This is a very good example of a very early square back trigger guard Colt Navy revolver manufactured in 36 calibre. This is only the third Werder I have offered for sale in forty years.Ī very interesting and rare martial firearm that really is anachronistic for its time. You can easily see that this form of pistol would later evolve into the modern slab sided automatic pistols such as the Bergmann and Mauser C96. The front trigger is then pressed with the trigger finger and the Martini style breech then opens with some violence to extract the spent cartridge ready for reloading. To fire the pistol the hammer on the right of the frame is pulled back and the trigger pulled. The bore is clean and the mechanics are excellent. There is some original colour but mostly mellowed to a plum platina, the cavalry cartouches are still evident on the butt and the screws are all clean and not messed with.
#ARE FRANCOTTE PATTERN MARTINI HENRYS SAFE SERIAL NUMBERS#
With typical Teutonic efficiency the pistol is stamped with a plethora of matching serial numbers on every part easily or not so easily reached including screw heads and inside of the trigger guard. The conclusion that I reached was that if an enemy was advancing and you had a cool head, the Werder would outshoot the revolver every time in respect of speed of loading once you achieved proficiency with it.
For pure interest I considered that I was sheltering behind my horse and using either a revolver with a loading gate and this pistol and timed myself loading it. The rate of fire was said to be 20 rounds a minute and it occurred to me that this was quite ambitious. This pistol was introduced during the transition from percussion pistols to self-contained metallic cartridges and in interesting on many levels.Īlthough it was originally known as the "Bavarian Lightning pistol" because of its rate of fire, the Werder pistol proved too heavy for practical use. It was one of the first centre fire pistols to be adopted for use by a European military force.
This was an infantry and light cavalry falling block pistol, invented by Johann Ludwig Werder in Bavaria and based on his rifle design of 1868. This massive and rare pistol is the Werder pistol model 1869 in obsolete 11.5 mm calibre. Although there was some advertising stating government purchase this is not confirmed but Soldiers were able to privately purchase any firearm for their own use during the Civil War. Their revolver featured a “cup-primed” and front-loading concept, which was among the best attempts to get around S&W’s 12-1/2-year stronghold on cartridge revolvers. was financed and represented by the famed firearms agents Merwin & Bray, hence their name on the top of the barrel which is extant but faint. This is the option that Plant’s Mfg Co chose. Those that did were invariably sued.Ģ) they could continue to make percussion guns with all of their disadvantages until the Smith and Wesson patent expired.ģ) they could invent their own concept that was both an improvement over percussion guns and circumvented the Rollin White Patent. Makers of revolvers during the American Civil War had three choices:ġ) they could take their chances violating the Smith & Wesson owned Rollin White Patent for the concept of a “bored through cylinder” to accept metallic cartridges. Revolver, made circa 1864 in New Haven, Connecticut. Another rare and interesting revolver! This is an antique Plant’s Mfg.