He did not succeed in having the revolver adopted by the Government, for the army officers for a long time objected to the percussion cap (an invention, by the way, then some twenty years old, which was just coming into use and without which Colt's revolver would not have been practicable) and thought that the new weapon might fail in an emergency.

Colt found a market in Texas and among the frontiersmen who were fighting the Seminole War in Florida, but the sales were insufficient, and in 1842 the company was obliged to confess insolvency and close down the plant.
Colt bought from the company the patent of the revolver, which was supposed to be worthless.
Nothing more happened until after the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846.

Then came a loud call from General Zachary Taylor for a supply of Colt's revolvers.

Colt had none.

He had sold the last one to a Texas ranger.