MAYNARD PRIMED BELT REVOLVER

The Maynard Primed Belt Revolver was a product of the Massachusetts Arms Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1849 and incorporated in 1850 with men such as Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson serving as the incorporators. Through the years of its existence, the company produced a variety of revolvers and carbines which saw wide circulation during the Civil War.

One of its more popular products was the Maynard Primed Belt Pistol which was noted due to its unique design and features. It was a six-shot, .31 caliber revolver with a six-inch barrel. It appeared much like other revolvers of the period except it used the Maynard priming system. This priming system is named for its inventor Edward Maynard (1813-1891), a prominent dentist of the period, but also a firearms inventor. During his life he patented a number of firearm and dental tool inventions, including his priming system. His system used a roll of paper with a small amount of priming compound embedded at close intervals, much like the rolled caps used in cap pistols. Every time the hammer is cocked, a fresh paper cap is rolled into position next to the percussion nipple. This system avoided the problem of placing a percussion cap in place for every shot.

There is a small clip that rotates around the barrel and clips under the cylinder pin binding the revolver into a single unit. When the cylinder pin is unlatched, it allows the barrel to swing upward, fully exposing the front of the cylinder for reloading, cleaning, or easy removal.

When an earlier model was designed, the Massachusetts Arms Company was sued by Sam Colt for violating his patent which dealt with the gear and ratchet system of cylinder rotation. To avoid being sued again, the Maynard Primed Belt Pistol was designed with a small button located within the trigger guard which, when pressed upward, released the cylinder lock so the cylinder could be manually turned by the shooter to the next loaded chamber.

This model of revolver must have had great appeal to the abolitionist John Brown. He is noted for having purchased 200 of these revolvers prior to leaving Kansas and heading to his infamous raid on Harper’s Ferry.