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Gus’ Gear — flare pistols

Today on Gus’ Gear I present a selection of flare pistols used during the Great War. Flare pistols were used for signaling as well as to provide illumination at night.

This is an example of the German Hebel Model 1894 flare pistol. It fires a 26.5mm flare cartridge which is the most common caliber for European flare pistols. This pistol has Belgian proof marks, indicating it was used by Belgian forces, but in all other aspects it is identical to the German issued flare pistols. The lever visible beneath the trigger guard is the release to open the action. The barrel pivots forward and down in the same manner as a top break shotgun, allowing the cartridge to be chambered and then the barrel is returned to the closed position and it locks automatically. The hammer is then cocked by hand and it is ready to fire.

This is an example of the German ersatz flare pistol, referred to as the Kommandantur Lille Leuchtpistole. These were manufactured in occupied Belgium during the war and are of a crude construction. This fires the 26.5mm flare cartridges. To open the action on this pistol, a button on the right side is pushed forward to release the catch and then the barrel is rotated up and to the left on the hinge visible just above the front of the trigger guard. Once the cartridge is inserted, the barrel is rotated back to the closed position and the barrel locks in place automatically. The knob on the back is the firing pin and when it is pulled back to cock the pistol is ready to fire. The spring loaded catch doubles as an ejector for the spent cartridge. It is shown with two used German manufactured flare cartridges that were recovered from a battlefield on the eastern front.

German pistols were made of steel due to a shortage of brass because Germany didn’t have a source of tin to alloy with copper to make it. The German military had to use all available brass to manufacture cartridges and artillery casings.

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