The revolvers have the unique Allen system where the trigger guard serves as a lever to eject the spent cases.

Two models can be distinguished: the .44 Army and the .36 Navy. Both are six-shot revolvers and other than size the only visual difference between the two revolvers is the barrel, which on the Army is half octagonal, half round while on the Navy the barrel is fully octagonal. The marking ALLEN & WHEELOCK WORCESTER. MASS. U.S. / ALLEN’S PAT’S SEPT.7.NOV.9 1858 is located on the left side of the barrel.

The Lipfire Army was the very first large-caliber cartridge revolver (.44”) to hit the American market. It was not until 1868, so 7 years later, that the cartridge conversion of the Remington model 1858 revolver appeared. Due to the fact that lipfire cartridges were not always easy to find, many lipfire revolvers were converted in later years to shoot both rimfire and lipfire cartridges.

Allen was clearly infringing on the S&W/Rollin White patent. After 4 years of litigation against Allen & Wheelock, Rollin White finally won the lawsuit in November 1863, forcing Allen to stop manufacturing of his lipfire revolvers and all other cartridge revolvers. It is known that a number of revolvers were produced after 1869 from remaining stock of parts from 1863. A number of these models were converted directly in the factory to both rimfire/lipfire.

The Army version was only available with a 7.5″ barrel while the Navy could be supplied in barrel lengths of 5″, 6″ and 8″. It is certain that the Army has been produced first because the early models have a top hinged loading gate while the later models have the bottom hinged loading gate. Only the second type loading gate occurs on the Navy.

These revolvers are considered by collectors as martial weapons, but despite what the name “Navy” or “Army” suggests, no official contracts with the US government are known.