The larger the bullet, the stronger its impact. Even if she does not kill, she is guaranteed to knock down, and this is what the shooter most often achieves. But in long-barreled revolvers, the recoil when firing such bullets was very high. That's when the short-barreled British Bulldogs appeared …
Forget crossbows and pikes -
Retired on time
Cast in stainless nickel
Heavy British Bulldog!
Didn't come off the conveyor belt -
Handmade and plan, Systems "Vebley" or "Trenter", Blend Price or even Varnan.
Or maybe Francott's systems, Lying at the bottom of the holster
Where Abadi's door is the gate
Gateway to other worlds!
Gordon Lindsay
Weapons and firms. Without a doubt, the interest of the readership in the "revolving series" is very high. Yes, and I myself am interested in all the "tricks" of this topic to understand and admire all these deadly "toys". It should be noted, however, that the series would not have taken place if it were not for the kind attitude towards us of various "overseas" and European "partners" who, without hesitation and setting any commercial conditions, agreed to provide me with photographs of their samples of ancient weapons. Just like the keeper of fonts from the local history museum in Perm, where I wrote, and from where I literally immediately received photographs of the Goltyakov's "Galan" they had. It is pleasant to deal with such people and completely unpleasant with our museum workers, who either do not answer letters at all, or … demand some incredible money for their photographs. Well, God be their judge!
One of the readers asked me to write about … "revolver", and there will certainly be material about it, and even, most likely, more than one. But there is no way to find a suitable epigraph for an article about him. But for the material about the English Bulldog revolver, he was found almost instantly. And if so, then let him go first. So, today we will have a story about a blunt-nosed, short and very deadly revolver, named after the dog's breed and, as they say, was the favorite weapon (when he needed it!) Of the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes!
And it so happened that Philip Vebley, together with his son, a native of Birmingham, where they had a small enterprise "Webley & Son Company", already producing revolvers, in 1867 decided to create a special revolver for the Royal Irish Constabulary. Decided and done. And already next year, the first production model of the Webley R. I. C. was adopted by the police (constables) in Ireland. The Webley RIC model 1867 revolver was designated "Webley RIC No. 1". And the commercial sample of this model, released in 1872 - "Webley RIC No. 2". The characteristic features of both revolvers were the presence of a pear-shaped barrel with a bar at the top, tightly screwed into a frame, which was one-piece. The drum was smooth; only the late (released in 1883) "new model" - "Webley RIC No. 1 New Model", received its characteristic grooves. The trigger mechanism on all models was double-acting, and the extractor rod was located inside the hollow axis of the drum. Caliber.442 (М1867), then.450 and even.476. The barrel length of the first model was 112 mm and 89 mm for the second. Weight, respectively, 900 g for the first and 800 g for the second. The revolver received a rather peculiar name "Ulster Bulldog" and served in one way or another in the British police … more than 50 years, becoming one of the most popular and recognizable samples of Vebley's weapons.
Interestingly, this revolver was very similar to another English revolver - "Trenter" M.1868 (commercial model). Moreover, the British War Office actively purchased them for the army during the war with the Zulus. And it is understandable why: they were simple in design, were produced in single and double action, and also favorably differed from all others in their caliber, the designation of which ("450") was knocked out on their barrel.
Now it is difficult to say who influenced whom more - the father and son of Vebley on the Trenter or Trenter on the Vebley, but in the end, both of them had their own large-caliber revolver. And it was here that Vebley, and this was already 1872, decided to further improve this revolver. To reduce its metal consumption, a very short barrel was made on it with a length of only 2.5 inches (64 mm) for very large cartridges.442 "Vebley" or.450 Adams, five-round drum. The revolver was named "British Bulldog" - under this name and went down in history. Later, Vebley's firm also produced smaller revolvers chambered for.320 and.380 cartridges, but they were not named "British Bulldog".
Henry Vebley registered it as a trademark only in 1878. From that time to the present, this term has come to denote any double-action short-barreled revolver with a folding ejector and a short handle of a characteristic shape. They were intended primarily for wearing in a coat pocket, so many of them have survived to this day in very good condition, since they were practically not used.
An important advantage of this revolver was also the fact that it did not have … not a single patented part, that is, it was all "made up" of "cubes", the validity of the patents for which had passed. That is, it could be produced by any manufacturer, and they could differ only in the emblem. For example, Vebley had a blunt winged bullet, while others, say, having slightly changed the design, could put their own brand on almost exactly the same revolver.
So "Bulldog" began to be produced by several companies in different countries at once, and it quickly gained "worldwide" popularity. And even in America. For example, General of the US Army George Armstrong Caster in the battle with the Indians at Little Bighorn was armed (there is such data) with just a pair of revolvers of this type. And the employees of the railway company "Company of the South Pacific Railway" were armed with revolvers "British Bulldog" as a standard weapon until 1895.
Copying "Bulldog" has taken on an incredible scale. Its numerous copies and variants (authorized and unauthorized) at the end of the 19th century were produced in Northern Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Pakistan, France and the United States. In the United States, copies of it were produced by such well-known firms as Forehand and Woodsworth (Worcester, Massachusetts), Iver Johnson (Jacksonville, Arkansas) and Harrington and Richardson (Worchester, Massachusetts). Belgian and American models (for example, "Frontier Bulldog") were made for.44 Smith and Wesson American or.442 Vebley.
The.44 Bulldog cartridge, by the way, was very popular in the United States, although it was also less powerful than its American counterparts, which could also be fired from.442 Vebley revolvers. In 1973, Charter Arms introduced its Bulldog revolver. This is a "snub-nosed" five-shot revolver for concealed carry or a "last chance" weapon. It was named after the original, but looks quite different from it.
The Bulldog revolver went down in history as a weapon of political assassins. So, it was from him in the United States on July 2, 1881, at the Baltimore-Potomac railway station, President James A. Garfield was shot dead. His killer was the lawyer Charles J. Guito, who decided in this way to take revenge on Garfield for not giving him any position in his government, and he so wanted to be … an ambassador.
Interestingly, at first Gito wanted to buy a Bulldog revolver with an ivory handle, because he thought that this revolver would look better when it was displayed in a museum, but decided to save some money. However, the store owner turned out to be a good seller and lowered the price for him. As a result, Guito paid 10 dollars for a revolver, a box of cartridges and another penknife, and the next day he went to the banks of the Potomac River in order to learn how to shoot from his revolver. As a result, he shot at Garfield and wounded him (he died only on September 19 as a result of purulent inflammation), and his revolver, as he assumed, was placed in the Smithsonian Institute museum, but after some time he disappeared. Only his photograph remains.
Lindsay's poem mentions Emil Varnan's Varnan firm, and this is no coincidence. She also produced "Bulldogs" (some were called "Pappy" - "puppy") Caliber.320. Short rifled barrel with a crescent-shaped front sight. The charging door, as on all Bulldogs, is on the right side. The trigger is folding. Drum for six rounds. Made in 1893, and the Varnan company was even very advanced in terms of mastering new military products. For example, Warnan's patent for a revolver with a right-leaning barrel is known. And it was also "Bulldog"!
It was from the "bedog", although it is not known what kind of production, that she shot at the St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepova Vera Zasulich and wounded him in the stomach. Having received two bullets, Trepov, however, survived and died only 11 years after this incident, in which, by the way, he himself was to blame.
As a result, the popularity of "bulldogs" became so high that in the same, for example, Germany, they were banned from import. They believed that the short barrel of this revolver makes it a "criminal" weapon. But then there were manufacturers who easily bypassed this ban. They began to produce and import into Germany long-barreled "bulldogs" with a front sight located in the middle of the barrel, and their own buyer could cut the barrel of his revolver to the desired length! And so that the sawn-off end did not go to waste, they began to make … thread on it from the muzzle end! The second revolver was imported into the country without a barrel. The barrel was sawn in half along the front sight, and its other half was screwed into the second revolver!
