevel belt midway into which six more nipples were stuck. Two hammers hung on the same hammer screw were installed; one with a tip to reach forward and swat the front row of cones. Shades of John Pearson and Ethan Allen! Walch proposed to cover the cylinder with a steel sheath held by a screw on the frame; two orifices gave access to capping the nipples of both rows. He soon learned how impractical this could be and though he deposited the pistol when he filed for Patent No. 22,905, granted February 8, 1859, he had already improved the concept to allow a more streamlined form of ignition system. As finally perfected, it involved a not unesthetic rounded rib on each chamber which was drilled from the rear for the second nipple and at the front, presumably accessible from the mouth of the chamber, a subsidiary touch hole was drilled to allow the flame to fire the front charge.
Walch’s first design used a single trigger to fire; then in the 12-shot .36 “Navy” Walch pistol, two triggers are used. Later, a single trigger improved by John P. Lindsay of New Haven was used for the small pocket .31 ten-shot Walch revolver, and for a series

Single trigger improvement of lohn P. Lindsay was employed on small Walch five-chambered ten-shooter, cal. .31.

Multishot designs were ingenious. A. C. Vaughn built Colttype pistol cal. .24 with concentric rows of chambers, two loading lever plungers. G. H. Gardner patented supplementary cylinder and special loading plungers on modified Beals-type pistol. Walch in patent model went hog wild with belted cylinder, special frame. 12-shot model has barrel like .31 Colt but is recorded as .30 caliber.

to say it is the most reliable (in orig.) revolver I have ever seen.”
The lieutenant’s enthusiasm was not shared by Private Elisha Stockwell, Company I, 14th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment, in the Army of the Tennessee. Said Stockwell in his biography, “ . . . south of Holly Springs ... I went out with George Reeder to get some fresh meat . . . Reeder had a small revolver he borrowed from one of the boys. It shot ten times out of five barrels in the cylinder, all muzzle loaded . . . Reeder shot several times before he would give up. That gun wouldn’t kill a hog, and the pigs got so wild we couldn’t get near them ... So we went to camp without any meat, and I wouldn’t go with him any more.”

Lindsay Double Musket was obtained on contract from inventor. Arm was identical to regular Springfield except for patent breech screwed onto back of barrel and stock specially inletted for new mechanism.