The first model of his own design used the frame of an Adams-type revolver, with a modification in the mechanism which he had jointly developed with James Kerr.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Hyde and Goodrich dissolved their partnership, and its successors, Thomas, Griswold & Company, and A.

[6] As a reliable, functional, and proven design, Tranter revolvers soon enjoyed a great popularity among the Confederate military.

In 1863, Tranter secured the patent for rimfire cartridges in England, and started production using the same frame as his existing models.

In 1878, he received a contract from the British Army for the supply of .450-calibre centrefire cartridge revolvers for use in the Zulu War.

[8] The revolver had a one-piece curved wooden grip, a shrouded hammer, a top-break cylinder with star-ejector, and a double trigger.

Famous users of Tranter revolvers included Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the North-West Mounted Police, the Confederate General James Ewell Brown Stuart, African adventurers such as Paul Du Chaillu and Henry Morton Stanley, and Ben Hall and the Australian brushrangers, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

A Tranter revolver was used by Lord John Clayton (played by Paul Geoffrey) in the 1984 feature film Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan.

In the 1971 western Hannie Caulder, the lead character (played by Raquel Welch) carries the first model (dual-trigger version) of the Tranter.