Today on Gus’ Gear I present the third installment of handguns. I will cover Great Britain, France, Belgium and The United States. Next week I will start on some of the long arms used in the conflict.
The British Webley MK IV was introduced in 1899 and by the beginning of The Great War, it had been superseded by the MK V in 1913. As more weapons were needed than could be produced, the MK IV stayed in service throughout the war and were produced along side the MK V. This example is dated 1914. It is chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge with a top break and automatic ejection, making reloading fairly fast. The holster is a private purchase flap holster, which was better for keeping the revolver clean in the filth of the trenches.
The British Webley MK VI was introduced in 1915 and became the standard weapon for the British and Commonwealth forces. This example was manufactured in 1916 and is chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge. Like many Webleys in the United States, it has had the back of the cylinder milled off to allow the use of .45 ACP cartridges on a half moon clip. The Webley was not designed to handle the pressures of the .45 ACP and it is not safe to shoot with this cartridge. I have seen photographs of more than one revolver that had the cylinder rupture and in one case break the top strap. The holster shown here is the standard issue open top holster.
In 1899, the Belgian military started to review self loading pistols designed by John Browning and manufactured by Fabrik National. The M1899 was not considered robust enough, so they asked for modifications to strengthen the pistol. The result was the M1900 Browning pistol and was accepted by the Belgian military for issue to its forces. This pistol had the Browning blow back design, chambered for the 7.65mm Browning cartridge. This system utilizes the elasticity of the brass cartridge to keep the action closed until the pressure drops slightly, as the cartridge contracts, it allows the action to open and cycle. To compare this to the Schwarzlose M1908 blow forward pistol which uses the friction of the cartridge in the barrel to move the barrel forward to cycle, the Browning fired cartridges are not deformed and can be rechambered in the pistol while the Scwarzlose fired cartridges are usually bulged at the rear of the cartridge and can not be rechambered.
By 1908, Browning had designed an improved version of the blow back system, the first model was chambered for .380 ACP cartridges and is designated the M1908 by the Browning Archives. It is commonly referred to as the M1910 by everyone else. This was the type of pistol that was used by Gravrilo Princip to assassinate Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia in 1914. Shown here is an M1910 Browning in 7.65mm (.32 ACP) that was used by Belgian forces during and after World War One. The holster appears to be of British manufacture as the embossed pattern on the surface of the leather is like that found on British P1914 leather equipment. This would not be unusual as Belgium had to rely on allies to supply the majority of their equipment after Germany occupied most of the country.
This is the French Mle 1873 Chamelot-Delvigne revolver. It is a 6 shot double action revolver, chambered for an 11mm, low powered cartridge. It was superceded in 1892 by the 8mm Lebel revolver, but remained in service through the Second World War.
The French Mle 1892 Lebel revolver was a 6 shot revolver chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge. The cylinder swings out to the right and all cartridges can be ejected simultaneously allowing for a rapid reload. The Mle 1892 was primarily issued to officers during the First World War and remained in service until well after the Second World War.
By 1915, the French Military needed more weapons than they could produce at their own arsenals and turned to Spain to fill the void. The Ruby pistol was one of the handguns that filled the need. They were manufactured by many small businesses in the Basque region of Spain and were a copy of the 1903 Browning pistol. Due to many different companies making them, parts are not readily interchangeable between guns made by the different firms. That being said, the need for spare parts was not a big factor as the pistols were, for the most part, a very reliable and robust weapon in spite of the rough finish found on most examples. They are chambered for the 7.65mm Browning cartridge and have a magazine capacity of 9 rounds, giving them an advantage over most other weapons of the time. The triangular shaped holster is the classic Ruby holster used by French forces. They also issued a rectangular holster to Chauchat teams that was worn in place of the rear ammunition pouch on the back of the belt.
France and Portugal purchased M1907 Savage pistols from the United States. This pistol has a 10 round magazine and is chambered for the .32 ACP (7.65 Browning) cartridge. About 40 thousand of these pistols were shipped to France. The French model has a lanyard ring at the lower rear of the grip, while the commercial model does not. Portugal also ordered a little over a thousand of these pistols. The Portuguese contract pistols can be distinguished by the Portuguese coat of arms in the grip panels instead of the Savage logo. The holster shown is a Portuguese manufactured example, which were also sold to France.
The Colt 1911 pistol, chambered for the .45ACP cartridge, was adopted by the United States Military after extensive testing in 1910 against examples submitted by Savage and DWM. The Colt prototype fired 6 thousand rounds without failure during a two day test. When the pistol would become hot, it was dropped in a bucket of water to cool it. Neither the Savage nor the Luger were able to finish the test without repairs or stoppages. The 1911 was such a successful design that it is still in service with minor upgrades. The pistol is shown here with a model 1916 leather flap holster, 1910 spare magazine pouch, lanyard and a period box for 20 rounds of .45 ACP cartridges.
The use of .45 caliber revolvers in the U. S. Military can be traced back to the 1873 Colt Single Action Army Revolver. This example was issued to an artillery officer and is chambered for the .45 Long Colt cartridge which started out as a black powder cartridge and was upgraded to a smokeless powder cartridge. The 1873 Colt remained in use until after the turn of the century.
The 1902 Colt Service Revolver was the first .45 caliber double action revolver adopted by the U.S. Military. It was a design variation of the 1878 Colt Six Shooter Revolver with a stronger mainspring to accommodate the military contract ammunition that had harder primers. This required the trigger be lengthened for better leverage on the stronger spring. The larger trigger guard is to accommodate the longer trigger and this feature gives the revolver the nick name The Alaskan, with the idea that the larger trigger guard is to accommodate a gloved hand. Fewer than 5 thousand of these revolvers were made and were intended to be issued to Military Police in the Philippines.
This is a 1909 Colt Service Revolver, chambered for the .45 Long Colt cartridge. It followed the 1903 revolver as the primary sidearm before the adoption of the 1911 Colt Automatic Pistol.
When the United States entered the war in 1917, it was realized that production of the 1911 Colt Pistol would not be sufficient to supply then needs of the rapidly growing army. The 1909 Service Revolver was modified to accept the .45ACP cartridges on a three round, half moon clip. This revolver was designated the Colt 1917 New Service Revolver. This revolver was intended to be issued to mounted troops and for that reason the leather Army issued holster is left handed, to be worn on the right side, with the revolver’s butt facing forward. It can be drawn from the holster with the right hand with little difficulty and also easily with the left hand. It was assumed that the right hand would be holding a saber, and the pistol needed to be accessible to the left hand. The three pocket pouch holds 18 rounds of .45ACP cartridges on half moon clips.
Due to the need for even more handguns, Smith & Wesson was contracted to manufacture a version of the 1917 New Service Revolver. Smith & Wesson was able to adapt the .44 caliber Hand Ejector Revolver to a variation that is very close in dimensions to the Colt 1917 New Service Revolver. The Smith & Wesson also uses the .45 ACP cartridges on half moon clips (shown below the revolver in the photo) and this greatly sped up the reloading of the revolver. There is very little difference in the handling of either revolver, both have the same balance and the only real difference is on the Colt, the cylinder latch is pulled back to open, but on the Smith & Wesson it has to be pushed forward to open. The Army issue holster is exactly the same as for the Colt 1917 New Service.
Although the .45 caliber handgun was favored for its knockdown power, there were still .38 caliber weapons in service through the First World War. The Colt 1892 Service Revolver was the first double action revolver adopted by the U.S. Military in .38 caliber. It went through several modifications during its service life, this example is a Colt 1896 Model issued to the Navy, it had changes to the lock up mechanism, to improve function. It is chambered for the .38 Long Colt cartridge which was found lacking in knockdown power during the Philippine Insurrection in 1899-1902, prompting the move to larger caliber sidearms.
This example is a Colt 1901 Army Revolver, the only difference between it and the 1896 is the addition of the lanyard ring.
This is an example of a 1903 Army Revolver, the change from the 1901 was a smaller diameter bore to improve accuracy. It is shown with a lanyard, box of period .38 Long Colt cartridges and a left handed holster similar to the type used with the 1917 New Service Revolvers. These revolvers were more likely to be issued to artillery troops and soldiers who would be guarding installations behind the lines.