The Colt "Dragoon" revolver was produced, in various forms, from 1848 - 1861 and in all about 20,000 pieces were made. It was a large powerful percussion-lock gun intended to be used from horseback. Dragoons were mounted soldiers who carried their pistols in holsters on their saddles. The Dragoons are a 6-shot revolvers that is a 44 caliber.

 One of the most popular of Civil War revolvers was the Colt Model 1851 in 36 caliber. Around 250,000 were made by Colt between 1850 and 1873. It had a six shot cylinder and a 7-1/2" octagonal barrel. The standard cylinder featured an engraved scene of a naval battle. The Navy designation meant it was 36 caliber. The 44 Caliber were known as Army, but both terms are merely marketing designations.

 The Henry rifle, designed by B. Tyler Henry, first entered production in 1860 and was one of the first repeating rifles to use metallic cartridges. It fired a .44 caliber rimfire cartridge and had a 15-round magazine, firepower far superior to its competitor. A total of about 13,000 pieces of the rifle were made between 1860 and 1866 by the New Haven Arms Company, but it saw relatively little Civil War service. In 1866 the company became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and the influence of the Henry on later Winchester rifles is very evident.

 By the early nineteenth century artillerists in most western countries had settled on a standard method of naming cannon, based on the weight of the solid shot used with the piece. Since all shot was spherical, and typically made of iron, this weight corresponded with the bore size of the piece. Any cannon with a 3.67-inch bore would use a shot weighing six pounds, and would be known as a six-pounder; a cannon with a 4.62-inch bore would be a 12-pounder.  

In 1862, Richard Gatling had demonstrated his first working model of the Gatling gun in Indianapolis, Indiana. He patented the Gatling gun on November 4, 1862. Its key elements were a lock cylinder containing six strikers which revolved with six gun barrels, powered by a hand crank. The gun used separate .58 caliber paper cartridges and percussion caps, which resulted in gas leakage. The model 1862 Gatling gun attained a very high rate of fire of 200 shots per minute; this was great for that time.