This article … is a jubilee one - number 500 on the TOPWAR website for the two years that I have been working with him. I could have written more, but, of course, one cannot read Shpakovsky alone. Be that as it may, the number 500 is also quite large, that is, 250 published materials are published per year. Some articles turn out better, some worse, some are written "in the mood", some become the fruits of many months, or even many years (!) Of research, some are co-authored with my colleagues - in any case I have to work with their lyrics too. I am sure that the work with the site will continue in the future, and its readers, both those who like my work and those who are in their throats, will still have a lot of interesting things. I thought for a long time what material to make the 500th? About the People's Commissar Yagoda with an inventory of the finds made with him during the arrest? Another about effigy? About the culture of Japan, say, the images of samurai on uki-yo woodcuts, about PR in all its forms, or something else? And so I decided to fulfill the request of many VO readers and write about revolvers. More precisely, about one revolver, which, again, I happened to hold in my hands and evaluate from the point of view of convenience and "goodness". I really enjoyed it and … why not share it with others ?!
The history of this revolver is the best evidence that no man is only smart. Fate always measures out its portion of stupidity to him, and it always happens that way. That is, in some ways he is wise as … and in others - well, a fool! Here is Samuel Colt - the creator of the most popular revolver in the United States, who personally carved its model out of wood, who created the city of Coltsville - where women (!) Performed the work of smoky muscular blacksmiths on the most modern machines at that time, an excellent specialist in advertising and marketing, not realized the benefits of what was first offered to him by Rawling White in 1855, April 3, who received a patent (patent number 12608) for a revolver with a barrel with through holes. But he did not have money for the development of production, and he sold his development to Messrs Smith and Wesson. Less than a year later, they created the world's first revolver according to this scheme: Smith & Wesson Model 1, produced in 1857-1882.
Revolver "Military & Police" during the Second World War.
Meanwhile, Colt died, and his widow and … Mr. William Franklin, who was appointed vice president of the company by her in 1865, had to deal with the consequences of his short-sightedness. He tried to buy Rollin White's patent for a through-chamber drum from Smith and Wesson, arguing that it was about to expire and they could make the same revolver. However, the remaining three years in the arms business until the end of the patent period is a long time. Therefore, he suggested to his engineer Friedrich Thür to come up with something that would allow them to bypass White's patent and convert all old capsule revolvers into cartridge revolvers. As a result, a revolver was obtained, loaded with cartridges without a rim from the front end of the drum. The alteration of the existing samples seemed to be not difficult - only the drum itself was changed, and the firing pin for the primer was riveted to the trigger. Moreover, the drum did not have a through drilling, since Tyr's cartridges were inserted into its chambers with an effort from the front and were held in them due to friction between their walls and a bullet protruding from the sleeve. The revolver had a hammer stopper, thanks to which it could be turned off and discharged by successive pulls on the trigger and strikes of the trigger on the drum. In this case, empty sleeves or unused cartridges were thrown out of it forward.
Revolver "Smith & Wesson Model 1"
Why was it done this way? Because Smith and Wesson had bought a patent for the automatic ejector of Charles A. King even earlier, and no other company could use it at that time! So, as always happens in our life, just one wrong step set in motion a whole avalanche of circumstances that literally covered the company of Colt's widow and almost became her grave. The inertia of the military's thinking saved the company - the very name of the Colt was well known to them, and they agreed to rework revolvers at a cheap price, rather than pay more, albeit for a better quality product to no one particularly unknown manufacturers who supplied their products to … distant Russia, where, as everyone knew, people drank vodka straight from the samovar, and the bears walked so straight through the streets …
Advertising of the civilian models "Smith and Wesson" in the Russian press at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Meanwhile, the Smith & Wesson Model 1, a 7-round.22 Short revolver, and the first commercially successful model to use a rimfire cartridge instead of a separate chamber load, turned out to be a truly revolutionary weapon, although outwardly rather nondescript! The design feature was, in addition to the through drum, also the barrel, which swings upwards on the hinge, the drum being removed at the same time, and the single-action firing mechanism with an original nipple trigger. By the way, it was discharged for quite a long time: it was necessary to knock out the spent cartridges from the drum, putting it on the ramrod-extractor located under the barrel! But if you had a second loaded drum, then reloading it was a matter of a few seconds - the time for a Colt is unattainably fantastic!
Then the automatic King extractor went into action, and so the famous Smith and Wesson appeared, which entered service with the Russian imperial army!
In 1876, American newspapers wrote that if the cavalrymen of General Custer's detachment were armed with Smith and Wesson revolvers, and not the primitive "Colts Peacemakers", then the defeat at Little Big Horn simply would not have happened!
Revolver "Colt-Peacemaker", artillery model.
It is clear that after such a reprimand, the American military took up their minds and began to look at this company with completely different eyes!
Meanwhile, the "critical mass" of inventions, to which, again, no one paid attention, began to grow rapidly! So, in 1862, Daniel Moore took a patent and even released some revolvers in which the barrel, along with the magazine, could turn left and right in such a way that the breech of the drum opened by one cartridge and, thus, scrolling the drum, the revolver could recharge.
Moore's revolver
Bacon Hopkins, (1862, US pat. No. 35419) produced 300.38 caliber revolvers with a six-shooter swing-out drum, hex barrel and teat escapement - a very modern design for the time.
Following was the patent of V. Mason (1865, US pat. No. 51117), in which the drum axis was spring-loaded. At the end, under the barrel, there was a wooden "hat", by pulling on which, this axis could be taken out of its nest and the drum could be thrown aside for reloading. But none of the masters paid attention to this innovation!
Finally, Levo in 1873 patented a revolver with a folding drum and a pusher pin for alternately pushing out the casings, here, apparently, the inertia of thinking affected. Well, what about without a pin …
And then in France, the Saint-Etienne revolver of 1892 was designed and in it, now the standard revolver of the French army, the drum was finally made reclining to the right. Right, because it was more convenient for the cavalry! The drum extractor was manual and on the axis of the drum! The revolver was in use from 1893 to 1965 and, despite all the complaints (for example, it was blamed for a small caliber and weak bullet effect), it proved to be quite an effective weapon.
Diagram of the Saint-Etienne revolver of 1893.
So … all that remained was to put it all together, sit down to think and make a "revolver without flaws." And so the engineers of the Smith & Wesson firm made just such a revolver - history prepared absolutely everything for its creation, and then in 1900 there was a government order for a service revolver of 0.38 caliber for the army and navy, however, in the amount of only 2000 copies. The model received the designation "Army-Navi", but at first there were no other orders, since the war in the Philippines showed that the stopping effect of the bullet of the new revolver was worse than that of the New Service Colt.45 (11, 43-mm). But here the production of this revolver was supported by its purchases by the fleet. The naval officers just liked it: powerful enough, but not too heavy, and in fact they had to shoot from it very rarely!
"Military & Police" with the drum unfolded. Front view.
Back view.
And this is how it looks when it is in the hand.
But even more the new "Smithwesson" liked the American policemen. They were in service at that time was the Colt "New Police" arr. 1896 caliber.32 (7, 65mm). It was a light and handy weapon, but the stopping effect of its bullet was small. Larger caliber revolvers were heavy and bulky, but this one was just right. And the police began to order them along with the fleet, and orders are money, and money is the possibility of further improving the model. By 1905, it had been improved seven times! For example, in 1902 it was adapted for the stronger.38 Special cartridges. All this gave reason to rename the revolver, which just from 1905 became known as "Military & Police" (that is, "military police"), without indicating its "naval" origin. Finally, when in 1957 all the Smithwessons were numbered, this revolver was numbered 10. It is underneath that it is being produced … to this day!
Extractor work.
The design of the revolver is simple and therefore technically perfect. First of all, let us emphasize that it has a closed frame and therefore is stronger than the same "breakthrough" revolvers "Enfield". The six-round drum tilts to the left after pressing the latch button on the left side of the frame behind the drum, which is easy to do with your thumb. The trigger mechanism of a double-action revolver, with an open hammer and a drummer located on it. The sights are very simple: a semicircular front sight, made integral with the barrel, and a rear sight - a longitudinal groove on the upper part of the frame. The extraction of the sleeves is carried out by pressing the hand on the spring-loaded rod of the extractor - that is, you cannot imagine a simpler mechanism!
Comparative sizes of revolver and "Military & Police". As you can see, outwardly, they look almost the same in size. The Smithwesson has a slightly longer barrel and barrel, but that's where it ends.
During the Second World War, the revolver was first produced for the British armed forces under the designation "K-200" or ".38/200" (bullet weight 200 grains) with a caliber of 9.65 mm, and they were produced from 1940 to 1946, 890,000 copies ! The "military and police model" was first produced with a blued coating, but during the war years there was no time for sophistication, so they switched to coating by phosphating, the handle cheeks became smooth without any branded emblems, and a swivel for the belt was attached to it from below. These revolvers were supplied to all branches of the armed forces of the British Commonwealth, as well as partisan formations. Since 1941, Smith & Wesson began supplying Military and Police Model revolvers to the US Armed Forces. Wartime revolvers were named "Victory" because of the "V" in front of the serial numbers.
This is how it lies in the left-hander's hand. The brand mark is clearly visible.
The Victory revolvers were available in four "(102 mm) and five" (127 mm) long barrels, and for the US Army only six "barrels. True, the 45th caliber surpassed these revolvers in the stopping effect of the bullet. But many of the military, not to mention the police, did not need such deadly power!
And like this - for a right-hander.
In total, Smith & Wesson has produced over 6 million Military & Police revolvers and about one million Victory models. In addition, copies of them were produced in other countries, so it is simply impossible to accurately calculate how many of them were produced in total! Known revolvers with barrels 51, 102, 127, 152, 165 and 232 mm long - that is, for all occasions and for every taste. Calibers used in revolvers of this type:.38 Special,.38 Long Colt,.38 / 200. The weight of an unloaded revolver with a five-inch barrel is 880 g.
A purely personal impression of the revolvers: they are approximately equal in weight, but for some reason our revolver seems heavier. "American" lies well in the hand, both in the left and in the right. His handle is definitely more comfortable than Nagan's. After “shooting” a couple of drums of the revolver, the author had a blister on his finger, but the Smithwesson's descent was surprisingly easy. The drum opens very easily and the extractor works on it just as easily. In a word, with this revolver "it is easy and pleasant to fight" (how easy it can be at all!), But I would advise the revolver to be used by my evil enemy!
