Revolvers and pistols by Victor Collette

12

Pepperbox revolver with screw-on barrel by Victor Collett

"He pulled out a pistol,
Like myself, just as plump,
And a six-barreled barrel
He pointed at the wanderers: “Stand still! If you touch
Robbers! robbers! I'll put it on the spot! .. "
Who in Russia live well. N. A. Nekrasov

stories about weapons. They say that in the United States, various variations on the theme of the AR15 rifle are produced by either 10 or 15 thousand companies. Although it is quite possible to think that a dozen would be enough for the whole country. But no - "the consumer should have a choice." And the consumer gets it. For every taste and price. And this is not the innovation of today, no. Although today, thanks to CNC machines, weapons can be made (and of high quality!) Right at home or in the garage.

However, in the traditional 19th century, everything was exactly the same. In the same Europe, and in Belgium, and in France, and in England, and almost everywhere, there were many small workshops and relatively large factories where weapons were produced for every taste and price. Moreover, the types of these weapons sometimes dictated quite expected circumstances.




Victor Collette's screw barrel revolver was a typical pepperbox. The photo clearly shows the "Abadie's door" and its handle

So, in the same Europe, especially at the beginning of the 19th century, people mostly traveled in carriages. And where there are carriages, there are money, watches, furs and jewelry. So the robbers got into the habit of robbing these carriages, and the travelers began to defend themselves from them. This is how relatively small, road revolvers appeared, or, as they were then called, “carriage revolvers”, simplified to the point of being impossible.


This photo clearly shows the mounting ring for the screw-on barrel on the drum stand.

And so they got the name pepperboxes or pepperboxes, because they were a bit similar to them: they also rotated and ground black peppercorns poured into them. There were a great many pepperboxes or pepperboxes, since it was not difficult to produce them, since it did not require precise machining and fitting of parts of revolvers of this type in order to ensure proper alignment of the bore and drum chambers. Indeed, in the paperbox, the chamber itself was just the trunk! But their handles, like those of civilian weapons, were tried to be made of precious woods and bones, and also trimmed with mother-of-pearl.


Victor Collett's revolver and next to it a screw-on barrel and a ramrod inserted into its handle. But even with this additional barrel, which increased the accuracy of the shot, shooting at a distance was not provided, so there is no front sight on it!

One of the firms involved in the production of such weapons was the old Liege firm of Victor Collette. For example, he produced beautiful engraved pepperboxes for 6 shots of 8 mm caliber. But ... at the same time, he tried to introduce something of his own into the design of this weapon. What could be added to it? And so Victor Collett thought and brought in ... an unscrewing rifled barrel that turned his pepperbox into a real revolver! Since shooting at a long distance from it was not planned initially (ladies generally kept such revolvers in their clutches and fired at point-blank range!), The firing mechanism on it was self-cocking, and the trigger did not even have a knitting needle for manual cocking!


Collette-Gaspard hairpin revolver with double-action trigger

And Victor Collett was also known for making revolvers to order, that is, he worked on the patents of various inventors who could not produce their own weapons. And they turned to those who had machines and equipment. So there was a huge number of revolvers with double names. And Collett revolvers are no exception in this regard. For example, he produced revolvers chambered for Lefochet's hairpin cartridges not only of Lefochet himself, but also of his imitators.


Donahue-van Egmond revolver by Victor Collett. The finish of the handle of these revolvers varied greatly. Two plates of wood, gutta-percha or rubber could be used, which were connected to each other by a transverse screw and two brass rivet washers - everything is just like in a poem by Lindsay Gordon ...

For example, he produced very good Donahue-van Egmond center-fire revolvers, and it’s not entirely clear whether this same Donahue was its creator or just a seller, but Collett’s revolver turned out no worse than Nagant’s: self-cocking, with a solid closed frame, hexagonal barrel and a similar system for extracting spent cartridges.


And this is his marking ...

However, he became famous, or rather, let's say - he became known as one of the creators of a very original weapon, with his "gravity" pistols and rifles - a weapon that became truly unique for its time. True, not everything is so simple. The fact is that what we today call Collett's "gravitational weapon" was actually developed by a talented gunsmith named Jean Nicolas Herman, who invented it and made it in metal in the same Liege between 1850 and 1854. And since he worked for Victor Collette, he sold him his patent and all rights to its production. The first developments of these weapons were shown at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855, and until the early 1870s, the Collette company produced both rifle and pistol versions of them.


Here it is - Collett's "gravity gun"

In fact, this weapon has become a European version of the American Volcanic pistol. It also used caseless cartridges, which looked like a cylindrical bullet with a powder charge inside and a burning igniter primer placed on its surface. In Volkanika, such bullets were inserted into each other with their noses, but they did not reach the primer. A similar 7,62 mm caliber ammunition was also used in the Collett pistol. That is, when fired, the bullet flew out of the barrel, and that's it - no devices were required to remove spent cartridges.


Bullet feeder in a Collett pistol. 1852 patent for a 20-shot pistol. The black color shows the magazine cover that the bolt raises when loading.

But if on Volkanika the store was under the barrel, and the supply of new bullets was carried out mechanically, then in Jean Herman's patent everything was different. The bullets lay on top of the barrel, being covered with a semicircular casing. At the same time, in the cracks on the sides it was clearly visible how many bullets were still left in it. It is clear that such a weapon was loaded with bullets from the side of the barrel with their pointed part forward.


The shutter device in the Collett pistol. 1852 patent for a 20-shot pistol. Although the diagram is very rough, it gives a visual representation of how the mechanics of this gun worked...

The shutter, vertically sliding in the grooves of the receiver, was controlled by ... a trigger. When he leaned back, the shutter rose and opened the charging chamber. All that remained was to raise the pistol or rifle with the barrel up so that the next bullet slipped into this chamber.

Revolvers and pistols by Victor Collette
"Victor Collette" VC54 - pistol model 1854. As you can see, he had a very small shop. Caliber 10,5 mm

Of course, delays could be expected at the same time due to the fact that for some reason the bullet did not immediately hit the chamber, but it was enough to shake the weapon a little, as such delays were easily eliminated. That is, loading was due to the gravity of the lead bullet. Hence the word "gravitational" in the name of this type of weapon.


Pistol VC72

As soon as the bullet was inside the bolt, the weapon was transferred to a horizontal position, and the bolt was lowered by hand to the level of the bore. After that, you could pull the trigger and shoot!


The muzzle of a VC72 pistol. The screw cap of the store is clearly visible


But in this photo, this very cork is unscrewed, so that the gun can be loaded!

It is clear that these were guns and pistols not for the police or the army, and not even for hunting, but intended exclusively for recreational salon shooting, since their ammunition was extremely weak by military standards. However, the small length of the bullet meant that the standard magazine of such a pistol could hold 20 of these bullets, and the rifle - all 60!


Against this background, the pistol bolt is raised up for loading, the bullet feed cap is also raised up, and nothing prevents the bullet from falling into the bolt chamber from above. The hammer striker is very long due to the need, because he needs to go through the bolt and the back of the bullet to get to the primer and prick it

It cannot be said that these rifles and pistols were in such great demand. However, they were produced and bought over a number of years, that is, they found their niche in the European arms market.
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12 comments
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  1. +2
    April 11 2022 06: 19
    which had the form of a cylindrical bullet with a powder charge inside and placed on its surface
    The hammer striker is very long due to the need, because he needs to go through the bolt and the back of the bullet to get to the primer and prick it
    The question is, was there a primer on the surface, or in the depths of the sleeve, something like Dreyse's?
    1. +4
      April 11 2022 06: 30
      Quote: alex-cn
      The question is, was there a primer on the surface, or in the depths of the sleeve, something like Dreyse's?

      Don't know. I know that this cartridge was designed on the principle of the Flaubert cartridge, but more powerful.
    2. +5
      April 11 2022 09: 29
      The author of the ammunition was André Goppil.
  2. +2
    April 11 2022 07: 23
    In the same Europe, and in Belgium, and in France, and in England, and almost everywhere, there were many small workshops and relatively large factories where weapons were produced for every taste and price.
    Papuans. It reminded me of G. Uspensky's "Morals of Rasteryaeva Street". It was a small business for us, for a bottle in a tavern.
  3. +5
    April 11 2022 07: 36
    There are not enough photos of the "gravity Collet" shutter from the back or front. To understand its design features.
    They write that a silver-finished and workable sample was sold in 2016 for $ 2760.
    1. +5
      April 11 2022 09: 55
      Quote: hohol95
      or in front.

      Have not found! But there is a drawing scheme ...
    2. +3
      April 11 2022 20: 42
      Hi Aleksey. hi

      Here's everything I found.


      1. +1
        April 11 2022 22: 38
        Good evening, Constantine!
        Thanks to. It is now more clearly shown that the Goppila bullet had no problem getting into the bolt of a pistol of this design.
        1. +1
          April 11 2022 22: 48
          Always happy to help in some way. We had a pistol of this system in our department, very beautiful work, but ... without a single cartridge. And, thank God, no one's bad head was visited by the idea of ​​drilling it.
      2. +1
        3 July 2022 10: 27
        Judging by the curved nose of the striker and the vertical groove in the bolt, did it penetrate the bullet (up to the primer) not along the axis of the cartridge, but from above?
        1. 0
          3 July 2022 19: 06
          No, the primer was located on the rear end of the bullet and the trigger hit it from behind, and not from above. In the photo, the primer is clearly visible, when fired, it simply burned out.
  4. +5
    April 11 2022 07: 45
    The cartridges created by Andre Goppil were used.
    The Goppil family was engaged in cartridge production until 1935. Then, due to financial difficulties, the cartridge factory and the company were sold.

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