No Colt revolver

WI Samuel Colt hadn't invented the Colt 6-shooter revolver during the mid-19th C ? Would such revolving weapons still have come into existence, though ?

It's inevitable IMO for a multiple shot pistol.

However, just when six-shooters were starting to get popular, several very well made single-shot pistols were produced. Perhaps these are used for some time?

Most likely though some other company would have stepped in - possibly foreign.

hmm interesting.Though I believe the Pepperbox pistols would still have lead to revolvers at some point,if not quite as refined as the colt patent. But the general idea of multiple barrels on hand weapons was taking hold at the time. The Nock volley gun was available for the Napoleonic Wars. So some form of Repeating Firearms of one type or another would have been invented by 1845 or so not in time for the Mexican-American War but before OTL Civil War. Now we just need to examine other types of pistol tech.Breechloader multiple barrel pistols are not that far from the Pepperbox
the Sharps was available for the breech-loading design in the 40's.Volcanic lever action available in late 50's so an alternate is a lever action pistol. And of course Single-Shot breechloaders would be common.Overall it would tend to lower the firepower of a Western era person but overall violence levels would stay high. Being shot with a rifle from ambush or a shotgun from behind were far more common ways to die than pistol duels in the west. As for the advantage it was to other militaries these were far outwieghed by the advances in Rifles and Artillery.I mean when the average rifleman can kill you at 600 meters a 65 meter range pistol is pretty worthless.Pistols (with a SpecOps exception)are basically rank badges or succor weapons to ppl who should have Machine pistols

Melvin Loh said:

WI Samuel Colt hadn't invented the Colt 6-shooter revolver during the mid-19th C ? Would such revolving weapons still have come into existence, though ?

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Don't get too American-centric. Robert Adams designed self-cocking revolvers for George & John Deane company in London in the 1850s. It appears that his 1855 5-shooter revolver was sturdier than the Colt. Since Colt's first company failed financially its not too hard to think that guns would develop just as well without him.

Just last November, I saw a very nice revoler design (single barrel, multiple chambers) dating to the late sixteenth century.

The invention is inevitable. The precise date, name, and application may vary.

Taken from Wikipedia:

Snaphaunce revolvers with the most important features of the type—single fixed barrel, automatic cylinder rotation, and positive cylinder alignment—were made in the late 17th century. The earliest known specimen, now in the Tower of London armories, is dated about 1680 and attributed to John Dafte of London.

Elisha Collier patented a flintlock revolver in Britain in 1818, and significant numbers were being produced in London by 1822. The origination of this invention is in doubt, as similar designs were patented in the same year by Artemus Wheeler in the United States and by Cornelius Coolidge in France.

Samuel Colt received a British patent for his revolver in 1835 and an American patent (number 138) on February 25, 1836 for a Revolving gun, and made the first production model on March 5 of that year.

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Colt's first revolver was a five shooter instead of a six shooter... the Paterson was a vast improvement over previous pistols, but had some problems of it's own, as you'd expect with any new technology... the Colt Walker and Dragoon pistols improved on the design.
If Colt hadn't invented the Paterson, someone else likely would have... every gun manufacturer in the world was looking for a way to make efficient repeating firearms, and Colt's solution would probably have been thought of sooner or later.
The Paterson was widely used by the Texas Rangers, but not many others. The Walker and Dragoon were widely used by everyone who wanted a good pistol, especially by officers in the ACW (along with several Remington models)....

The revolutionary aspect of the Colt was simply that it was reliable, produced in large numbers and came at a time when revolvers were in hot demand (due to the US westward settlement). As Landie points out, revolvers were not a new idea, although earlier ones tended to be somewhat less reliable. There was a British inventor who patented one in 1818.