Some Belgian gun makers were making swing-out cylinder double action revolvers as early as the 1860s, but Colt can certainly be credited for refining this into the revolver we recognize today. Many claim that the swing-out cylinder is Colt’s invention, but this is patently untrue. These established the template for the modern double-action revolver was we know it today, with the ability to be fired either double or single action and a swing-out cylinder with it’s own ejector. In 1889 Colt jumped-started the new age of revolvers with their New Army/New Navy models.
