We will see if someone has that answer about the Savage revolvers here, since it is a Missouri question. Meanwhile, you may wish to place your query also in the "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War" message board in this same series. I have found help with lots of technical questions there.

Some reference works on Civil War firearms (I'm guessing this includes William B. Edwards, Flayderman's, Ian V. Hogg, Jack Coggins, and Coates & Thomas--but I haven't looked at them lately) state that the Savage "Figure 8" revolvers in both .36 and .44 caliber were, as your source hinted, front heavy and complicated to use, especially in the heat of battle. A number of such "troublesome" firearms that the Federals bought in their haste to arm all their troops ended up in the western departments when eastern commanders wanted no part of them. The westerners, such as the Union Dept. of the Missouri, were usually desperate for firearms of any kind, and stuck many of their soldiers with mechanisms that even some of the guerrillas would not pick up off the battlefield (I think this paraphrase is from Quantrill's John McCorkle's memoir). American firearm inventors went nuts in the 1850s, driven partly by European conflicts and partly by the craze of American inventiveness that was ramping up throughout that century. From what I have seen, a number of Missouri companies and regiments of Union cavalry in 1862 and 1863 were armed with the Savage "Figure 8," but I think that trailed off after that for the reasons given above.

This is not to disparage the Savage Arms Company, which went on to be a maker of excellent hunting rifles and etc. post Civil War.

Bruce Nichols