Quite unusual pistols and revolvers
he didn't do it
what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
16 Kings 2:XNUMX
stories about weapons. Today we will continue our story about the little-known examples of English firearms of the XIX century. But first, remember that a huge number of people strive to do everything possible to ... differ from others. But it is clear that not everyone can do this. A recent example from our stories - this is the appearance of advertising names with two letters "FF". This is just some kind of celebration of people deprived of brains: Dvernoff, Zamkoff, Ldoff, Mehoff, Dvernisazheff (!) And, finally, the latest pearl - Taxovichkoff taxi - I recently saw in your city.
But the same, alas, often happened to designers, including gunsmiths. Well, there is something good, so I will definitely change it, because I want my weapon to be at least something different. At least somehow, at least 1/10, but it was different.
As a result, many completely unusual images of the same revolvers and pistols appeared on the arms market, many of which fell into the treasury of curiosities. And today our story will be about them.
However, there is another point noticed by one of our readers last time:
You can, of course, argue with this statement, but look at the samples that this material is talking about ...
Well, we will start with the R. Watmow revolver of 1842, the predecessor of the Devism revolver, which we have already talked about in our “revolver cycle”. Everything seems to be as usual: a six-shot primer drum, a top-mounted trigger, 1 copies were made. Everything seems to be traditional. Almost everything is the same as the Colt revolver. But…
Design difference! The Watmow revolver, like many other revolvers of this time, is more like traditional pepperboxes, while the colt outwardly differed greatly from them and looked much more like a military weapon, especially with an underbarrel lever for tight driving of bullets. And with this, he just pulled the buyers to his side. The novelty of all seduces, and the former, alas, becomes obsolete in the first place morally.
English double-action capsule revolver manufactured by H. Yeomans, London. .40 caliber, drum, 5" octagonal barrel with H. YEOMANS LONDON lettering on top. Checkered walnut grips.
Needless to say: Mother Europe lacked creative breakthroughs. Here is the revolver of Unwin and Rogers, all from the same opera. Produced in Europe during the American Civil War. But he is somehow ... ugly, although self-cocking, unlike the same Colts.
Only John Thomas' 1870 revolver can compete with him. Manufactured by Tipping and Lowden. Caliber .380. Drum for five rounds.
John Thomas lived in Birmingham at 66 Slaney Street in 1879–1883 and at number 67 in 1884. For eight years he worked as a foreman at Tipping and Lowden. On March 13, 1869, he received English patent No. 779 for his "automatic ejection revolver", and then a Belgian one.
The design was very intricate, and most importantly, it required precise processing of curved surfaces. Of course, anything that is difficult to produce tends to cost more. The consumer may get used to the complexity of maintaining their weapons, but the manufacturer is far from all the same, what is the cost of his products. That is why, apparently, designs like this revolver did not become widespread.
To reload the revolver, it was necessary to press the barrel stopper in front of the frame, and then turn the barrel by the handle so that it was at the top. Movement along the helicoid cutouts of the pins pushed the barrel forward, and the sleeves were removed due to the rectilinear forward movement of the barrel and drum.
The fuse was on the left side, under the trigger, and the “Abadie door” was on the right, and for some reason it opened back, and not sideways, like most other revolvers. Its spring was located under the drum outside. The cartridges were inserted into the chambers one at a time as the drum rotated. Then the barrel turned down by the handle, stopped and the revolver was loaded. Shooting could only be carried out by self-cocking.
Another revolver of a completely unusual design, although outwardly it is not very noticeable. But some strange trigger catches your eye, doesn't it? This feature was just the highlight of the design of the revolver company S. V. Silver and Co. from London. In principle, it was an ordinary large-caliber .450 revolver. But his fuse was located directly on the trigger!
When turning the lever of the cylindrical part, the hammer drummer moved back and could no longer hit the primer. Moved his lever to the proper position - and shoot as much as you like. It seems to be a simple and technologically thought-out solution. But for some reason, it never took root on any of the revolvers. Although the idea itself looks sound and workable. Another thing is that one can argue about whether a fuse is needed on a revolver at all, but this is already a different plane of this issue.
And here is another original weapon from England: a caster, a pistol, a knife. It is called "Defender", that is, "Defender", but who produced this is unknown.
But the English company "Brothers Linsley" from Leeds pleased the consumer with a completely original "product": a hybrid of a pistol, a knife and ... a fork! "Man-eater's dream"?
Unwin and Rogers from Birmingham also dabbled in the production of folding pistols, even with three blades.
That seems to be all with the British. But our journey through the countries where such unusual samples of small arms appeared will undoubtedly continue ...
Photos used: littlegun.be
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