Today on Gus’ Gear, another Spanish made revolver chambered for the British .455 Webley cartridge. When studying weapons used in the Great War, the most common phrase that one encounters is “Due to shortages of weapons…” Every nation involved in the conflict at some point found that they did not have an adequate supply of weapons. France, The United Kingdom and Italy all turned to Spanish arms manufacturers in the Eibar region to supply them with some of the weapons they needed. Spanish law allowed firms in Spain to copy designs that were not covered by Spanish patents. They based the revolvers sold to Italy and The United Kingdom on the Spanish M1884 which was based on the Smith & Wesson Model 3 top break revolver.
The left side of the revolver has British marks of the London Proof House consisting of a crown over V on the barrel frame above the hinge and on each chamber of the cylinder. This revolver was manufactured by Trocaola, Aranzabal y Compania and was designated the Pistol, Old Pattern, No. 2 Mk I, chambered for the .455 British cartridge. Nearly 30,000 Old Pattern revolvers were delivered, but not all were accepted. It is believed that those that did not get proofed, were used for training.
The right side shows the trademark stamped in the frame above the grip. This is a top break, double action revolver that can be used as a single action as well. It is marked .455 760 and 6 tons with a London Proof House nitro proof mark of a raised arm with a sword over NP on the barrel frame above the hinge. The cylinder turns freely unless the hammer is cocked. This is a flaw that can cause an already fired cartridge to line up for an important shot as the cylinder can easily rotate when the revolver is removed from the holster. This revolver does have British proofs and a serial number, but not War Department broad arrow mark. It is more likely that it was one that was made available to officers for private purchase. These revolvers were declared obsolete by November of 1921 and removed from service.
This photo shows the action opened and the ejector extended. This is the same type of action as the British made Webley revolvers and required no special training for a soldier to use, if he had been trained with a Webley revolver. This type of ejector can remove the fired cartridges without removing the unfired ones, making it easy to partially reload the weapon. When the action is opened all the way, the ejector retracts, ready to reload.
This photo shows the Number 1 MkI at the top and the Number 2 MkI at the bottom to show the differences and similarities. No parts are interchangeable between the two revolvers. At a glance, the easiest way to tell them apart is the grips, the No. 1 has grip scales that leave the bottom bit of the grip frame exposed while the No. 2 grips extend to the bottom of the grip frame.