Pettingill Patent Double-Action Percussion Revolver:

Looking through my book 'Guns of The Old West' I noticed that this smooth looking black-powder revolver seemed to not have any hammer so I had to try see what I might find-out.

The Pettingill Patent Percussion Revolver.

It does actually have an internal hammer - so is fired D.A. only - I haven't found any reviews that assess how it worked or what weight was the trigger pull - but it seems to have proved to be mechanically complex and somewhat unreliable in the field.

ArmsCollectors.com have an excellent detailed photo-story on this novel double-action percussion piece that was produced by Rogers,Spencer & Company of Willow Vale.

First patented by C. S. Pettingill of Connecticut in 1856 (improved 1858 &1862) - exactly 2,001 guns were delivered to the US Government - but it seems that as many as 3,000 total may have been made - judging from the serial numbers.

The Army model was a .44" calibre and had a 7.5" octagonal barrel with six rifling grooves. 

I haven't found a description of how the double-action worked - so you may have to try work it out from the picture of the action above.. but one site calls it a "pepper-box style double action mechanism." which should help the knowledgeable among us.

There was a shorter 'Navy' model in .34" calibre with a 4.5" barrel.

Unusual Calibre that .34" eh

These guns saw service in the American Civil War - however Rogers & Spencer used the front-end of this gun in their shortly to be developed .44" calibre single action revolver - as clearly shown in the next picture: But the S/A had a five groove barrel.

Rogers & Spencer Percussion Revolver:

Said by 'those who know' to be one of the very best percussion revolvers made - these guns were too late to be used in the Civil War - despite the War Department contract for 5,000 of them. These guns were held in store in New York until they were eventually released in 1901 and auctioned-off in unused condition for around 50 cents each.

- Remember that 1901 starter price next time you try to buy one or even a replica eh.

Marty K

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

Webley Mars Automatic Pistol:

I received Nevilles  GrG (guns are good) 'picture of the week' earlier - and although I had seen this gun before - I took a peek on-line about it.

Webley Mars Semi-Automatic Pistol - The Gabbett-Fairfax Mars.
Patented 1900.

Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax was the inventor about 1898 of this large and powerful 9.5" barrel lump - it weighed 48 oz. (same as a LAR Grizzly in .45 Win Magnum calibre) and operated on the long recoil system - but it drew its cartridges backwards from the magazine and used an elevating system to raise the cartridge into line with the barrel.

- Now, if you've been  reading my earlier posts - you'll recall that this system is something like the Boberg pistols who were recently sold to Bond Arms of Texas.

Boberg XR9-L

(The new Bond version of this interesting 'sub-compact'  Boberg should be appearing shortly with any luck.)

The Mars was only built in small numbers and failed to impress the British military - well it actually impressed them too much as it was most unpleasant to fire - being heavy recoiling and awkward - with a ten lb. trigger pull and empty cases also thrown straight back to the rear. - Its barrel bore is noticeably high above the grip / trigger area so it must have 'flipped' strongly not withstanding its mass and length.

Mars Cartridges ..45"Short, .45Long .360"Mars, 8.5mmMars(.335")

The .45" Long Mars Had a 220gn Bullet at 1250ft.per.sec.

Webley & Scott made 56 of these hard hitting pistols under Gabbett-Fairfax direction before giving up - and some further examples were produced by a consortium of investors called 'The Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate'

Around 80 guns total were built between 1900 to 1907 but none of the known examples are proof marked so it seems likely that none were commercially sold.

Military Trials showed failures to feed and the pistols habit of ejecting the fired cases straight back into the shooters face tended to add-up to it's unpopularity.

A Commercial Failure - but Powerful and Interesting eh.

'Forgotten Weapons.Com' has an excellent post on this early Brit.

Marty K.
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

Colt Cylinder Engraving;

The .36" Calibre Model 1851 Navy Revolver may be the most well known of Colts early revolvers - perhaps 250,000 were produced. - Certainly today there are plenty of replicas being used.

Colt 1851 - Octagonal Barrel.

The 'Navy' is so called because of the naval scene roll engraved on the cylinders - this model was not purchased by any Navy *** for official issue. - *** OOPS see p.s. below.

COLT 'Navy' Cylinder Engraving

- used on Both 1851 and 1861 models.

This scene is meant to show the victory of the Texas Second Navy at the Battle Of Compache, 1843.

Model 1861 - (round barrel)

Texas had declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 - but Mexico would not recognise this. A combined squadron of vessels from the Republic of Yucatan and from Texas won the day in 1843.

These familiar scenes were applied to cylinders by a roll engraving process developed by Waterman Lily Ormsby (1809-1883) who invented the 'grammograph' machine used to copy details onto medals and bank note plates. This was used later as a pantographic machine to roll-die engrave on metal surfaces.

Ormsby was the founder the Continental Bank Note Company and is said to have helped in developing the Morse Code.

- This is another Ormsby Engraving used on Colt Cylinders:

 "Ranger and Indian" Engraved on Walker Revolvers.

Ain't history wonderful? You don't see much of engraving on our current firearms - other than 'commemoratives' - but it should be easy to use the latest engraving techniques (lasers, water jet -whateva!) to produce a run of  specials ..

It doesn't need to be elaborate total coverage - it could be tasteful eh ..

*** P.S. - Rod has put me right about 'Navy' purchases:

Hi Marty

Happy New Year!  The Royal Navy were issued 9,600 1851 Colt Navy revolvers, out of a total of just over 23,000 ’51 Navies ordered by the British government, plus they were official issue in NZ by the various Provincial Governments.  They were also the most popular private purchase revolver in the 1850s’, 60’s, and 70’s in NZ with retailers selling them throughout the country.

Cheers

Rod

Marty K.
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

"Easy Rider":

Well, 'Easy Rider' might well be "C.C. Rider" or even  "See See Rider" - but as some UK inmate might well say .. "Whateva"  eh.

That is an 'Easy Rider' gun rack in the back window of the 'pick-up'.

Ithica M 37 Riot Gun can make you smile eh.

Billys' Easy Rider Harley

'Captain America' Panhead.

- From The movie, that is an "Easy Rider" sickle.

- or you might fancy an "Easy Rider sling" from Butler Creek for your rifle - if you've got bony shoulders ..

Whoo, you should even be able to get easy rider jeans ..

- You see - the thing is - since even before Ma Rainey recorded the first known version of  SEE SEE Rider in 1924 - there's been disagreement about the title, the words, how many verses, how fast to sing it - and indeed - just what the hell the tune is meant to be about - and just which particular meaning of the phrase you are thinking about..(try Wikipedias entry!)

Ma Raineys 1924 last verse:
I'm gonna buy me a pistol just as long as I am tall,
- Lawd, Lawd, Lawd,
Gonna kill my man and catch the cannon ball,
- Catch the cannon ball,
If he don't have me, He wont have no gall at all.

There are more than 150 known versions of this great 12 Bar Blues - and they're all different. - well, let's put it this way - back in the early 1900s you didn't get to be a blues singer by going to college eh - so you spelt it how you heard it (- if you could write or spell at all.)

Even Elvis has done a version.

- And the 150 versions are only the known knowns eh (- who said that?**)

Back then you might remember the tune but not the words - so you'd make-up your own as you went:

Lead Belly - Huddie Ledbetter - 'King of the Twelve String Guitar'

- he served time for Murder and again for "attempted"(& again later)

- and had some 'knife work' while inside.

- An "easy rider" dates from the cowboy era and was a guy who didn't pull his weight and always would choose an easy riding horse - or later, would live off of the hard work of a working girl or woman - a pimp maybe. Also someone who jumps a slow freight train to move around.

Mississippi John Hurt s Version.

If you fancy getting into the Guinness Book of Records - you could collect all the different versions - even write a few variations yourself - and enter them for the record eh.

** The message is that there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know.

There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know.

But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. 

Donald Rumsfeld US Secretary of Defense.

. . How do these people get into power?

- well it's a slow news day time of year eh,

Marty K.

P.S.  - Hey, I just came across the question 'on-line' - "Is religion a mental illness?"

All correct answers will win invitations to join The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster - who have applied to be Marriage Celebrants here.

M.K.

Captain Bully Hayes - Pirate of The South Seas:

Well - he really wasn't much of a pirate. He definitely was a murdering, crooked, swindler, bigamist, and 'slaver' notorious around the Pacific islands later in his career for "Blackbirding" - which was taking islanders by force or deception from their homes and delivering them into the pacifics sugar cane plantations as labour - where they were theoretically contracted to work for three years.

Bully Hayes.

American (Ohio) born William Henry Hayes (1827?-1877) operated as a 'Trader' around the islands from the 1850s with various ships under different names and with different wives - some of whom came to terminally bad ends.
One example of his trade is of him leaving New York as a passenger on board the 'Canton' .. but arriving in Singapore as the Captain and then "buying" the boat and renaming it as the 'C.W. Bradley,Jr.'


Based in Australia from 1857 he swindled and robbed his way back and forth across the Pacific to the US until things got too hot for him - so he then skipped to the gold-fields of Otago New Zealand in 1862 - where he cheated his way around Arrowtown and Christchurch marrying further widows a couple of more times while working as a travelling vaudeville artist and hotel keeper before acquiring the Brig 'Rona' in 1866.


He then went off again around the Marshall Islands and Samoa kidnapping and tricking islanders onto 'Blackbirding' ships as prisoners, labour for plantations on Fiji, Tahiti and Samoa.

He had been arrested and imprisoned here and there and got through a succession of brigs and schooners - wrecking and sinking them all over the place until his last vessel ..

- Which was The Lotus where he ended-up dead with a crushed skull and a few bullet holes inflicted by his cook Peter "Dutch Pete" Redick (and the Mate?) who is said to have attacked Hayes after being threatened - chasing him down a ladder as Hayes was trying to get to his revolver and stove-in his head from above and then threw him overboard.

Someone on the Internet thinks Hayes had an 1851 Colt ("Navy").

The Mate Charles Elson sailed The Lotus to Jaluit in the Marshall Islands - where nobody seems to have cared much about this sad demise.


Captain Bully Hayes R.I.P 31 March 1877


P.S. The thought just came to me that today - Hayes would have made a career as a leading politician.




- There is currently a restaurant & bar on Beach Road in the lovely holiday spot harbour of Akaroa (on our Banks Peninsula) called "The Bully Hayes".. great food and cold beer.

AKAROA

Marty K.

1 3/4" Short Shot shells, Knife Story:

If you're looking for a 'me-gift' to treat yourself - how about finding some 1.75" 12G shot shells from AGUILA  - apparently they come as .38 oz. solids , buckshot loads and other varieties - if you can find them in your local shops.


There's a lot of wasted space in ordinary shot shell cases (- talking about "wastes of space" - like some folk - they are full of hot air) - so these minis don't give away much performance.

These shorties cycle OK through some pump-action guns - but not in 'autos'.

The slugs are quoted at 1,250 ft. per sec. - as are also the buckshot loading.

They'll let you load a lot extra bangs for your buck and recoil much less if you're sensitive or playing games shooting from the hip.-  Should be OK in break-actions too.

That's FIVE shorties to Three 3 inchers.

__________

Any of you interested in edged weapons - there is an excellent on-line post about the K-BAR and Fairburn-Sykes iconic blades and their history. - Google 'The KA-BAR and the Fairburn-Sykes' by Roger Norling'  - A very well researched story.

Interesting to note that "double sided blade" knives are a "banned import" here in NZ. (Is that in case they are used to cut two things at once?)

______________

Marty K.

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

Cloud Cover - THERE We Are:

If you look carefully - That's Me about 3/4 inch Left of Centre 

Photo by NASA.

 

Here's a true story for youse ..  I bought my first Ruger Old Army in an auction over a year back and was very happy with the price I paid. - At the following years auction I postal bid and won - among other lots - a lot described as some empty cardboard pistol boxes, magazines and posters.

When it arrived it was a large 'banana box of "all sorts" - but the jewel of the lot was .. have you guessed? - the original Ruger box for that exact earlier ROA revolver complete with the shipping outer buff cover - both fully marked with the correct serial numbers. Wooo-Hoo!

I guess that the guns value just rose a few dollars eh ..

Merry Christmas.

Marty K.