The Kerr revolver was manufactured by the London Armoury Company from 1859 through 1866. The revolver was made in 80 bore and 54 bore with minor variations, and had a total production run of about 11,500 revolvers." The 80 bore revolvers were made first and are not believed to have been acquired for the Confederacy.

The 54 bore (44 caliber) is a five-shot revolver that is 11.25 inches in length with a 5.5 inch barrel. The patent number (serial number) is engraved on the right side of the frame and also on the cylinder. Other markings include London Armoury stamped in small letters in an oval forward on the left side of the frame. London proofs and the letters LAC are found on the top of the barrel flat just in front of the frame. Most, but not all, of the grips have the JS/Anchor viewers mark just below the trigger guard. Many believe the initials "JS" is John Southgate, a contract viewer (inspector) for the London Armoury Company.

The Kerr evolved though three variations. Each variation is distinguished by differences in sighting grooves, rammer pivot screw location, grip checkering, etc.

Per the book by Shannon Pritchard, Collecting the Confederacy, "Purchasing agent Caleb Hughes purchased approximately 7000 Kerr patent revolvers from the London Armoury during the War between the States...These revolvers were issued primarily to Confederate cavalry including the 7th, 11th, 12th, 18th and 35th Virginia as well as the 24th Georgia and the 8th Texas.

This example is a 3rd model Kerr, which are believed to have begun around serial number 3000. This Kerr is one of the early guns with serial number 3722. It has a matching cylinder serial number, and the common London Armoury markings and London proofs. It retains the first variation of the company name (London Armoury) on the lock. Later locks would be marked London Armoury Co. It also has the JS/Anchor on the grip.

I'm beyond excited to have this authentic, historic, and wonderful revolver in my minuscule Confederate collection.

That’s awesome!

Very cool piece of history, thanks for sharing! Are you going to shoot it?

Beautiful weapon. Thanks for the history behind this survivor.

That looks really nice.

I wonder what kind of calculations and perambulations went into the side-mounted hammer. I'm sure the motive was patent-related, but that had to have taken a bit of thought and experimentation.

Thank you for sharing this historical firearm! Cheers

Cool! Love those old Kerrs (and Tranters and Adams). Now you need a copy of Don Troiani's print "12th Virginia Cavalry" which has a Confederate horseman wielding a Kerr.

Very nice and quite unusual.

Based upon the content of these two videos, it seems that the Kerr deserves to be better known, given its quality and features. One of the design's most important features was isolating the lockwork, which avoided a substantial problem for percussion revolvers, which was the remnants of percussion caps jamming the pistol.

My NSSA - CSA friend said
"I would like one."

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Very cool piece of history, thanks for sharing! Are you going to shoot it?

I don't think I will be shooting it as it's an early (1861-2) Confederate proofed pistol. While it'd be fun to shoot, it'd be hard to replace if something happened.