Revolver many European gun-makers, in numerous designs and configurations. However, these weapons were difficult to use, complicated and prohibitively expensive to make, and as such they were not widely distributed. In 1836, an American, Samuel Colt patented the mechanism which led to the widespread use of the revolver, the mechanically indexing cylinder. According to Samuel Colt, he came up with the idea for the revolver while at sea, inspired by the capstan, which had a ratchet and pawl mechanism on it, a version of which was used in his guns to rotate the cylinder by cocking the hammer. This provided a
Starr revolver produce enough revolvers to be considered major players in the market. These sources claim that the first widely used DA revolver (sometimes called the first "modern" revolver) was the Colt 1889 .38 Government (.38 Long Colt) used by the Navy, and/or the improved version for the Navy and Army, the Colt 1892, because, despite wide adoption, the 1889 model was produced in relatively low numbers. For a time, the Pietta company manufactured a modern-day replica of the Starr double-action and single-action models. Aficionados generally consider the replica to be of lower overall quality than the original. The Starr DA is