Colt 1902 Philippine Model Double Action .45LC
Originally issued as: 1878 Colt Alaskan Revolver
Barrel length: 6″
Capacity: 6 round swing out cylinder
Cartridge Caliber: .45 LC(Long Colt)
Weight: 2 lbs
Service: 1878-1892; 1902-1908
Adopted earlier in 1878 by US soldiers serving in Alaska, the pistol was nearly phased out by the new issued .38 revolvers. At the end of the Philippine-American War the Philippine Scouts, along with US military units, and the Philippine Constabulary(Native Police force) began expeditions and patrolling through Moroland and Visayan territory. There they found new adversaries waiting and lurking in the dense terrain of both regions, namely the Tad-Tad/Pulajanes of Samar/Leyte and the Juramentado Moros. The native police force were poorly equipped with Springfield Trapdoor “single shot” rifles, and a ill performing .38 Colt revolver side arm. Both proved to have insufficient stopping power of a hard charging swarm of combatants. A shot assailant does not necessarily make them incapacitated. Sword welding Moros and Filipinos were known to charge through heavy gun fire and still be capable of slashing and killing. Requests were quickly made for older issued .45 Colt revolvers, and the US government answered by reissuing out the older 1878 Alaskan Colt Revolvers to the Philippine Constabulary, re-designating them the 1902 Philippine Model. The .45 revolvers performed up to standard and as expected. The stopping power of the .45 cartridge against Filipinos during this era would result in the US government requesting their newly manufactured and issued sidearm to be chambered in .45. The end result is the M1911 Colt automatic pistol chambered in the newly engineered .45ACP cartridge.
The Model 1902 revolver is unique by the enlarged trigger guard. At the time the new smokeless powder cartridges also required new primers, which took more effort to ignite; and with it required a stronger trigger spring. The trigger pull became immense. Colt modified the trigger group by use of the enlarged trigger guard, which gave more leverage to pull the trigger.
Researched and written by Dnvzs Zjzllg
