The Volcanic pistols and carbines are historic firearms that represent a major step in the evolution of American firearms, particularly in the incremental improvements in design that led to the innovative Henry lever action rifle and the Winchester rifles that followed. The combination of internal, spring loaded magazine, lever action, and primed cartridges were revolutionary features in 1857 and carried over into the metallic cartridge era. Oliver Winchester's investment in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company in 1855 led to the creation of the New Haven Arms Co. and then the establishment of the famous Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Only around 1,000 of these Large Frame 8-inch "Holster Model" Navy pistols were manufactured. The pistol has the distinctive "brass" (gunmetal) frame, eight inch octagon barrel, integral ten shot magazine, and loading lever with finger hole. The barrel has a German silver cone front sight. A fixed notch rear sight is mounted in a dovetail near the back of the frame. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped with the legend: "THE VOLCANIC/REPEATING ARMS CO./PATENT NEWHAVEN CONN. FEB. 14. 1854." in three lines. The serial number is stamped on the right side of the loading lever, the right side of the frame underneath the grip, and on the inside of both grips. All of the visible serial numbers match. The left side of the lever has an "X." The barrel and magazine have a high polish blue finish, and the hammer, trigger, and lever are color casehardened. The rear sight, cartridge elevator, bolt, trigger spring, and interior components have a fire blue finish. The two piece grips are nicely figured walnut with a piano finish.

Very fine with 70% plus original blue finish, attractive aged patina on the action, strong original case colors and niter blue on the smaller components, and minor overall wear mainly consisting of light marks and scratches and light speckled patina. The slightly ill-fitting but original grips are fine and retain much of the original varnish and have light edge wear, a small crack visible at the upper front corner of the left panel, and minor marks and scratches. Mechanically fine.