POTD: The Colt 1878 Sheriff’s Model – No Ejector Needed

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have Colt’s big bore double action in its handiest form, built in 1882 and chambered in 44-40. The Model 1878 was Colt’s answer to a market that wanted a double action revolver in a serious caliber. It sold in decent numbers and it went west with people who needed it to work. The lockwork is what the model is remembered for, and not fondly. Colt was new to double action design and it shows. The pull stacks up badly toward the break, it is heavy, and the internals have a long reputation for quitting on people. Gunsmiths who still take these in talk about the 1878 the way you talk about a truck with a known bad transmission.

This one is a Sheriff’s Model, which means a four inch barrel and no ejector rod. Losing the ejector housing pulls weight and length off the front end and makes the gun far easier to hide under a coat. The price you pay is reloading. You poke the empties out one at a time with a rod or a pencil or whatever is within reach. For a shopkeeper or a town lawman that trade was perfectly reasonable.

The acid etched Frontier Six Shooter panel dates it, since Colt etched barrels before moving to roll stamps late in the 1880s. Chambering it in 44-40 meant it fed the same cartridge as a Winchester 1873, and I suspect that sold more of these than anything Colt ever printed in a catalog.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Scarce Etched Panel Colt Sheriff’s Model 1878 Revolver.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/1115/scarce-etched-panel-colt-sheriffs-model-1878-revolver. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026.

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