Were there replicas in the old west?

[timothy75]

Just wondering if there were foreign replicas of Colt, Remington, And Smiths in the old west days?

 

[Springer45]

I would imagine that the patents obtained by Colt & Remington would have made it less attractive for the Italians of the era to aggressively pursue the idea.

 

[mec]

Colt issued some licenses but was unimpressed by the European copies and patent infringements. Suspect he wouldn't much appreciate some of the less conscientious Italian replicas either.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes, the "Colt Brevette" made in Belgium was just one of several copies of percussion Colts. And you could count the various Confederate copies, too. The Griswolds etc. didn't just dry up and blow away after the War.

Smith & Wesson had a horrible time. There were dozens of copies and infringements of the Rollin White cartridge cylinder patent. But they had been smart enough to write into the royalty agreement with Rollin White that he had to defend his patent against infringement. He spent much of his royalty payments on lawsuits against copies and infringements. Won some of them, too. There are obscure revolvers marked "Made for Smith & Wesson" which are actually losers in infringement cases who had to acknowledge the S&W ownership of the design and pay them the White royalties.

 

[Sir William]

Yes. Merwin-Hulberts, S&Ws, Colts, Remington and even Webleys were cloned and even handmade. Belgians, Spanish, Mexican and French copies were produced. Arabic handmade clones have even been seen. The Belgians were good quality close copies of S&W large frame breaktops.

 

[hap]

I have seen S&W #3 copies by the Ludwig Lowe Co ( Germany )
although I don't know whether or not they were licensed.