It is no secret that one of the most famous revolvers, at least in Europe, are the revolvers of the Nagan brothers, but after all, people were armed with something even before the brothers seized the market for short-barreled weapons. In this article, I would like to talk about revolvers that were common earlier, and they are no less common than the well-known versions of the revolvers of the Nagan brothers. Naturally, they were inferior in their characteristics to the subsequent widespread models, but nevertheless they were quite suitable for use, were acquired by civilians and even became armed with the armies and police of different countries. We will talk about the revolvers of Leopold Gasser and his company, and let's start with the M1870 revolver.
As the name of the weapon implies, this revolver appeared in 1870, it was in this year that the designer received a patent for this weapon and immediately set up its production. Despite its dimensions, the revolver seems to be quite light, this feeling arises due to the fact that there is no part of the frame above the drum, that is, the drum is open on top. This design of revolvers usually significantly affects the strength of the weapon, which limits the power of the cartridges that are used in it. The frame of the revolver itself consists of two parts, in one of which the firing mechanism is assembled, while the other holds the barrel and the drum. In this case, both parts of the frame are connected using threaded connections. So, the whole structure is kept together only by the screw located under the axis of the drum and, in fact, thanks to the axis of the drum itself, which is also screwed into the frame of the revolver. The ammunition used in this weapon model has the metric designation 11, 25x36R. The same ammunition was also used in the Werndl carbines, later the name 11, 3 Gasser 1870-74 Montenegrino was assigned to them. The weight of the revolver itself, despite its apparent lightness, is almost one and a half kilograms. The barrel length of the revolver is 235 millimeters, while the revolver itself has a length of 375 millimeters. The drum holds 6 rounds.
The revolver has a double-acting trigger mechanism. Since it is impossible to quickly remove the drum from the weapon, as well as quickly gain access to its chambers, on the back of the drum, in the frame of the weapon, an opening window is provided for charging, as well as for removing spent cartridges from the weapon. This window has a spring lock, which is made in the form of a conventional leaf spring screwed to the frame of the weapon. Thus, fast reloading is out of the question, since new ammunition is placed one at a time in each chamber of the drum through the charging window. In addition, before inserting new cartridges into the chambers of the revolver drum, they still need to be freed from the spent cartridges, which is also done alternately using an extractor located under the barrel, or rather slightly to the right of it. This extractor does not retract or fold, but is located in its fixed place permanently opposite the window for recharging.
An interesting point is that this revolver has a safety device against accidental firing.
On the right side of the weapon frame there is a long lever; when it moved, a cunning mechanism came into action, which, with the help of a spring-loaded pin, locked the trigger of the weapon. In order to protect yourself from an accidental shot, it was enough to move the lever and slightly pull the trigger of the revolver towards you so that the locking pin could stand in front of it. After that, it was possible to press the trigger until blue in the face, the shot would not follow, as well as when a rather weighty revolver fell on the trigger. Such a system may be called the safest, but in my opinion it would be more reasonable to tie this locking pin to the trigger in such a way that it retracts when the trigger is fully squeezed.
Another interesting point about the weapon is that its sights are located only on the barrel. So, both the rear sight and the front sight are welded to the barrel of the weapon, which can even be called a plus, provided that the design of the revolver is not the highest, at least you can aim where the barrel is looking, regardless of the backlash of the frames relative to each other.
The Leopold Gasser M1870 revolver was a really serious weapon, sufficient weight extinguished recoil when firing, a long barrel and a well-chosen ammunition, made it possible to conduct effective fire at sufficiently large distances for short-barreled weapons. But it is natural that the revolver had disadvantages that overlapped all its advantages. The same high weight was a rather serious drawback when worn, as well as dimensions. The design of the revolver itself was not the most perfect by the standards of later weapons, for its time it was considered quite normal, just like reloading one cartridge at a time. In order for the weapon to reduce its weight and length, two more versions of the weapon were developed, which differed from the original weapon only in the length of the barrel. So, variants with barrels of 185 and 127 millimeters long are known, the length of the revolvers themselves was 325 and 267 millimeters, respectively.
A much more significant drawback of this weapon was that it was very expensive, the samples were often decorated with engraving, the handles were made of ivory or valuable wood, in general, the weapon was not at all cheap. But it was not the external beauty of the weapon that added to its price, the fact is that almost every detail of the revolver was made with the help of forging, which is quite difficult from the point of view of mass production, let's say I personally have no idea how you can forge a revolver frame. Although looking at what modern blacksmiths manage to do, you cease to be surprised. However, these revolvers were never positioned as a mass weapon, but I think that Leopold Gasser would be glad if this were the case. So, despite the fact that the revolver was called an army revolver, he had nothing to do with the army, except perhaps with wealthy officers who acquired this weapon.
The situation changed after the gunsmith Leopold Gasser died in 1871. His business was inherited by his brother Johann Gasser, who turned out to be with a trade "vein", and a good designer.
It was thanks to Johann Gasser that the M1870 revolver became quite widespread, since the designer proposed to modernize the production of weapons, replacing forging with steel casting. The weapon also lost all its "decorations", but the design was exactly the same as its predecessor. Thanks to a change in production technology, it was possible to obtain weapons that are much cheaper and more accessible. Quite often, the resulting revolver is called the 1973 model, although it is still the same Gasser M1870. A significant reduction in the price of weapons immediately affected its distribution, and soon the Austrian fleet was armed with a revolver, and then it appeared in the army.
An even more interesting weapon is the Gasser M1870 / 74 revolver, also known as Montenegrin, as Montenegro is called in the Italian interpretation. There is one interesting story that allegedly King Nicholas at one time fell in love with this weapon so much that he obliged the entire male population to become the owner of this revolver. It is hard to believe in this, of course, but the tale of a ruler who is not only not afraid, but also obliges the population to arm themselves, is very attractive to us. If we take reality, then indeed this weapon has gained very high popularity in the area, and there were many reasons.
As the name of the weapon implies, it was made on the basis of the M1870 revolver, but it was not completely identical to this revolver. First of all, the absence of an extractor is striking, which was located below the trunk on the right. Now the extractor has become a separate part, which was hidden in the drum axle and fixed with a lever that simply clamped it inside. On the one hand, this significantly improved the convenience of carrying the weapon, on the other hand, it was necessary to make some changes in the design of the drum axis, which, although they did not cause any complaints, significantly reduced the safety margin of the weapon. The frame of the revolver, as before, consisted of two parts, from one of which the trigger mechanism of the weapon was assembled, while the other was held by the barrel. Now the whole structure was kept on only one screw, since the frame was simply put on the drum axis and was not fixed with absolutely anything. Of course, the high quality of the weapon and the maximum fit of every detail made the service life of the revolver quite large, but the very fact that the design of the weapon has become more fragile makes the attitude towards this revolver a little worse than towards the M1870 model with all its shortcomings.
The M1870 / 74 revolver uses all the same cartridges 11, 25x36R, however, the barrel length is 128 millimeters, and the length of the weapon itself is 255 millimeters. The drum began to accommodate 5 rounds instead of 6, and on its surface it ceased to be smooth. The weapon is charged through exactly the same window as in the M1870 model, that is, the speed of this procedure has not increased. But the system of protection against an accidental shot has become a little more perfect. In general, everything was organized in the same way as in the previous model. That is, when the safety lever was shifted, a spring-loaded pin rested against the trigger, which, when the trigger was pulled back, prevented it from moving to the cartridge primer, only in this case, when the trigger was pressed, the pin was removed. In other words, the weapon turned out to be completely safe when falling on the trigger, and at the same time it became always ready to fire, since the revolver had a double-action trigger mechanism. In addition, it became possible to safely carry a weapon with the hammer cocked, since the trigger was connected directly to the fuse, then in the event of a trigger failure for any reason, it would have rested on the pin, since the trigger of the weapon was not pressed, and accordingly, the accidental shot protection mechanism was not disabled. In general, the design has become more thoughtful and easier to use.
The sights of the revolver, as in the M1870 model, remained located on the barrel of the weapon, despite the reduction in its length, and many other points in the weapon are identical to the predecessor of this weapon. True, it should also be noted here that this model of the revolver was produced not only by Gasser, but also by many other arms companies, including very small ones, so that you can find many models differing from each other in insignificant details. You can identify the original revolvers by the mark in the form of a heart pierced by an arrow, although no one bothers anyone to do the same. You can also find revolvers originally from Belgium, which are usually branded in the form of an apple with an arrow. Given the high popularity of weapons and the number of manufacturers, it is very difficult to say exactly how many units of revolvers were produced, but there is no doubt that this number will amount to hundreds of thousands.
In addition to the M1870 / 74 revolver model, another revolver also bears the name Montenegrin, also from the walls of the Gasser company, which appeared in 1880. But we will consider this weapon a little later, for now we will get acquainted with another variation on the design of the M1870 revolver.
In 1876, Alfred Kropachek proposed his own version of the revolver for officers of Austria-Hungary, which was based on the Leopold Gasser M1870 revolver. The new revolver was named Gasser-Kropachek M1876. Generally speaking, nothing has been done except to reduce the length of the barrel of the weapon, but this is only at first glance.
First of all, the barrel length of the revolver was reduced, and the ammunition was also replaced with the 9x26R cartridge. For the same reason, the length of the barrel of the weapon has decreased and, as a result, the total length and weight of the revolver has decreased. So, the barrel length of the Gasser-Kropachek M1876 revolver is 118 millimeters, the total length of the weapon was reduced to 235 millimeters, and the weight was 770 grams without cartridges. The frame of the revolver still consists of two parts, in one the trigger mechanism of the weapon is mounted, in the other the barrel is fixed. In order to reduce the cost of the weapon, only the front part of the frame with the barrel was changed, thus the handle and the second part of the frame with the trigger mechanism remained completely identical to the M1870, so that already at that time they were thinking about unifying the weapon.
Since the weapon was almost the same in design as the M1870, it makes no sense to describe it, perhaps the only interesting point is that, in addition to the option for the army, there was also a civilian version of the weapon, which differed in a drum with grooves.
As noted earlier, not only the 1874 revolver model is known under the name Montenegrin. In 1880, a new revolver from Gasser appeared. This weapon was already fundamentally different from the previous versions, since the revolver was "turning point". The frame of the weapon consists of two parts, but they are fixed in such a way that the front of the frame has the ability to tilt forward. Parts of the frame are fixed with a pin that enters the hole in both frames and makes the structure stationary. The peculiarity of this revolver is that the locking pin is connected to a spring-loaded lever, which can be pressed without taking your hands off the handle. The ability to tilt the front of the frame significantly accelerated the procedure for reloading the weapon, since thanks to this the shooter had access to all the cameras at once. In addition, the revolver drum received an extractor, which immediately extracts all the casings from the drum chamber when the revolver frame is broken. This is organized with the help of a toothed gear fixed in the frame of the revolver and projections for it in the axis of the extractor. Thus, when breaking, the teeth of the gear interact with the cuts in the axis of the extractor, forcing it to lift, removing the spent cartridges. After that, you can simply turn the revolver over and shake out the casings, and then put new cartridges in their place.
The disadvantages of the design of the revolver can be attributed to the fact that there is a possibility of touching the lever for fixing the frame of the weapon, as a result of which it may open at the most inopportune moment, or the fixing pin may move and the frame will open during the shot. However, this problem was solved literally in the first batches of weapons by changing the pin with the lever to the Frankot lock, the essence of the truth has not changed, but it is more difficult to press two levers at the same time by accident. In addition, the weapon used a fairly common for that time, but rather inconvenient extractor for spent cartridges in the form of a plate with holes. So, in later models of weapons, it was already performed in the form of an "asterisk", which ensured independent loss of spent cartridges when the frame was opened. In general, despite its widespread distribution, such a revolver design is not the most durable and cannot be used in weapons that use powerful cartridges.
The cartridges in the weapon were still the same - 11, 25x36R, so there are no big changes in the effectiveness of the weapon, although there are no complaints in this regard. The revolver was produced in two versions with a barrel length of 133 millimeters and 235 millimeters, both the total length and the weight of the weapon depend on this. The trigger mechanism of a double-action revolver, the drum holds 5 rounds. Quite often you can find samples with engraving, and it can be really artistic, or it can look like the work of fifth graders in a labor lesson.
The weapon spread throughout Europe as if it were the only one existing revolver, the number of weapons created is unknown, since it was produced by both large arms companies and small, little-known ones. There is a story about this weapon that it was almost forcibly implanted in the male population of Montenegro, just like the 74 model. It seems to me that the main reason for the origin of this story is that Nicholas, the ruler of the country at that time, was a “part-time” supplier of these revolvers to the country, naturally making a lot of profit. In addition, he also advertised this weapon, perhaps not on purpose, since in all his portraits during the period of popularity of these revolvers he was with this particular weapon.
In 1898, the designer of the Gasser company August Rast proposed another version of the revolver, which already had absolutely nothing to do with the M1870 and was completely developed by the gunsmith. In the process of developing this weapon, August Rast tried to take into account all the shortcomings of previous weapon models, as a result, in 1898, the Rast-Gasser M1898 revolver was already put into production, since it was distinguished by a fairly high strength and durability in comparison with previous weapon options implemented on the basis of the M1870 … The revolver was not widely used, since it could not compete with the weapons of the Nagan brothers, however, the weapon was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian army.
The first drawback that all previous models of revolvers had balls was an insufficiently strong weapon frame, which did not allow the use of powerful cartridges, and in addition, reduced the service life of the revolver. It was this shortcoming of the weapon that Augustus Rast first of all eliminated in his revolver, making it a solid frame. This significantly increased the strength of the weapon, but the designer did not dare to use powerful ammunition in his model. The reason for the rejection of powerful cartridges was that the designer decided to make his revolver with an increased drum capacity so that it could compete with pistols in this parameter. So, the revolver drum began to have 8 chambers, which contained cartridges with the metric designation 8x27.
The procedure for reloading the weapon is carried out through the Adabi door on the right side of the weapon; to facilitate the removal of spent cartridges from the drum chamber, the revolver is equipped with a spring-loaded extractor, which is located under the barrel. The extractor has the ability to turn and become slightly to the right of the barrel, that is, in the stowed position it does not interfere with wearing it, and when removing spent cartridges it turns out to be quite convenient to use. The surface of the drum of the weapon is smooth, without grooves, there are only small grooves for fixing the drum when firing.
Much more interesting is the fact that you can get access to the trigger mechanism of the revolver in a matter of seconds. On the left side of the frame of the revolver has a "door", opening which you can see completely all the insides of the weapon, which is quite convenient for servicing the revolver. An interesting point is also how this "door" is fixed. Fixation is carried out using a pin welded to the opening part of the frame, this pin enters the hole in the frame of the weapon. There is a small cutout on the pin itself; this cutout includes a protrusion on a movable safety bracket, which securely fixes this element.
The trigger mechanism of a double-action revolver. The hammer is disconnected from the spring-loaded striker, while the hammer itself can reach the striker only if the trigger is pressed all the way, which ensures a very high degree of safety in handling the revolver. In general, the weapon turned out to be safe, reliable, easy to maintain, the only drawback of this revolver, in my opinion, was the cartridge, but here you need to take into account the age of the weapon.
The weight of the weapon was 980 grams without cartridges. The length of the revolver was equal to 225 millimeters with a barrel length of 116 millimeters, so the weapon cannot be called light and compact. Despite fierce competition from the company of the Nagan brothers, this revolver has been in use for quite a long time. So, after the end of the First World War, a fairly large number of these weapons ended up in Italy, where they served until the end of the Second World War. By that time, this weapon was no longer used anywhere else. Even after the end of World War II, this revolver was far from the rarest model in Italy, while in other countries even the production of 8x27 cartridges was curtailed.
These are the samples of Gasser revolvers that once filled Europe. Of course, this is far from all the weapons that came out of the walls of the company, but these revolvers have become the most popular. In addition to them, there is also a huge number of weapons intended both for the civilian market and for arming law enforcement officers, for the army, and so on. Do not forget also about the revolvers that were produced by other companies based on the Gasser weapon designs, they usually differed in small details. Despite the fact that the Nagan brothers made quite strong competition for this weapon, Gasser revolvers did not lose all their popularity, and although they had to "move up" they still remained a popular weapon on the market, although it is possible that in most cases this was bought weapon simply because of the name Gasser. If we evaluate these revolvers from our time, then personally I associate the phrase "European revolver" with the revolvers of Gasser and the Nagant brothers, and not only I have such associations. Unfortunately, revolvers were forgotten in Europe, basically at the moment all production of this type of weapon is concentrated in the USA, where the revolver is considered part of the culture. Nevertheless, some of the European arms companies no, no, and will release a new sample that few people will notice.
