The first in anything: French army revolvers
You are my hammer, weapon military; With you I have smitten the nations, and with you I have destroyed kingdoms.
The book of the prophet Jeremiah, 51:20
History firearms. It is always interesting to compare something with something. Because it is comparative information that allows you to get fairly objective information from different points of view. The same goes for firearms. Here on VO we have already written about what revolvers the German army was armed with up to the adoption of the P.08 pistol, wrote about American Colts and our domestic Smith-Wessons and revolvers. Was there anything comparable to our Russian weapons in other European countries? What were the officers and soldiers of special forces armed with at the turn of the two centuries - the XIX and XX? Today our story on this topic will be devoted to French revolvers.
A still from the film Lafayette Squadron (2006). Ace pilot Cassidy hands two young American pilots the 1892 Lebel revolvers so that they can ... shoot themselves in a blazing airplane!
And this is exactly this revolver. If you can't see him very well in the previous photo, then you can clearly see both his handle and the drum!
Well, our story should begin with ... the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war. For a start, in 1872, the country introduced universal military service for all its male citizens, and they also began to pay much more attention to the training of soldiers. And they figured out how to do it in a very original way. Special handkerchiefs-instructions were printed according to the type of printed instructions, only in color, which depicted various types of army weapons, the rules for first aid in case of injury, and even the basics of tactics. It was very interesting to look at it, and besides, this very "reference book" did not take up much space, since the fabric on which they were printed was rather thin.
Revolver "Shamelo-Delvin" М1873 and cartridges for it. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
Then a competition was announced to create a new army revolver. The requirements for it were as follows: a cartridge with a central engagement capsule, a double-acting trigger mechanism, with the corresponding general requirements for reliability, ease of use and, of course, the low cost of mass production. The competition presented revolvers Lefoshe Mle 1870 ("Marine model"), as well as the development of Galland, Perrin and the company "Chamelo-Delvin", whose revolver was already in service in neighboring Switzerland. And it was the revolver of this company that became the winner of this competition, after which in 1873 it was adopted by the French army under the name "Revolver infantry officer model of 1873". In addition to the army, they were also armed with the police, non-commissioned officers of the cavalry, artillerymen and the entire navy.
Revolver "Shamelo-Delvin" М1873 or МАС1873. Commercial model. Mechanism device. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
Trigger and "Abadi's door". Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
The revolver was designed by Jean Chamelo (gunsmith) and Henri Gustave Delvin (infantry captain), who jointly founded their enterprise. The 1873x11R cartridge with a rim was also created specifically for the 17 revolver. He was equipped with black powder and had a lead bullet.
MAC1873. Right view. "Marine Model". Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
The revolver was in production from 1874 to 1887. Outwardly, it looks very simple, there is no bluing: length 240 mm, barrel length 115 mm, weight without cartridges - 1040 g. The barrel is partly octahedral, partly cylindrical. There are four grooves in the barrel. The sights are very simple. To fill the drum with cartridges, there is an "Abadi door" on the right side. The six-shot revolver, in this regard, does not differ from our "Smith and Wesson". But it is discharged in the same way as the revolver, that is, one by one, by working with a ramrod-extractor.
The handle had a ring for attaching a revolving belt.
An interesting feature of the revolver, and perhaps the only one, was the lid on the left of the case. It was removed, opening access to the trigger, so it was easy to lubricate it, as well as to replace some parts. The durability of the revolver, like that of the same revolver, was great. Some examples were operated for 100 years, with the French police and gendarmes using it until 1962. The weapon was reliable and simple, a little more complicated than a hammer. True, it was believed that his cartridge was weak, but nothing more.
Revolver "Chamelo-Delvin" М1873 was also produced in Liege. Officially, it was produced exclusively at the enterprise "d'Armes de Saint-Etienne" (MAS). 325 standard models, 000 officer models (35), 000 revolvers for the Marine Corps (1874 revolvers in 14) and officers (000 Marine revolvers, 13) were produced between 188 and 1873. about 1566 more copies of 1874 chambered for 1874 mm with smokeless powder were produced in 1886 and 7000. By the way, the difference between the soldier's and the officer's models was only in ... finishing! Interestingly, civilian models of this revolver were produced in Liege and Saint-Etienne by various weapons manufacturers until 1873. Moreover, they were also produced for .11,73 and .1886 caliber cartridges.
Experienced revolver 1885
In 1885, on the basis of the old revolver, an experimental model of 11 mm caliber was created, which was supposed to replace the Mle 1873 revolver, which was considered morally obsolete. In its design, in particular, there were some new technical solutions borrowed from Swiss revolvers, including the "Abadi door" - a simple but ingenious device. In 1886, several of these revolvers were tested along with the Smith and Wesson revolvers, the German M1879 and its own model, the Le Service Technique de l'Artillerie, STA. The tests ended quite successfully, and the Mle 1885 was recommended for adoption. But it was decided to reduce the caliber of the revolver to 8 mm in order to unify it with the caliber of the newly adopted French rifle of the Lebel system.
"Service Model" 1892. National Museum of the First World War, Kansas City
The fact is that when the production of the Lebel rifle of 1886 began, the French manufacturers, as well as the military, faced the problem of using ... defective rifle barrels. The barrels were long, so there was a lot of scrap, and in order to compensate for these losses, it was decided to adopt an 8-mm revolver, which was done in 1892. At the same time, the black powder was replaced with smokeless powder in the cartridges. True, now it was a purely officer's revolver, also double-acting. The non-commissioned officers were left with their old Mle 1873, fortunately there were a lot of them.
Diagram of the revolver Mle 1892. From the French manual
These revolvers also entered the navy, as evidenced by the brand - "anchor" on the butt plate of the handle of some samples. Their total number is estimated at about 15, and these revolvers were produced in the years 000-1895-1896-1899-1900-1903. The only foreign country that has been equipped with this revolver is Romania, but it is still unknown whether this weapon was produced by the MAS enterprise, in the French civilian market or in Liege.
The same revolver - "naval model", nickel-plated. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
Themselves revolvers "Saint-Etienne" Mle1892 (so it is more correct to call it) was produced about 350 copies.
Advertising of the revolver "Saint-Etienne" Mle1892 in Russia
Officially, the new model of the revolver was named like this: "Pistol Revolveur Modèle 1892" (or "Modèle d'Ordnance"), and the troops became known as "Lebel", although, and this is the most interesting, Colonel Nicolas Lebel himself had nothing to do with the creation of this revolver didn't have! The revolver itself appeared on the basis of an intermediate model of the 8-mm MAS 1887 revolver, a modification of the MAS 1885 revolver, which was originally adapted for an 8-mm cartridge, but then was recognized as unsuccessful and modified by the designers of the Saint-Etienne plant. The Lebel became the first European revolver to use a hinged drum, which significantly reduced reloading times. The drum was tilted to the right, the spent cartridges were removed using the extractor rod located along the axis of the drum, in the closed position the extractor was under the barrel. The door, combined with the trigger guard, was also provided on it. It leaned back towards the barrel and made it possible to service its mechanism with greater convenience than many other revolvers.
Revolver "Saint-Etienne" 1892 - release of 1904. Covering - bluing. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
Cartridges 8 × 27 mm. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
The main drawback of "Lebel" when used in close combat was its cartridge. He clearly lacked power, and even at short distances a bullet, hitting the enemy, often only knocked him down, without causing serious harm, unless it was hitting a vital organ. However, this shortcoming did not greatly affect the popularity of the revolver during the First World War. Interestingly, the new revolver was 30% lighter than the Mle 1873. And besides, if the Mle 1873 cost 62,96 francs, then the revolver of 1892 was only 56,3 francs. So the benefits were obvious!
"Saint-Etienne" in a holster. Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
With the drum folded back and already loaded ... Photo by Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
The soldiers at the front more appreciated its reliability and reliability in the most difficult conditions. Be that as it may, it was "Lebel" that became the first revolver in Europe with a folding drum, and soon it began to be copied in Spain and Belgium. It was produced until 1924. It is simply surprising why in Russia, having taken the barrel from Lebel's rifle for an 8-mm cartridge for a new rifle, at the same time they did not take into service a French revolver, or, at least, did not create the same one based on it. In any case, with approximately the same performance characteristics as that of the revolver, it would be at least slightly more convenient in reloading ...
"Ready to fight!" Photo Alain Daubresse www.littlegun.be
TTX revolver arr. 1892:
Overall length: mm 235
Barrel length: 118,5 mm
Cartridge: 8 × 27 mm
Initial speed of the bullet: 225 m / s
Weight: 0,792 kg
Drum capacity: 6 rounds
Information