@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries Damn a reply from the man, himself? I'm geeking out! Mr. Ferguson, do you have a VR setup? It would be a real treat to play in VR with you someday (my wife also adores you). I've got my old RiftS sitting here, collecting dust - could ship it to you?
Ever since first hearing the phrase I have also started finding myself using it a lot, it's excellent. It's really a pity such colorful language goes over most people's heads and they just look at you like you're nuts.
Thanks Jonathan and team. One example of Daw's marketing work is the book he authored about his firearms inventions. This was republished in the 1970s as "Gun Patents 1864" by David and Charles. I used to own a copy but I donated it to Ian McCollum for his collection.
Oh I will be on the lookout for Garibaldi's 1864 piece! There are plenty of Garibaldi themed museums between Rome and Caprera that show little detail about the firearms presented, maybe it sits forgotten in a display case somewhere there.
That hammer design is very clever. When the hammer is down, it would protect the caps like any other percussion revolver, but when you cock the hammer, it creates a huge gap to allow spent cap fragments to fall out.
That is a really cool revolver, but it's virtually impossible for any gun to truly be cool enough for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Just a ridiculously amazing historical figure, galivanting around the world and fighting for freedom everywhere he went... absolute legend. Incredible to think that a pistol owned by him might be sitting in someone's attic somewhere gathering dust.
@@FordPrefect23 Possibly true in Britain, but international biscuit-naming standards vary widely. Here in America, you only have to be very weird to have a biscuit named after you: Sylvester Graham thought he was inventing a cure for masturbation, and of course Trevor Oreo needs no introduction.
@@FordPrefect23 Yeah, Garibaldi's biscuits are awesome. But the Bourbons also got a very good biscuit, and he had a complicated relationship with them...
0:18 hmmm I'm guessing 1850 ish, british design, pinfire, or some odd striker mechanism, due to the pistol on my left, military trials or issue, or hope for military sale, because of the lanyard loop on the grip. I could be 100% wrong, but let's find out.
I've just gotten my first percussion revolver recently and shot it today, a clone of the 1858 Remington design. There's something about black powder (substitute) firearms that make them so alluring even long long after they've been made obsolete, I don't know if it's just the idea that loading the firearm is basically constructing what today exists within a self contained cartridge or if it's the way they link to the past in a way that todays firearms someday might, regardless if you live in a country that allows you to own firearms and you're interested in them it's worth owning something that's "classic" in that way.
Uh, now you've done it. I bought a 1851 Navy replica on a whim on vacation in South Dakota, eventually I gathered everything I needed to shoot it in my parents rural backyard... and now we have 4 of them (The Navy, an Army, a Remington and a single shot Patriot). Black powder, muzzle-loaders can be addicting. I think the ritual of loading them, it brings you closer to the history.
Spanish gun company ARSA will be making a Tranter look-alike for sale for around £1350. It WILL, however, be a Section 1 firearm, subject to having a Section 1 firearms certificate here in UK.
Having both fore and rea sights on the barrel must add more to accuracy than it detracts as any movement between the barrel and frame in use will put the sights out by far more than the slightly longer sight radius you might gain.
If you take off the barrel it turns into an unsafe pepperbox revolver. 😀 When you go on the ranges in Poland you can spot guys with percussion cap revolvers and three or even four fully loaded cylinders. They just replace these and then go for coffee with cake to load some 20 bullets to the top of black powder and a little amount of porridge for kids.
Technically, the "nice and loose" wedge, meaning that you can push it out with just a thumb, is most likely the way it should be, as long as it's a snug fit. Plenty of users of replica Colt percussion revolvers tend to hammer in the wedge, pulling the barrel up and thus contributing to the myth that open-top Colts shoot high rather than true to the point of aim. As I recall, back in the 1850s and 1860s, official manuals for open-top Colts described the disassembly method of simply pushing the wedge out without tools, and also using that technique for fast reload by replacing the drum with a pre-loaded one. I wouldn't be surprised if the same rules applied to the Daw, if the wedge is spring-held like in Colt's design.
Agreed, although based on our collection, historical owners also liked to hammer those wedges in! Also, when I say this one is loose, I mean *loose* as in practically falling out.
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries Ah, that kind of loose... I suppose that means it was regularly used, so the wedge just wore out in time. As for past owners having hammered in the wedges on open-top revolvers to the point of bending the barrel up by deforming the wedge slot in the frame and the barrel/loading lever assembly, I suppose it's indicative of a timeless truth: there are no foolproof products, and every product is bound to have users who just won't bother to read the instructions manual.
Gosh, I'd give anything to just browse those racks in person; of course it's a museum collection so no touchy unless under strict supervision.. but even then, to pick up and hold many of these weapons would be a beautiful dream
Actually, the National firearms collection per se is not open to the general public. It was formerly the MoD Pattern Room and providing you are doing some specific research, then you might try asking for limited access to assist it.
I've heard that cowboys that used a 6 shooter only loaded 5 and rest the hammer on the unloaded chamber for safety reasons. When there was a 5 shooter(like this one) did they di the same and only loaded 4?
Colts have a notch between nipples on the cylinder that the hammer engages to allow all 6 holes to be loaded and ready for action. On my Walker I have always loaded all 6 and used the notch with no issues and have lugged that revolver around on many adventures.
Based on the captive firing pins, you should probably reinstall a newly loaded cylinder with the hammer at half cock, to prevent negligent discharge by slamming the cylinder home down the base pin to the frame face. With the hammer down, a soft primer could get hit hard enough to set off the cartridge, even though the hammer spring may allow the hammer to rebound a smidge.
That was my thought also. Captive firing pins on each cylinder is risking an out of battery discharge. If you were riding over rough ground with that thing holstered and one or more chambers detonated....hate to think what that would do to your leg...or horse....
It would be very helpful if the lighting could be improved for the side camera. The combination of the nearly black gun frame against the nearly black jacket and the completely black background made it impossible to see what Jonathan was pointing out on the cartridge conversion. Many of these videos are less useful than they could be, simply because they are too dark.
hi, Jonathan !!! good video on two very interesting revolvers !!! i saw those revolvers closely in all entirely parts and splendor when they was put on the table on their yellow plates, such that i suggest to you put an yellow wear on the table ... and we can see cleraly in every parts all the gun of your video ... !!! bye 👍
Those are really nice looking revolvers and I understand your attraction to them ,the question is even though they handle well are they reliable & accurate ? , it's a real shame You can't demonstrate them or get Ian from Forgotten Weapons or Karl from In Range to test them either . Thanks Jonathan catch You next episode .
17:35 Mae would not be a fan of the early Tranter "double action". The ergonomics of gripping and manipulating it must have been pretty bad. How do you hold the pistol on target well while using two fingers on that strange staging?
The barrel and ramrod section of that pistol looks remarkably like the Colt 1860 Army. That fact that this pistol predates the Colt by several years tells me that the cross pollination of technology in the mid-19th century firearms industry was a two way street, because it looks like Colt liked the looks of this gun as much as Mr. Ferguson.
5:48 Careful fitting of the hammer to the tail of the grip is impressive and very stylish. 6:36 Neat indeed, but what are the safety implications of such a mechanism? Why wasn't it more common? 13:43 I'm starting to suspect that all that bustle was only worth it if you had a great need to use the (still quite early) metallic cartridges for some logistical reason, because it doesn't strike me as being meaningfully faster and easier than reloading an ordinary percussion revolver of the day - and quite unlike any purpose-built cartridge revolver, especially break-open ones that became very popular in 1870s. 15:01 I strongly suspect that the difference between favourable reviews and advertising was, as ever, quite murky. For example, it wasn't uncommon at that time for authors, even quite famous, to publish pseudonymous positive reviews for their works in major newspapers & magazines. 16:53 Was Colt such a powerful player at that time? It seems to me that by the 1870s the biggest mover and shaker on the global revolver market was Smith & Wesson with their No. 3.
6:36 - It adds complexity and therefore cost and likely reduced reliability. There's also the risk of inadvertently pulling through in a stressful situation and a shot going stray. Most users are going to want either self-cocking or 'single-action', I suspect. Ultimately though we have no idea - no-one wrote down their views on this sort of thing. 16:53 - fair point
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries That's very interesting still, thanks a lot! Does this double-action system with a half-cock position come back on semi-auto pistols?
@@F1ghteR41 Not as far as I know. Going into the 20th century it would be seen as a major safety concern to operate anything other than the hammer/striker with the trigger.
@hazcat640 Henry is offering 2 separate grip profiles. The bird's head and something like a mashup of an 1851 Navy and Smith and Wesson model 10. The grip profile is a little hard to describe.
Actually looked forward to this episode since the channel silhouette teaser earlier... Was not disappointed! The mystery revealed my utter ignorance of the marque, so glad to hear JW say he had not seen one until recently. Random thought that Sherlock might have been in the market for such, given the fast evolution of design and luxe but practical features. Not sure the periods align tho. Also triggered the thought that this period was when no license was necessary... It was assumed anyone rich enough to afford a pistol would be a Good Chap, not exactly true but as someone said. And so the price was sufficient to keep such out of the hands of the Frightful Oiks, who would have been considered morally bankrupt and borderline criminal... For them, the blackjack and boot knife the more affordable defence tools. And so a gentleman could go about his business, nefarious or otherwise, safe in the knowledge he could despatch 5 of the cheeky blighters if they had the audacity to attempt a hold-up... Also assuming in those days that even having mortally wounded said ne'er-do-wells, the gentleman would be free to go home, with the police believing his story and deferring to his status...
Yes, this is visible at about 13m 19s and you can see the alignment hole on a different radius to the firing pins. I do wonder if the misaligned cylinder can still rotate slightly. If there were some sort of cartridge label engraved on the cylinder I can imagine it being in the right place to be a marker, but that's a computer geek talking.
@@calvingreene90 Despite the safety position, maybe some people would still prefer to use the empty chamber method, just speculating; it doesn't really matter. The damage is odd really, looks like someone tried to fire (between) every chamber.
@Jonathan can you get your hands on the patent drawings or engineering blueprints? This would be, I think, the coolest "modern" antique revolver for reproduction here in the USA. At least that I have seen. What are your thoughts on reproducing this specific pistol, but with modern .38 measured barrels? So .371?
Still sort of bummed that Jonathan hasn't featured any artillery yet >< (and inbe4 someone points out a video i've missed, where he has, infact, done that lol )
A couple of reasons for this, first, despite my wonderful job title, I am a small arms and light weapons specialist. Second, we have no artillery in store at Leeds for me to moonlight with. However, my Curator of Artillery will be presenting an artillery piece on the channel soon!
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries thank you very much for the answer; will be looking forward to that video (and thanks for making the videos, too! :) )
This is a wonderful and informative video Jonathan, but it is so dark we cannot see any detail, it looks like it was filmed in a coal cellar at midnight! Chris B.
Fantastic Video's. I have a Question that might make an interesting video; What Left handed specific Weapons have been made, that you have in the Armoury?
Sits casually in front of an entire rack of EM-1 and EM-2 prototypes. One of the very few times when a UK gun guy can make a US gun guy jealous. Well played Jonathan. 😂
Fun coincidence that a designer called Paul Cashmore was from West Bromwich cos I have a cousin of the same name from Walsall (about 4 miles down the road for those not familiar). I wonder if he's related.
An elegant design. It’s too bad it wasn’t more successful but like any competitive industry the business side is far more ruthless than the creative side.
I normally loathe the typical European 19th Century revolver grip shapes. This, however, looks very modern and as if it handles *better* than a Colt for firing from eye level. Especially given how awkward the classic Colt grip would be in double action.
I've always found the smooth cylinder on a revolver to look kind of weird. Aesthetically I've personally always liked the British Webley Mk IV, as well as the U.S. Colt Single Action Army (M1873)
Being a former pistol owner in the UK, a target shooter, I watch these videos with both riveted attention and deep sadness. I red books in the pre internet age and was fascinated by both the form, function, history and manufacture of handguns, rifles and shotguns. As owning and shooting firearms in the UK has always, in my lifetime, been heavily regulated and, in my opinion, rightly so, I went throught the rigorous vetting procedure to obtain an FAC. I worked hard to learn safety and the associated skills of shooting technique and reloading. It depresses me that responsible and extremely safety consious people like myself were scapegoated for the unspeakable behaviour of a thoroughly vile little man and the criminally incompetence and irresponsible behaviour of the firearms licensing department of a Scottish police force. Unfortunately ihave learned that the british police and governments cannot be trusted to act in the interests of the british people. I started to study for a history degree but financial hardship forced me to suspend my studies during the second year even though I was progresing well and achieving good marks (2:1). I'd love to find a job working for a museum like Jonathan but I'm told the museums and libraries services here have been cut to the bone during the last 13 years of austerity. All in all very sad. I don't watch many firearms related channels but this one is my exception given that it's not full of overbearing men in pseudo combat outfits and essentially playing with guns to no informative effect. Thanks Jonathan and your team.
That may be understandably design choice for the time but by modern standards using the trigger for anything else than to fire is not a good thing. There always is a chance of accidentally firing if you get startled.
That half-cock system seems kind of neat, if a bit sketchy by today's safety standards. It looks like an awful cludge of a system for the cartridge conversion, though. If you have to replace the whole cylinder anyway, it would seem to make sense to just have a bored-through cylinder and tell Rollin White to go pound salt.
Roland White's patent would have covered even the conversion until it expired in 1869, because it loaded cylindrical cartridges in a bored through cylinder that incorporated a back plate containing the individual chamber firing pins. So $.25 per pistol made with the bored through cylinder. S&W paid White what he asked for when they brought out their pistol No. 1 in 1851, and the No. 2 in 1857, but somehow got him to agree to defend his patent in court against companies who infringed on it. He spent almost all of his money on legal fees after that, as there were legions of companies willing to ignore him and go into production.
One final question. Did the gunmakers who supplied Daws with these pistols ever make a model with a loading gate and fully bored through cylinder? That would have been at least as good a firearm as the 1873 Colt SAA, and would have been much more popular in Britain because of the caliber selections.
I used a paint crayon of sorts to colour in the markings on my Webley MkIV. The colouring has survived quite a few rounds at the range but won't survive a cleaning. It's a 1943 with a SPF mark on the backstrap, which is really easy to see with the colouring.
In the series Hell on Wheels the lead swaps out the cylinders as quick reloads during some fun fights. Makes it super clean and smooth. He used a Griswold but I believe swaps to cartridge conversion Colt later on? Or a Remington 58. Unsure but still awesome ruclips.net/video/p6X3cX-a468/видео.html
I must say, on so many of your close up shots, we see Jonathan in a grey blazer, holding a darkly blued firearm, behind a very dark backdrop of other firearms, its very hard to see a lot of the detail you are trying to show... You either need a spotlight on the firearm being shown closely, have Jonathon in a labcoat, or have a brighter back drop. or a combination of some or all of these solutions. Thanks for all your work showing us these pieces, but I thought it might be pertinent to say, given I have noticed it on so many of your videos, the closeups are very hard to actually see the detail.
Do you like Forgotten Weapons? Do you prefer tea to coffee? Do you debate on whether one should add milk to tea or tea to milk? If so, then then this is the place to you.
I find it interesting that we usually think of the more modern reloadable revolver cylinders, but we still also imagine the percussion revolver's rod. The conversion looks odd because it doesn't have the rod. Like all the toy revolvers for example would have the rod. And watching revolver videos shocked me when people like Ian and Ferguson would tilt the handle and not pull/push it. I always thought of it as some sort of cylinder/barrel release when I was younger, not something that loads the shot. Or maybe I've mixed it with a similar feature of a more modern revolver that would have a tilting barrel to access the cylinder for reloading, and it just looks similar.
Every week or two, the Polish type of eBay is flooded with double-barrel shotguns. Muzzleloaders. All are rust and dust, with no actual value. You can't even shoot with it for fear of the rapid barrel disassembly. Sir Jonathan, where in Europe they can get these sorts of 100 years old shotguns? Entirely covered in rust or in the pieces of eaten buttstock debris? French and German guns mostly but English as well. ps. I like your favorite revolver but I don't like old revolver handles. These are all too small for my hands. It's an op[en frame, any alignment issues with it like with most Lefauheux revolvers? EDIT: I knew it's Webley 😁
Since it's in Poland, I would suggest the source being originally the guns used or intended for use in the 1863 Polish uprising, if we're indeed talking muzzle-loaders here. Their contributors were likely the Polish gentry - or the robbed mansions of those who were deemed pro-Russian. Their regular appearance might suggest that someone dug a large cashe of these guns, or the metal detector crowd just knows where to search.
Amazing piece of Art. Unfortunately since Europe has become a kind of Guns- Taboo Zoo Garden,I wonder if talking about such things make sence any more.
We don't run around swinging longsword and battleaxes anymore yet we have enthusiast preserving history and knowledge about them all the same in Europe. Just because firearms aren't as active in our culture and society doesn't mean we don't have great respect for there impact or value preserving history surrounding them.
Anyone here in America can get these types of revolvers delivered to your door. Anything pre 1859 or until the nfa is knocked out. These aren't firearms new or original.
My wife and I have been looking for any reason to label something as 'festooned with nonsense'. My new favorite meme :) Love you, Jonathan!
Festooned with nonsense sounds like call of duty games lol
You're welcome :)
@@samholdsworth420 Exactly where I coined the phrase - Warzone IIRC :D
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries Damn a reply from the man, himself? I'm geeking out!
Mr. Ferguson, do you have a VR setup? It would be a real treat to play in VR with you someday (my wife also adores you). I've got my old RiftS sitting here, collecting dust - could ship it to you?
Ever since first hearing the phrase I have also started finding myself using it a lot, it's excellent. It's really a pity such colorful language goes over most people's heads and they just look at you like you're nuts.
"An elegant weapon for a more civilised age."
It really is a looker & seems to come up nicely in your hand.
nerd
@@ConeJellos Yup!
Getpojke well done you mong
Thanks Jonathan and team. One example of Daw's marketing work is the book he authored about his firearms inventions. This was republished in the 1970s as "Gun Patents 1864" by David and Charles. I used to own a copy but I donated it to Ian McCollum for his collection.
@@glynwelshkarelian3489 Indeed, and one day perhaps even Othais will start pronouncing "Birmingham" and "Eley" correctly.
Oh I will be on the lookout for Garibaldi's 1864 piece! There are plenty of Garibaldi themed museums between Rome and Caprera that show little detail about the firearms presented, maybe it sits forgotten in a display case somewhere there.
Would be cool to see more of Jonathans favourite weapons
That hammer design is very clever. When the hammer is down, it would protect the caps like any other percussion revolver, but when you cock the hammer, it creates a huge gap to allow spent cap fragments to fall out.
Beautiful revolver. Love the balance of aesthetics, functionality, and workmanship.
Very cool. Our great-grandfather favored his pair of dbl/single action .44 cal Adams revolvers.
It's kinda sad that Britain/England/UK today doesn't have diversity of small arms manufacturers it did in the 19th century .
We don't have cholera either, nor smallpox. None are required.
@@handlesarefeckinstupid A functioning economy isn't required?
@@handlesarefeckinstupid cope, seethe, Mald. I sleep so much better with guns in my house
Yeah. all the knife crime is so much better🙄 hope you’re carrying your smallsword
@@handlesarefeckinstupid spoken like a true subject
That is a really cool revolver, but it's virtually impossible for any gun to truly be cool enough for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Just a ridiculously amazing historical figure, galivanting around the world and fighting for freedom everywhere he went... absolute legend. Incredible to think that a pistol owned by him might be sitting in someone's attic somewhere gathering dust.
Don't forget the biscuits named for Garibaldi, you have to be truly inspirational to have a biscuit named after you.
@@FordPrefect23 Possibly true in Britain, but international biscuit-naming standards vary widely. Here in America, you only have to be very weird to have a biscuit named after you: Sylvester Graham thought he was inventing a cure for masturbation, and of course Trevor Oreo needs no introduction.
@@FordPrefect23 Yeah, Garibaldi's biscuits are awesome. But the Bourbons also got a very good biscuit, and he had a complicated relationship with them...
@@trioptimum9027 I don't mind his name being immortalized at all, good for him I suppose, but Graham's crackers certainly didn't cure me.
I haven't had a Garibaldi for year's not since i was a kid. I might start a new RUclips channel called forgotten biscuits. 😂
0:18 hmmm I'm guessing 1850 ish, british design, pinfire, or some odd striker mechanism, due to the pistol on my left, military trials or issue, or hope for military sale, because of the lanyard loop on the grip. I could be 100% wrong, but let's find out.
I've just gotten my first percussion revolver recently and shot it today, a clone of the 1858 Remington design. There's something about black powder (substitute) firearms that make them so alluring even long long after they've been made obsolete, I don't know if it's just the idea that loading the firearm is basically constructing what today exists within a self contained cartridge or if it's the way they link to the past in a way that todays firearms someday might, regardless if you live in a country that allows you to own firearms and you're interested in them it's worth owning something that's "classic" in that way.
Uh, now you've done it. I bought a 1851 Navy replica on a whim on vacation in South Dakota, eventually I gathered everything I needed to shoot it in my parents rural backyard... and now we have 4 of them (The Navy, an Army, a Remington and a single shot Patriot). Black powder, muzzle-loaders can be addicting. I think the ritual of loading them, it brings you closer to the history.
Why substitute? I live in UK and shoot my BP guns with the real Holy Black.
I wish these would be recreated, they're so cool I'd love to buy one
Spanish gun company ARSA will be making a Tranter look-alike for sale for around £1350. It WILL, however, be a Section 1 firearm, subject to having a Section 1 firearms certificate here in UK.
Having both fore and rea sights on the barrel must add more to accuracy than it detracts as any movement between the barrel and frame in use will put the sights out by far more than the slightly longer sight radius you might gain.
_This is one of the pleasantest in the feed, of the many varieties of videos, I have examined._ 🧐
If you take off the barrel it turns into an unsafe pepperbox revolver. 😀
When you go on the ranges in Poland you can spot guys with percussion cap revolvers and three or even four fully loaded cylinders. They just replace these and then go for coffee with cake to load some 20 bullets to the top of black powder and a little amount of porridge for kids.
Here in UK each one of these spare cylinders counts as a firearm by itself, and requires a separate entry on your FAC.
A very, early double action. I wish the Italians would make a replica. Thanks so much, lovely gun. Better looking than a Colt or Remington.
The Spanish firearms company ARSA are introducing a Tranter look-alike later this year for around £1350.
Really elegant revolvers in such excellent condition. The lines seem almost art deco and the blueing/case hardening are gorgeous.
I shall forever regard George Daw as the Milli Vanilli of the revolver world.
Technically, the "nice and loose" wedge, meaning that you can push it out with just a thumb, is most likely the way it should be, as long as it's a snug fit. Plenty of users of replica Colt percussion revolvers tend to hammer in the wedge, pulling the barrel up and thus contributing to the myth that open-top Colts shoot high rather than true to the point of aim. As I recall, back in the 1850s and 1860s, official manuals for open-top Colts described the disassembly method of simply pushing the wedge out without tools, and also using that technique for fast reload by replacing the drum with a pre-loaded one.
I wouldn't be surprised if the same rules applied to the Daw, if the wedge is spring-held like in Colt's design.
Agreed, although based on our collection, historical owners also liked to hammer those wedges in! Also, when I say this one is loose, I mean *loose* as in practically falling out.
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries Ah, that kind of loose... I suppose that means it was regularly used, so the wedge just wore out in time. As for past owners having hammered in the wedges on open-top revolvers to the point of bending the barrel up by deforming the wedge slot in the frame and the barrel/loading lever assembly, I suppose it's indicative of a timeless truth: there are no foolproof products, and every product is bound to have users who just won't bother to read the instructions manual.
@@mwk9473 Whenever an attempt is made to make a product idiot proof, that effort will be negated by the emergence of a better idiot.
Gosh, I'd give anything to just browse those racks in person; of course it's a museum collection so no touchy unless under strict supervision.. but even then, to pick up and hold many of these weapons would be a beautiful dream
Actually, the National firearms collection per se is not open to the general public. It was formerly the MoD Pattern Room and providing you are doing some specific research, then you might try asking for limited access to assist it.
@@tacfoley4443 i understand that, my comment was a pie in the sky museum dream the entire collection on racks is clearly not a display
I've heard that cowboys that used a 6 shooter only loaded 5 and rest the hammer on the unloaded chamber for safety reasons. When there was a 5 shooter(like this one) did they di the same and only loaded 4?
Colts have a notch between nipples on the cylinder that the hammer engages to allow all 6 holes to be loaded and ready for action. On my Walker I have always loaded all 6 and used the notch with no issues and have lugged that revolver around on many adventures.
Based on the captive firing pins, you should probably reinstall a newly loaded cylinder with the hammer at half cock, to prevent negligent discharge by slamming the cylinder home down the base pin to the frame face. With the hammer down, a soft primer could get hit hard enough to set off the cartridge, even though the hammer spring may allow the hammer to rebound a smidge.
That was my thought also. Captive firing pins on each cylinder is risking an out of battery discharge. If you were riding over rough ground with that thing holstered and one or more chambers detonated....hate to think what that would do to your leg...or horse....
It would be very helpful if the lighting could be improved for the side camera. The combination of the nearly black gun frame against the nearly black jacket and the completely black background made it impossible to see what Jonathan was pointing out on the cartridge conversion. Many of these videos are less useful than they could be, simply because they are too dark.
Love your videos Jonathan. Hope to visit the Royal Armouries one day, although my research is a few hundred years earlier than yours. :P
Thank you!
Great show keep it coming...
Have you seen the version with the top-strap? I found a photo online once and have always wondered about them.
I have not, although I did not have time to hit the library for this one.
Fantastic. Had no idea about these, I very much appreciate your sharing this
Lovely weapons. I've always felt it was a shame that no one reproduces these or the Adams revolvers.
Spanish company ARSA will be producing their more-or-less a Tranter revolver later this year for UK sales - around £1350 or so.
@@tacfoley4443 Cool, but a little rich for my blood, and of course I don't live in the UK.
You'd probably get it for around $150, given that we are not called 'Rip-off UK' for nothing.@@tinkertalksguns7289
My grandfather had a pocket Daw conversion.
Inherited from great grandpa.
Both Thames Watermen, who had weird working hours, and worked in sometimes, in the bonded warehouses. So they needed personal protection.
hi, Jonathan !!!
good video on two very interesting revolvers !!!
i saw those revolvers closely in all entirely parts and splendor when they was put on the table on their yellow plates, such that i suggest to you put an yellow wear on the table ... and we can see cleraly in every parts all the gun of your video ... !!!
bye
👍
Thank you Antonino - yes, the black cloth is a problem I agree. I will see if we can address this.
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries- You haven't done so yet.
We've been using a white tablecloth for some time now. @@tacfoley4443
we looking behind Jonathan and seeing a rack of EM-2s. would love to study them myself.
Those are really nice looking revolvers and I understand your attraction to them ,the question is even though they handle well are they reliable & accurate ? , it's a real shame You can't demonstrate them or get Ian from Forgotten Weapons or Karl from In Range to test them either . Thanks Jonathan catch You next episode .
17:35 Mae would not be a fan of the early Tranter "double action". The ergonomics of gripping and manipulating it must have been pretty bad. How do you hold the pistol on target well while using two fingers on that strange staging?
They look very commanding!
The barrel and ramrod section of that pistol looks remarkably like the Colt 1860 Army. That fact that this pistol predates the Colt by several years tells me that the cross pollination of technology in the mid-19th century firearms industry was a two way street, because it looks like Colt liked the looks of this gun as much as Mr. Ferguson.
My favorite thing in the world is currently weird percussion revolvers, thank you.
11:17 If it works "just" like a colt conversion, could a Krist Konversion cylinder work on this firearm with some handfitting perhaps?
5:48 Careful fitting of the hammer to the tail of the grip is impressive and very stylish.
6:36 Neat indeed, but what are the safety implications of such a mechanism? Why wasn't it more common?
13:43 I'm starting to suspect that all that bustle was only worth it if you had a great need to use the (still quite early) metallic cartridges for some logistical reason, because it doesn't strike me as being meaningfully faster and easier than reloading an ordinary percussion revolver of the day - and quite unlike any purpose-built cartridge revolver, especially break-open ones that became very popular in 1870s.
15:01 I strongly suspect that the difference between favourable reviews and advertising was, as ever, quite murky. For example, it wasn't uncommon at that time for authors, even quite famous, to publish pseudonymous positive reviews for their works in major newspapers & magazines.
16:53 Was Colt such a powerful player at that time? It seems to me that by the 1870s the biggest mover and shaker on the global revolver market was Smith & Wesson with their No. 3.
6:36 - It adds complexity and therefore cost and likely reduced reliability. There's also the risk of inadvertently pulling through in a stressful situation and a shot going stray. Most users are going to want either self-cocking or 'single-action', I suspect. Ultimately though we have no idea - no-one wrote down their views on this sort of thing.
16:53 - fair point
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries That's very interesting still, thanks a lot! Does this double-action system with a half-cock position come back on semi-auto pistols?
@@F1ghteR41 Not as far as I know. Going into the 20th century it would be seen as a major safety concern to operate anything other than the hammer/striker with the trigger.
Thanks for that.
If u get the chance please do the Manurhin MR73 5 and half inch as used by the GIGN
Ian did a great video on the MR73
These revolvers look very cool.
Daw also sold a "London Revolver with Knife" that had a 17" blade in .38. So.....more of a sword with a revolver attached perhaps?
These are very cool revolvers, If you like these, Henry just came out with their revolver. The grip profile is similar.
No, the grip profile is quite different. The Henry is a birds head where the Daw is more reminiscent of flint or early percussion muzzle loaders.
@hazcat640 Henry is offering 2 separate grip profiles. The bird's head and something like a mashup of an 1851 Navy and Smith and Wesson model 10. The grip profile is a little hard to describe.
@@j.granger1120 Yes, I've seen them both and neither are like the one in this vid.
Could the Allied serviceman who looted the boxed set of Garibaldi's revolvers please return them?
*Ahem*
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries I am sure they will turn up on Antiques Roadshow sooner or later.
Americans have always fought for "souvenirs", we don't "loot, we collect"!
Thank you. Excellent 😎👍
Very nice pieces, nicely sort of in between the US guns and the UK/European ones in terms of style, making for an ideal balance to my eye.
Damn it, now I have a new favourite pistol, previously Tranters and Adams. These things are gorgeous.
You should take a look at the guns from Road to Vostok!
Actually looked forward to this episode since the channel silhouette teaser earlier...
Was not disappointed!
The mystery revealed my utter ignorance of the marque, so glad to hear JW say he had not seen one until recently.
Random thought that Sherlock might have been in the market for such, given the fast evolution of design and luxe but practical features. Not sure the periods align tho.
Also triggered the thought that this period was when no license was necessary...
It was assumed anyone rich enough to afford a pistol would be a Good Chap, not exactly true but as someone said.
And so the price was sufficient to keep such out of the hands of the Frightful Oiks, who would have been considered morally bankrupt and borderline criminal... For them, the blackjack and boot knife the more affordable defence tools.
And so a gentleman could go about his business, nefarious or otherwise, safe in the knowledge he could despatch 5 of the cheeky blighters if they had the audacity to attempt a hold-up...
Also assuming in those days that even having mortally wounded said ne'er-do-wells, the gentleman would be free to go home, with the police believing his story and deferring to his status...
Do you think Jonathan just sits there and Bullpup rifles just start flocking to him, and that's why there's so many behind him.
That’s probably about a quarter of all EM2’s ever made right there.
If you have loaded the cylinder the alignment peg will not go into a chamber as it is full of cartridge.
Yes, this is visible at about 13m 19s and you can see the alignment hole on a different radius to the firing pins. I do wonder if the misaligned cylinder can still rotate slightly. If there were some sort of cartridge label engraved on the cylinder I can imagine it being in the right place to be a marker, but that's a computer geek talking.
But if you leave one camber empty...
It's really a design flaw, the peg should have been fitted to the chamber side.
@@andrewholdaway813
Why would you leave an empty chamber?
@@calvingreene90
Despite the safety position, maybe some people would still prefer to use the empty chamber method, just speculating; it doesn't really matter.
The damage is odd really, looks like someone tried to fire (between) every chamber.
Of course. I wasn't expecting that this was done with ammunition, only in 'dry' handling.
@Jonathan can you get your hands on the patent drawings or engineering blueprints? This would be, I think, the coolest "modern" antique revolver for reproduction here in the USA. At least that I have seen. What are your thoughts on reproducing this specific pistol, but with modern .38 measured barrels? So .371?
ARSA in Spain will be mass-producing it later this year.
Still sort of bummed that Jonathan hasn't featured any artillery yet >< (and inbe4 someone
points out a video i've missed, where he has, infact, done that lol )
One might argue that his video on Pzb 38 was in fact dicussing a miniature artillery piece.
A couple of reasons for this, first, despite my wonderful job title, I am a small arms and light weapons specialist. Second, we have no artillery in store at Leeds for me to moonlight with. However, my Curator of Artillery will be presenting an artillery piece on the channel soon!
@@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries thank you very much for the answer; will be looking forward to that video (and thanks for making the videos, too! :) )
Any good articles or books about these revolvers?
Send a technical pacage to Uberti asap!!! Beautiful revolver
This is a wonderful and informative video Jonathan, but it is so dark we cannot see any detail, it looks like it was filmed in a coal cellar at midnight! Chris B.
Fantastic Video's. I have a Question that might make an interesting video; What Left handed specific Weapons have been made, that you have in the Armoury?
From my own failing memory, none.
My favorite revolver is something not used a lot I don’t think. It was a gift from my grandpa.
Kimber K6S DASA Target
Sits casually in front of an entire rack of EM-1 and EM-2 prototypes. One of the very few times when a UK gun guy can make a US gun guy jealous. Well played Jonathan. 😂
Fun coincidence that a designer called Paul Cashmore was from West Bromwich cos I have a cousin of the same name from Walsall (about 4 miles down the road for those not familiar). I wonder if he's related.
Beautiful piece of history. I daresay if cashmore were still around, he could make more cash.
My favorite was the pryse bland .577 stopping Revolver
It would be easier to what you are pointing to if you geld it up to a light background instead of your dark grey jacket.
An elegant design. It’s too bad it wasn’t more successful but like any competitive industry the business side is far more ruthless than the creative side.
I normally loathe the typical European 19th Century revolver grip shapes.
This, however, looks very modern and as if it handles *better* than a Colt for firing from eye level. Especially given how awkward the classic Colt grip would be in double action.
I've always found the smooth cylinder on a revolver to look kind of weird. Aesthetically I've personally always liked the British Webley Mk IV, as well as the U.S. Colt Single Action Army (M1873)
Being a former pistol owner in the UK, a target shooter, I watch these videos with both riveted attention and deep sadness. I red books in the pre internet age and was fascinated by both the form, function, history and manufacture of handguns, rifles and shotguns. As owning and shooting firearms in the UK has always, in my lifetime, been heavily regulated and, in my opinion, rightly so, I went throught the rigorous vetting procedure to obtain an FAC. I worked hard to learn safety and the associated skills of shooting technique and reloading.
It depresses me that responsible and extremely safety consious people like myself were scapegoated for the unspeakable behaviour of a thoroughly vile little man and the criminally incompetence and irresponsible behaviour of the firearms licensing department of a Scottish police force. Unfortunately ihave learned that the british police and governments cannot be trusted to act in the interests of the british people.
I started to study for a history degree but financial hardship forced me to suspend my studies during the second year even though I was progresing well and achieving good marks (2:1). I'd love to find a job working for a museum like Jonathan but I'm told the museums and libraries services here have been cut to the bone during the last 13 years of austerity. All in all very sad.
I don't watch many firearms related channels but this one is my exception given that it's not full of overbearing men in pseudo combat outfits and essentially playing with guns to no informative effect.
Thanks Jonathan and your team.
Sad that Remington didn't try for a British Contract. They would have been a huge splash !
That may be understandably design choice for the time but by modern standards using the trigger for anything else than to fire is not a good thing. There always is a chance of accidentally firing if you get startled.
Yes, agreed. Perhaps customers even thought so then?
That half-cock system seems kind of neat, if a bit sketchy by today's safety standards. It looks like an awful cludge of a system for the cartridge conversion, though. If you have to replace the whole cylinder anyway, it would seem to make sense to just have a bored-through cylinder and tell Rollin White to go pound salt.
Roland White's patent would have covered even the conversion until it expired in 1869, because it loaded cylindrical cartridges in a bored through cylinder that incorporated a back plate containing the individual chamber firing pins. So $.25 per pistol made with the bored through cylinder.
S&W paid White what he asked for when they brought out their pistol No. 1 in 1851, and the No. 2 in 1857, but somehow got him to agree to defend his patent in court against companies who infringed on it. He spent almost all of his money on legal fees after that, as there were legions of companies willing to ignore him and go into production.
One final question. Did the gunmakers who supplied Daws with these pistols ever make a model with a loading gate and fully bored through cylinder? That would have been at least as good a firearm as the 1873 Colt SAA, and would have been much more popular in Britain because of the caliber selections.
I used a paint crayon of sorts to colour in the markings on my Webley MkIV. The colouring has survived quite a few rounds at the range but won't survive a cleaning.
It's a 1943 with a SPF mark on the backstrap, which is really easy to see with the colouring.
Someone has to make a meme out of Jonathan's pose of the thumbnail
I wonder what he would think of Revolver Ocelot from the Metal Gear series?
Looks like a copy of the STARR revolver, from 1858 which was a double action.
In the series Hell on Wheels the lead swaps out the cylinders as quick reloads during some fun fights. Makes it super clean and smooth.
He used a Griswold but I believe swaps to cartridge conversion Colt later on? Or a Remington 58. Unsure but still awesome
ruclips.net/video/p6X3cX-a468/видео.html
I wonder if anyone produces a replica of this revolver
Now that’s a sexy looking pistol right there👌🏻 also HOW DO YOUR THUMBS BEND LIKE THAT😂
I know, it's horrifying.
😂
I can't see any reason to have gotten the colt over this other than the price
Price is a big factor. Colt didn't make revolvers better, they made them cheaper.
I must say, on so many of your close up shots, we see Jonathan in a grey blazer, holding a darkly blued firearm, behind a very dark backdrop of other firearms, its very hard to see a lot of the detail you are trying to show...
You either need a spotlight on the firearm being shown closely, have Jonathon in a labcoat, or have a brighter back drop. or a combination of some or all of these solutions.
Thanks for all your work showing us these pieces, but I thought it might be pertinent to say, given I have noticed it on so many of your videos, the closeups are very hard to actually see the detail.
Good thing they made it so much easier to load using cartridges 😂😂😂
Why does this series have to be so infuriatingly dimly lit?
The name George Daw, of course, provokes a certain reaction from British people of a certain age.
Ah, Shooting Stars...
Wow
Pretty
Do you like Forgotten Weapons? Do you prefer tea to coffee? Do you debate on whether one should add milk to tea or tea to milk? If so, then then this is the place to you.
Watch this get added to Hunt: Showdown
5:06
_The Webley-Pryse was designed by Charles Pryse's son, also called Charles_
Well isn't that convenient.
"Also called Charles"
@@chaimafaghet7343 thanks :)
The thumb😂😂😂
I find it interesting that we usually think of the more modern reloadable revolver cylinders, but we still also imagine the percussion revolver's rod. The conversion looks odd because it doesn't have the rod. Like all the toy revolvers for example would have the rod. And watching revolver videos shocked me when people like Ian and Ferguson would tilt the handle and not pull/push it. I always thought of it as some sort of cylinder/barrel release when I was younger, not something that loads the shot. Or maybe I've mixed it with a similar feature of a more modern revolver that would have a tilting barrel to access the cylinder for reloading, and it just looks similar.
Why 🇬🇧Sir Churchill got C-96 Mauser 😂❤
Is that a John Wick T-shirt ¬_¬
I figured most weapons were imported from America to the UK.
Colt marketing "How the west was won"
Daws marketing "how the tea was won"
Every week or two, the Polish type of eBay is flooded with double-barrel shotguns. Muzzleloaders. All are rust and dust, with no actual value. You can't even shoot with it for fear of the rapid barrel disassembly. Sir Jonathan, where in Europe they can get these sorts of 100 years old shotguns? Entirely covered in rust or in the pieces of eaten buttstock debris? French and German guns mostly but English as well.
ps. I like your favorite revolver but I don't like old revolver handles. These are all too small for my hands. It's an op[en frame, any alignment issues with it like with most Lefauheux revolvers?
EDIT: I knew it's Webley 😁
Since it's in Poland, I would suggest the source being originally the guns used or intended for use in the 1863 Polish uprising, if we're indeed talking muzzle-loaders here. Their contributors were likely the Polish gentry - or the robbed mansions of those who were deemed pro-Russian. Their regular appearance might suggest that someone dug a large cashe of these guns, or the metal detector crowd just knows where to search.
Amazing piece of Art.
Unfortunately since Europe has become a kind of Guns- Taboo Zoo Garden,I wonder if talking about such things make sence any more.
We don't run around swinging longsword and battleaxes anymore yet we have enthusiast preserving history and knowledge about them all the same in Europe.
Just because firearms aren't as active in our culture and society doesn't mean we don't have great respect for there impact or value preserving history surrounding them.
Anyone here in America can get these types of revolvers delivered to your door. Anything pre 1859 or until the nfa is knocked out.
These aren't firearms new or original.
Nifty on fiftys 😅😅 owwn hood if you no you no
When ever I see this guy I think, he gets to play with all these guns, but the regular plebs in his country can’t. What’s the opposite of based?