Status revolver for Montenegro
Bonaparte asked. -
True eh: this is an evil tribe,
Not afraid of our strength?
So repent, cheeky:
Announce them to the elders,
So that guns and daggers -
All carried to my feet.
A. S. Pushkin "Bonaparte and Montenegrins"
stories about weapons. Last time we talked about the start of production of Leopold Gasser model 1870 revolvers. Today we continue our story, and it will be dedicated to the most, let's say, "unusual" weapons in the world. And this, again, will be the Gasser revolver of the 1870 model of the year (and a number of subsequent years), but it will be unusual because it is probably the only known model of revolvers, the handle of which took up to 1 grams of silver to finish!
Well, we should start here with the fact that only the Montenegrin military ministry had the right to import weapons to Montenegro and no one else. It bought revolvers at a price of 13,5-14 guilders apiece. Moreover, they were transported first by train, then by steamboat, and finally by horses.
Every Montenegrin man liable for military service was obliged to buy a revolver, but already at a price of 15,3-18 guilders. Moreover, he had the right to wear it and pass it on to his children, but he did not have the right to sell it. Nobody! Especially for foreigners!
And on February 1, 1885, the War Department also issued an order according to which it was forbidden to have revolvers with ebony, ivory, silver decorations and coral inserts in a purely Turkish taste! Like, there is nothing for you to spend money on nonsense! But the most interesting thing is that according to the approved schedules of 1891, 1893, 1901 and 1905. all Montenegrins were forbidden to purchase not only copies of the Gasser revolver made in Belgium, but also any other non-statutory samples of Austrian revolvers!
That is, the famous Montenegrin models - "Montenegrins" in theory could not be Montenegrin. Even though that's what they were called! True, in 1898-1899. officers of the Montenegrin army were allowed to buy commercial (short-barreled) models, but only if they had service revolvers of the 1870 and / or 1870/74 model. Although in 1901 this permission was canceled.
As a result, revolvers became status symbols of the Montenegrin population. Men carried one or even several revolvers, along with traditional clothing. And just in time for the Balkan market, revolvers began to be offered with ivory handles, decorated with nickel plating and engraving. That is, European industrialists, having learned the mountain mentality, began to act in accordance with it and ... were not mistaken.
Wealthy people bought Gasser-made revolvers with expensive finishes, while ordinary Montenegrins were content with less expensive Belgian or Spanish designs. By the way, not so many of them were bought in Montenegro itself: from 1882 to 1910, Montenegro acquired a total of 14 mod. 000/1870 and even before that 74 revolvers model 6.
The weapon depends a lot on the cartridge. Not without reason, many pistol designers made their pistols under their own designed cartridges. Revolver Gasser arr. 1870 was designed for a central ignition cartridge of 11 mm caliber (11,3 × 36 M.70, the total length of the cartridge is 46,6 mm, the sleeve is 35,6 mm), which was also used in single-shot carbines of the Werndl system arr. 1867 (11,3 × 36 M.67).
The mass of the powder charge for the revolver cartridge was 1,4-1,5 grams with a bullet length of 22,9 mm, and for the carbine - 2,1-2,2 grams with a bullet length of 35,6 mm. Therefore, in a revolving cartridge between a powder charge and a bullet, a wad of cardboard 6,6 mm thick was placed.
In 1882, a new cartridge for Gasser revolvers was introduced - cartridge 11 × 29 M.82, with a 29 mm cartridge case (38 mm cartridge), a powder charge weighing 1,5 grams, already without a wad. In Belgium, they produced their own cartridges for the Montenegrin revolver (recall that it was a commercial copy of the Austrian Gasser revolver of 1870) with a sleeve 33 mm long and a charge of gunpowder 1,8–2,06 grams. It was possible to shoot them only from revolvers with a monolithic frame.
For their time, these were extremely powerful cartridges, although their caliber was less than 12,7 mm. Firstly, they were larger than the .44 Magnum cartridge (10,9 × 32,5 R mm). Secondly, it was loaded with black powder and fired a bullet weighing 14,3-20,3 grams at a speed of 210 m / s. That is, this “Magnum” of that era was, moreover, more powerful than its contemporaries such as the Colt .45 and the “Russian Caliber” .44 Smith and Wesson revolvers.
Many Montenegrin revolvers ended up in North America in the luggage of immigrants from Montenegro. They were considered an integral part of life in the old country, so their owners, of course, took them with them to the new country. Once in a foreign land, the old rivals dispersed in all directions, and rarely came into contact with each other, so that within a couple of generations the need for these revolvers completely disappeared. Well, the status gained from wearing them was also lost in America. But they are in the US and are the object of increased interest from collectors.
Cases of revolvers arr. 1870s were cast from ductile iron and therefore wore out very often. As a result, there was a noticeable gap between the front of the drum and the breech. The allowable maximum was 1 mm, but when it got larger, the weapon needed repairs.
In 1874, the hulls began to be made from crucible, cast steel. The improved sample was called the "army revolver mod. 1870/74". Then cast steel cases became a characteristic feature of all Gasser revolvers. About 1875 of them were produced during the period from 1880 to 220, and they were produced both by the Gasser enterprise and in Belgium.
The revolver had an open frame and a barrel attached to it with a screw from below. The drum was charged through the door on the right side, which folded down. The extraction of spent cartridges was carried out using an ejector rod located parallel to the axis of the barrel, to the right and below. At the same time, the leading edge of the rod was made in the form of an arch in order to slide freely along the trunk. The revolver was provided with a fuse, which was turned on by supplying it to a half-cock. In this form, it was quite safe to carry it loaded. But as soon as the trigger was pulled, the safety pin was removed from the path of the drummer and a shot occurred.
The Gasser-Kropachek M1876 revolver was adopted by Austria-Hungary in 1876 as an improved model of the same 1870. However, all the changes proposed by Alfred Kropachek came down to a decrease in caliber to 9 mm, so her weight decreased accordingly.
In 1879, Gasser's company had a competitor - Thomas Sederl, who began producing Gasser revolvers of the 1870 / 74 model, but with a one-piece, one-piece frame. He also produced his own revolver of the “Sederl system” in caliber 11 and 9 mm arr. 1880. But few of them were produced, and they did not enjoy success. But copies of Gasser, and richly decorated, he released quite a lot! However, Sederl himself, although with the help of Major Edler von Kromar, added a number of improvements to the firing mechanism.
And Gasser's revolver was noted in a very unusual way in polar research. In 1871, the Austro-Hungarian polar expedition took place on the Tegethof ship. And for its participants, by special order, 30 revolvers mod. 1870 with barrels, cases and drums made of "steel bronze" by Franz Uchatius. This metal was resistant to cold and, most importantly, did not affect the compass readings, which was especially important for northern navigation.
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