There is nothing better than writing systematically when everything you need is at your fingertips. By the word "all" I mean the weapons "back room" of the Museum of the Russian Army in Moscow, the storerooms of the Museum of Artillery and Signal Corps in St. Petersburg, the Archive of Ancient Acts, again in Moscow, the archive of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk, the archive of the Navy, again in St. Petersburg, and so on. etc. etc. I got up from the table, went there, everything I needed, found it, filmed it, then wrote it … posted it on TOPWAR and everyone is happy. But when you have not been in the same St. Petersburg for 10 years, in Moscow you are only passing, or rather, flying abroad, and the daily allowance still amounts to … 100 rubles, then you will not run over much in the archives. Therefore, you have to write completely haphazardly. To what hands have reached, or what came to you quite by accident. For example, thanks to the courtesy of your friends in Russia and … people who understand your problems, although they live overseas. Not so long ago I came across one article, and in it there are excellent photos. I looked at them, went to the original, and this is an American site. I contacted its owner, received permission to use photographs and text, added something from the books, then my collector friend, who had previously provided me with Mauser and Steyr-Gras rifles, allowed me to … "hold on" for my latest purchase - 7- mm Lefoshe revolver for hairpin cartridges and shoot it. This is how this material came about. Without such extensive historical preludes, but, in my opinion, quite detailed and interesting.
This 7mm Lefosche revolver with a six-round drum. Small, a little awkward to hold, but … deadly up close. And it also has a folding trigger, so it was convenient to carry it in a pocket or in a handbag.
Well, it should start with the fact that a certain Casimir Lefoshe (1802 - 1852) lived in France in the 19th century, he was a gunsmith designer, and it was his work that had a very great influence on the development of small arms. and ammunition for it.
Diagram of one of the very first "Pepperboxes" Lefoshe with a block of four barrels.
"Peperbox" Lefoshe with a block of six barrels chambered for 7-mm cartridges.
In 1825, he began work on a new gun of the original design, and in 1832 he finished it, and patented a lightweight double-barreled hunting rifle with “breaking” barrels and an original barrel locking system. True, for army rifles, his system turned out to be unsuitable, but he made the hunters very happy. In addition, for his gun, Lefosche also invented a unitary cartridge of his own design with a cardboard sleeve and a brand tube welded to a copper ring on the bottom. This cartridge was a development of the unitary cartridge invented by the Swiss gunsmith Samuel Pauli (who introduced it back in 1808, and in 1812 significantly improved it and patented it).
Lefoshe cartridges: on the left 7 mm, on the right 9 mm.
But this is the unique and also hairpin cartridge of the American Casper D. Schubert, patented by him in 1861. It is clear that if someone came up with something interesting, then … imitators immediately appear who want to do better and in their own way.
In 1836, Kazemir Lefoshe designed a cartridge with a cardboard sleeve, a copper base and a striker pin, which was supposed to hit the primer inside the sleeve. Ten years later, namely in 1846, he developed and patented the so-called "bundelrevolver" ("peperbox") for this cartridge - a revolver with a rotating block of barrels. In 1851, this revolver was successfully shown at an exhibition in London. "Peperboxes" instantly spread throughout Europe, but Lefoshe himself died in 1852 and his work was continued by his son, Eugene, who designed a whole line of revolvers for hairpin cartridges of various calibers (5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15 mm).
Springfield rifle cartridge (left) and Schubert cartridge (right).
The device of the sleeve "Schubert cartridge". Caliber 0.58 or 14.7 mm.
One of them, 9-mm caliber, was adopted by the French army under the name "French military model of 1853", and became the first revolver of this type in the world to enter the army. In 1858, a new revolver was adopted: the "French military model of 1858" already with an all-metal sleeve.
In 1861, the hairpin cartridge, with a very original egg-shaped sleeve, appeared in the United States. Its author was Kasper D. Schubert, who also created a rifle with a "Henry bracket" for it. True, the characteristic drawback of hairpin cartridges remained in its cartridge: if cartridges of central or circular ignition can be inserted into the chamber as you like and you do not need to watch how they are inserted, then the hairpin cartridge must be placed in it without fail so that it the hairpin was sure to be in the right place to hit the trigger. In any case, this slows down the loading process, since it requires attention and, in addition, the introduction of special grooves for pins, holes, and protrusions into the design of the chambers, which help to insert the cartridges correctly.
Schubert rifle sample 1861 Patent.
The device of the Schubert rifle. As you can see, the sleeve with its rear egg-shaped part was inserted into the rear chamber, and the barrel (trunks) were previously folded back, and then, accordingly, returned back. At the same time, the bullets entered the barrel, and the protrusion of the striker fell into the hole, into which the hammer striker hit. It is clear that the destructive power of a bullet of the caliber of our domestic anti-tank rifle was extremely high. There were legends that such a bullet pierced ten soldiers standing in a row one after another, but usually its strength was only enough … for two!
It is clear that the success of Lefoshe hairpin revolvers caused numerous imitations in most European countries (Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Germany, Spain, etc.), so that up to the proliferation of weapons with central battle cartridges, all European armies (in contrast to the US Army, which armed capsule revolvers!) used pin revolvers!
Hairpin revolver with a drum for 12 rounds of 9 mm caliber.
Only at the beginning of the 20th century, the production of hairpin cartridges stopped, that is, for more than 50 years it was truly massive in view of the very widespread distribution of this type of small arms, and well-oiled and - what is important (!) Not too expensive for their cost production.
This is how the hairpin cartridges are loaded into the drum.
Revolver Lefoshe model 1858 had an octagonal barrel with a front sight. The drum had protrusions that mesh with a retainer that blocked the drum when the cartridge hit the line of fire. The hammer can also be cocked manually. The revolver was equipped with an extractor rod, which could knock out spent cartridges from the drum. It had a spring that prevented it from accidentally falling into the drum. The weapon had a belt ring on the handle. The muzzle velocity of an all-lead bullet of such a revolver was 168 m / s.
Diagram of the Lefoshe revolver device.
In Russia, revolvers of the Lefoshe system began to be tested already in 1859 and were recognized as the best among all those produced at that time. For the Gendarme Corps, 4,500 revolvers were ordered from Lefoshe, and another 1,600 pieces were ordered from the Belgian manufacturer Tanner. Then 1000 pieces were made at the Sestroretsk plant and another 500 revolvers were made by the Tula gunsmiths.
Pocket 7mm Lefosche revolver next to revolver for scale.
The hammer is cocked, the trigger is pulled back. The revolver is ready to fire.
In this photo, the extractor is clearly visible, as well as the drum cover.
The drum cover is open, the chambers for the cartridges are clearly visible.
Recent examples suggest that Lefoshe's revolvers were technologically very simple, so their manufacture was not very difficult. Hence, by the way, and their numerous imitations. Revolvers "a la Lefoshe", in addition to the standard 5, 6, 7-rounds, began to be produced with drums for 10, 12 and even 18 rounds!
This is how the 6-round 12-mm Lefosche revolver of the 1854 model looked like.
So if somewhere in some adventure novel (for example, "The Mines of King Solomon" by Ryder Haggard or "In the Forgotten Land" by Rahul Sankrityan) you read that his characters shoot from 12-round revolvers, then most likely, these will be precisely Lefoshe's revolvers - other equally multiply charged revolvers at that time simply did not exist!
Please note that there are a lot of screws on this revolver! The barrel is attached to the frame with two screws. The third screw is attached to the barrel of the extractor. That is, the revolver can only be disassembled with a screwdriver! Well, and of course, from frequent disassembly, screw fasteners are usually loosened. On the other hand, such a construction is a gift for a technologist. I screwed on the part tightly and you're done!
In the photo, the revolver is held in the left hand.
And in this photo - on the right!
So they hide it in the pocket.
Personal impressions. A beautiful toy for a lady (keep in her purse just in case), at home you can keep under the mattress for unexpected robbery and … suicide for the sake of. We are, of course, talking about a 7-mm revolver. Very uncomfortable, small handle. However, to shoot yourself in the palate of a larger handle is not required!
P. S. The author would like to thank the owner of The Cartridge Freedom Act, Aaron Newkamer, for the opportunity to use his photographs and information materials.
