Seeing as how I am amazingly unhappy with the Spanish repro Colt revolving rifle I found at a second-hand store I have been looking around to see if perhaps someone made a better reproduction.
Dixie Gun works has something
here that caught my eye...then made me wonder. The Root Rifle advertised there at first appears very similar the Colt as I know it, but there are differences. The Root has six chambers in the cylinder while the one that I associate with the sharpshooters only had five. The area forward of the cylinder and under the near sight is also larger. Other small details like the placement of the strap swivels are also notable.
Still, they appear 95% the same. Same rifle, different brand names, like the T.V.'s from China?
What is the history of this rifle? Are they in fact the same rifle with modifications? It was my understanding that Mr. Root was at one time an employee of Colt, or that Colt bought him out or purchased this design from him.
Most importantly, would this be an appropriate rifle to buy to represent the sharpshooters (as display, I imagine, I can't picture how we'd use this thing at a park demo)?
Even more importantly than that...if this is appropriate for the sharpshooters to use, who among you is going to buy it for me for Christmas?