Bottom-Chamber-Popper - Revolvers:

Thinking about the Russian 'Silent Revolver' - the OTs-38 Stechkin that I found while writing about "silenced  44Magnums" earlier -  it reminded me about other 'bottom-feeders'

Stechkin OTs-38 Silent Revolver.

The Stechkin fires from the bottom chamber of its five shot cylinder that pivots out radially and fires the captive-piston SP-4 cartridges loaded using a  full-moon clip. The upper "barrel" is a laser pointer.

The first other 'bottom-feeder to come to mind is the Chiappa revolver.

Chiappa Rhino Revolver.

The Chiappa is the work of designer Emilio Ghisoni - a successful engineer who was interested in reducing muzzle rise when firing handguns. His first attempt was produced as the Mateba MTR-8 that places the cylinder in front of the trigger thus bringing the barrel line down.

Mateba MTR-8 Revolver. - Not many Sales.

Another example of radical thinking is Ghisonis  Mateba UNICA autorevolver.

- Designed in 1997 the UNICA uses the recoiling barrel to rotate the cylinder and cock the hammer - and again the design fires from the bottom chamber of the cylinder which swings-out and down rather conventionally for Ghisoni. Only a few were built.

Mateba 2006-M - A Little more 'normal' looking ?

- There's certainly "more than one way to skin a cat" .. Maybe these different ideas will catch-on in a big way in the future - but sadly Emilio Ghisoni died in 2008 without striking gold.

- All this brings to mind the Russian (again!) Margolin MTS-3 Rekord "upside-down" semi-auto.

 Designed by K Sheparskiy and first used in anger at the 1956 Olympic Games - this upside-down pistol was banned out of existence by re-writing the rules. - Seems to me to be a perfectly sensible design idea that upset everybody else that hadn't thought of it! - Hmmm .

Marty K
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