Colt percussion revolver question

[Thumbcocker]

I just finished reading "My 60 years on the Plains " (available as a free download on Google books ). The author mentioned that his group of trader/trappers each had a rifle and 2 Colts pistols. He said that the additional 12 shots were handy in fights with the Indians. The fights took place from 1842 to 1845. I thought the only Colt in production then was the Patterson 5 shooter. Corrections welcome.

[rintinglen]

Not all that was written was gospel. With the passage of time, memories fade, or get intermingled, and the truth suffers. This, plus the necessity to persuade a publisher that a work was suitable for eastern audiences, caused a number of early western writers to puff up their memoirs with fictional accounts of daring-do, complete with Victorian hypocrisy that neglected or glossed over anything offensive to prurient sensibilities. lawlessness was exaggerated, "Dodge City ate a man a day while I was there,,,etc" while the characteristics of noted individuals where invariably painted as black as sin or as noble as the round table.
Given that fewer than 3,000 revolvers were produced by Colt at Paterson, and most of them were pocket models in 28 and 31 caliber, it strikes me as bologna that a group of trappers would each have two of them. I guess that either the author was conflating later events with earlier times, lying, or both.

[KCSO]

Windy Bill Hamilton was called that for a reason. There are many errors in the book and this is one. Although as I get older it is harder and harder to remember just when things happened 50 or more years ago.