Classic Arms & Militaria - February-March 2016

Classic
Arms
Militaria
Volume XXIII Issue 1

Febuary/March 2016
UK 3.95
Published every two months
&
For the military historian, private

collector and the classic shooter
CURVED BLADED
TURKY SWORD
That rarest of Highland weapons
WENDER WONDERS
Turnover pistols over the years
THE NINE RIFLES FROM RAS BIRRUS HOUSE

THE EPHEMERAL FUCILI DA FANTERIA A RETROCARICA
ASK THE EXPERT - BILL HARRIMAN ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
GROUP PUBLICATIONS PLC
DISPLAY UNTIL 24 MARCH 2016
MILITARIA EVENTS AUCTIONS BOOKS REVIEWS

01 Cover.indd 1
07/01/2016 15:52
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p02_caamfebmar16.indd 1
07/01/2016 14:20
WELCOME
elcome to the February March

issue of Classic Arms. In this issue
we have all your usual regulars
among which are; Duncan
Noble with his report on the
curved blade Turky Sword; George Prescott on the
early rocket men in which he traces its origins back to
China and in turn to Genghis Khan around 1250 who
adopted its use, and not forgetting Ask the Expert with
Bill Harriman, got a gun related question? then email Bill at
caam@warnersgroup.co.uk or if you prefer write to us at
the address on page 54.
A new year and Classic Arms has a new website, please
join us at www.militaria-history.co.uk and see all the
latest news and offers.
This is to be my last issue of Classic Arms, I would like
to thank readers, advertisers and contributors for your
continued support and wish you all the very best for 2016.
Jayne Thorpe, Production Editor
p42
p6
CONTENTS
p28
BILL HARRIMANS UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES 16

THE EARLY ROCKET MEN:
18
THE EPHEMERAL FUCILI DA FANTERIA

A RETROCARICA CARCANO
24
BAYONET BYTES NO.17
28
TURNER RIFLE
36
WENDER WONDERS
40
BOOK REVIEWS
44
AUCTION NEWS
50
EVENTS CALENDAR
54
WHO TO CONTACT
54
Tipu Sultan, Congreve and Hale. By George Prescott
Part 2 By Guy and Leonard A-R-West FHBSA
Bayonet manufacture by Graham Priest
By Bill Harriman
ASK THE EXPERT
Bill Harriman, a professional member of the Forensic Science Society and

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, answers your questions
THE TURKY SWORD
Duncan Noble (Gaelic Donachadh Uasal) a Gaelic speaker with a NormanFrench surname) examines the evidence for that rarest of Highland
weapons, the curved bladed Turky sword (Gaelic An Claidheamh Turcaidh)
4
6
THE NINE RIFLES FROM RAS BIRRUS HOUSE 10

By Robert Wilsey
Turnover pistols over the years. By Richard Garrett
Bill Harriman and the team guide you through a range of the latest
historical literature.
A selection of results of the past months auctions and upcoming events
Whats ahead for the arms and militaria enthusiast in the forthcoming months
p10
www.classic-arms-and-militaria.com
03 Welcome contents.indd 3
3
13/01/2016 14:05
QA
ASK THE EXPERT
&
ASK THE EXPERT
Here in Albany, West Australia,

we have two 9lb RML Field
Guns as part of the Princess
Royal Fortress gun collection. They were
delivered here in 1893 as mobile defence
for the fortress. Both were made at the
RGF in 1874 and are numbered 101
and 97. They are still used to fire salutes
and public demonstrations. My question is
about touch-holes. One of the vents needs
replacing or bushing, and I was hoping
you could put me in touch with somebody
(maybe at Fort Nelson) who knows how
to remove the old copper vent so a new one
can be made, or the existing one bushed. I
restored these guns to working order in the
1980s, and have supervised the firing of
them since then. I am a licensed gunsmith
and experienced in metal machining
generally. Always read your column in
Classic Arms & Militaria. Love it!
John Drummond.
The vent or touch-hole

on early cannon was
simply a small hole
drilled in the breech. From
about
1812,
experiments
began to be made with bushes
which allowed a vent which
had suffered gas erosion to be
replaced with a new one in the
field. Copper was originally
used and then in 1844 iron
was substituted; copper was
reinstated in 1855. After that
date all newly made guns were
issued ready bushed.
During it life a gun might have
up to two or three bushings. The
initial one was termed a cone
bush as it was largely conical.
The final bush, installed when
a significant quantity of metal
had been eroded was called a
through bush.
I have no experience of
working on cannon and
4
4 Expert.indd 4
the Royal Armouries at Fort

Nelson should be your first
port of call. The technicians
there have probably done one
and may be able to give you
a steer. Tel 01329 233 734;
fnenquiries@armouries.org.uk.
Royal Armouries Museum, Fort
Nelson, Portsdown Hill Road,
Fareham, PO17 6AN.
I have a Kerr revolver c.1864.

The screw that resides in the
back of the frame, beneath the
hammer aperture, which locks the upper
and lower halves together, is missing.
Could you advise me how to make a
pattern of the screw in order to make a
copy to replace it?
B.D. Harris, Widley
I am afraid I am not
familiar with the screw
arrangements on the
frame of the Kerr revolver as
it is a long time since I have
handled one. However, one of
the selling features of the Kerr
was that it was simply made so
that any gunsmith could effect
repairs. For instance, the lock
is much like that on a shotgun.
Consequently I can imagine
that the screws holding the
frame together should not be
complicated. If you can remove
any existing screw and put it on
a gauge, that will give the thread.
Having a good look in the hole
with a bore light or pen torch
ought to give some idea of what
the screw looked like. Filling the
hole up with epoxy putty, such
as Milliput, letting it harden
and then knocking it out with
a drift will give a pretty good
idea of how the screw looked.
If you grease the hole first, the
hardened putty will come out

quite easily. The impressions of
the threads will not survive but
at least you will have the basic
dimensions.
Alternatively, if you can find
someone who has a Kerr you
might persuade them to remove
the screw so that you can make
a note of how big it is and what
it looks like.
I have a collection of Colt

percussion revolvers which
includes most of the major
types. I am afraid I am not rich enough
to buy a Paterson or a Walker and
wondered if I could acquire good modern
replicas to fill the gaps?
P. Jarndyce
Mapperley, Nottingham
I think that some of

todays replicas are well
worth collecting in their
own right. Like you, my bank
account will not stretch to a
Paterson so I have filled the gap
with a Uberti replica of the No
5 Texas Model. It is an excellent
substitute. I also have a LeMat.
As a replica is a modern made
firearm you cannot claim the
Section 58(2) exemption in
the Firearms Act 1968. You will
need a firearm certificate. To be
granted a certificate you must
be a person of good character,
not of intemperate habits, not
unfitted for any reason to be
entrusted with a firearm and
have good reason for acquiring
the revolvers. Good reason is
not defined in law and has to be
construed according to the plain
meaning rule, i.e. its natural
usage. It must be substantial
(have substance) and should
Bill Harriman is a professional

member of the Forensic Science
Society and a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries, thus, a
nationally recognized firearm
expert. He uses his professions
as a writer and broadcaster/
specialist on the BBC Antiques
Roadshow to communicate
his passion for weapons and
their use in history to a larger
audience. He has a personal
collection of over 150 military
rifles and their accessories
dating from the 1830s to the
First World War.
Bill is a practicing firearms
forensic examiner and technical
adviser to the Association of
Chief Police Officers.
If you have any questions you
would like answering please email
caam@warnersgroup.co.uk, or
write to the address on page 54.
not equate to just a whimsical

desire. However, it does not
equate to need and certainly is
not defined by what the police
like or are happy with. It is a
subjective test and has to reflect
your circumstances. You do not
have to be a member of a Home
Office approved club (unless
you want to fire it regularly).
In my opinion you have more
than satisfied the good reason
test as you want to acquire
replicas to complement an
existing collection of antiques.
If you satisfy all the legal tests,
the police have to grant the
certificate; it is a qualified right.
You will need somewhere
secure to store the revolver(s)
and I recommend a small
combination safe. They can
be bolted to the wall and are
inexpensive. You may wonder
why you can display an
original Colt Navy revolver
from 1861 and yet a replica
from 2015, which is identical
in all respects, has to be locked
away. Dont look for the logic,
for there is none. It is a problem
for much greater legal minds
than mine!
www.militaria-history.co.uk
07/01/2016 15:55
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E-mail: richard.beale@warwickandwarwick.com
www.warwickandwarwick.com
161_PT_Militaria_A4_Monthly_Apr15.indd
1
29/04/2015
07/01/2016 11:37
14:21
TURKY SWORD
THE
TURKY SWORD
Duncan Noble (Gaelic Donachadh Uasal) a Gaelic speaker with a Norman-French surname)
examines the evidence for that rarest of Highland weapons, the curved
bladed Turky sword (Gaelic An Claidheamh Turcaidh)
cottish Highland swords

are firmly associated with a
heavy straight blade, but a
Highland sword with a short
but highly curved blade like
an oriental scimitars did exist. This
was the Turky sword, although it
originated not in Turkey but further
east in Siberia, east of the Ukraine.
The sabre, related to the scimitar
but with a narrower tapering blade,
came to Eastern Europe, into Poland
and Hungary, from further east in the
Caucasus and western Asia in the 16th
century and slowly found its way into
France and Britain just before the time
of the Napoleonic Wars.
In 18th-century Western Europe
swords, and particularly heavy
military swords, had straight blades
which could cut as well as thrust, but
they were not particularly efficient
for cutting. The Eastern European
sabre and its relative the scimitar,
based on oriental patterns with a
highly curved blade, were excellent
for making slicing cuts, although
not at all handy for thrusting. The
ongoing controversy of cut versus
thrust swung decisively towards
cutting at the end of the 18th century,
as exemplified by the British P. 1796
light cavalry sabre that was based on
an Austrian prototype.
From the end of the 18th
and the greater part of
the 19th centuries light
cavalry in most Western
European countries was
based on Hungarian
originals and it adopted
not only Hungarian dress but the
swords of that region, sabres with
curved blades and light hilts.
The Highlands of Scotland was
a region where the wise man went
armed. Before the 18th century,
cattle stealing was quite a usual
way of acquiring capital and the
basket-hilted broadsword was the
traditional weapon. It was a poor area
6
6_Duncan.indd 6
of high rainfall, steep hills and bogs

occupied by conservative people
who dared not risk the cost of the
adoption of a new but unsuccessful
weapon in the way that men could in
the more prosperous south. So while
the sword had become in the 18th
century, except for the gentlemans
smallsword, strictly a military
weapon in the south of Britain
and the continent of Europe, the
Highlanders still favoured the baskethilted broadsword with its straight
two-edged blade. Meanwhile the
cavalry of their southern neighbours
was taking to the curved sabres of
the plains of Hungary and Eastern
Europe.
In 1745 the former royal family
of the Stuarts raised a rebellion led
by Prince Charles Edward Stewart,
Bonnie Prince Charlie, among their
supporters, the Jacobites, with erratic
French assistance, in the Highlands
and north-east of Scotland. Their
opponents were the British Army,
whose cavalry was on the verge of
Fig 1
Fig 1. Penicuik
1745 sketch of a
Scotch Hussar.
adopting the new Eastern European

sabre. The Highlanders, most of
whom fought on foot because
their country was too poor for the
breeding of heavy cavalry horses,
needed mounted men who were
fast enough for scouting, and several
units of Jacobite cavalry were raised.
Most of them were armed with the
same basket-hilted broadsword
that was the traditional weapon of
the Highland clansmen. But some
members of a Jacobite mounted unit,
generally known as the Hussars, a
Hungarian name, carried a littleknown combination of the hilt of the
Highland basket-hilted broadsword
with a broad, highly curved short
blade with a clipped point that was
already obsolete in Eastern Europe.
This Scottish Highland version of
a 16th-century Polish/Hungarian
scimitar has a very curved blade of
constant width. This was known
in the Highlands as the Turkish,
or Turky, sword, in Gaelic as An
Claidheamh Turcaidh. A question that it
is worthwhile asking is whether this
kind of sword with a curved blade
and a clipped point was an oldfashioned type of oriental scimitar
or a forerunner of the sabre with
the curved blade that was gaining
popularity.
We know that many of the
weapons and items of uniform
used by Prince Charles army were
obsolete French patterns which
the French had provided from
their stores. The Jacobite muskets
were obsolete French models. The
pistols of the Jacobite cavalry were
probably the obsolete French Model
1733, for a wagon full of them was
captured after Culloden. The redtopped fur caps of the new Jacobite
Hussars, known to the British Army
as the Scotch Hussars, are said by
some writers on the rebellion to be
possibly of French origin. Certainly
a red cap like that with fur around
07/01/2016 15:56
Fig 2
it was worn about 1721 by the

French Grenadiers Cheval and a
French drawing of a trooper of the
same regiment shows him carrying
a sword with a curved blade with
a clipped point. Unfortunately the
swords hilt cannot be seen. Swords
with what the Highlanders called
Turky blades, which must have meant
curved ones, are known from the
records of the English Privy Council
who in 1600 and 1601 ordered that
cavalry detailed for service in Ireland
be equipped with swords with Turky
blades, which were of high quality.
This must surely have meant swords
with curved blades at a time when
the usual cavalry swords had straight
blades. What we do not know is
whether these had broad scimitar
blades of constant width or narrower
sabre blades that tapered to the point.
A sword with a basket hilt and a
curved blade was excavated at Sandal
Castle in Yorkshire and is now in the
Wakefield Museum. Its abandonment
can be dated to before 1646. It seems
to have had a sabre rather than a
scimitar blade.
So the Highland Turky claymore,
whatever its origins, can be regarded
as an early example of the sabre with
a scimitar blade based on oriental
prototypes. Its recorded appearance
in Scotland is in a painting by
Richard Waitt, dated to 1714, of the
Champion of the Clan Grant who
6_Duncan.indd 7
flourishes one of those

swords above his head.
So it is quite reasonable
that among other rather
obsolete items of
military equipment the
Scotch Hussars should
have Turky claymores
of either Scottish or
French origin. The
one piece of pictorial
evidence for the
appearance of the
Scottish Hussars is in
one of the Penicuik
sketches made by an
unknown artist as
the Jacobite army
marched through
the
Midlothian
village of Penicuik
on its way into
England
in
December 1745.
The
horseman
holds a Turky sword
in his hand but unfortunately the
hilt of the sword is on his other side
and cannot be seen. But as we know
from another sketch that some of
the Hussars carried conventional
basket hilted broadswords, so we feel
justified in suggesting that the Turky
claymore had a basket hilt of the
Glasgow pattern.
Here I must introduce my
collaborator, Mr Thomas Yeudall, a
Lowland Scottish master swordsmith
who runs the Claymore Armoury in
Ayrshire where he makes splendid
two handed Highland claymores. He
also makes to order medieval Scottish
swords of which no original examples
survive and two of those decorate my
study wall. We have worked together
off and on with great amity for several
years. I, as a historian of swords, have
done the academic research and he
has adapted my ideas and made a
useable sword.
No Turky claymores with clipped
points survive. One claymore with
a curved blade dated to 1662 and
a Glasgow style hilt dated to about
1690 is in the possession of the Duke
of Buccleuch and is illustrated in the
National Trust for Scotlands book The
Sword and the Sorrows. But its blade has
a conventional point and is tapered
in width, unlike the Turky one which
appears to have a blade of constant
width up to the place where the
blade is cut away in a curve for the
clipped point. Two Penicuik sketches

show Highlanders on foot with Turky
claymores. So even if a minority
of the Jacobite forces carried that
kind of sabre, it cannot have been
restricted entirely to the Hussars.
I have made the point in earlier
articles that in my opinion the
Highlanders were fencing according
to the medieval methods of the
longsword that were now obsolete
in the Lowlands, England and the
Continent. It now looks as if at least
some of the Hussars, who were a new
kind of soldiers in the Highlands,
adopted an obsolete pattern of
sword. Of course, it could be that
the Turky swords were yet another
gift of arms from the French, for
it is well known that the promised
French assistance to the Jacobites
was in practice erratic and designed
to impose no hardship on the French
Exchequer.
Of course, I could be wrong and
the inspiration for the Highland
Turky sword was not oriental, but
from Europe. Two European swords
of the Middle Ages that have clipped
points on short blades are the German
Messer, the sword of the ordinary
people, townsmen and peasants at
the end of the Middle Ages, and the
14th-century falchion that was
more popular in Britain. It was also
a shortsword with a clipped point.
The Messer had a straight blade while
the falchion sometimes had a slightly
curved blade and sometimes a blade
with a short but straight point on a
blade that was wide just behind
the point. It appeared
in Europe after
the Crusades,
so Eastern
Fig 2. Alastair
Grant, Champion
of Clan Grant,
holding a Turky
sword. Portrait
by Richard Waitt
c.1714 showing
the Turky sword
full length, the
only picture
that does so.
(courtesy of the
Seafield Estate)
Fig 3. Penicuik
1745 sketch
showing a
Highlander on
foot with a Turky
sword
Fig 3
influence is likely.
On the other hand,
the inspiration for the
Turky sword may have
been from both Asiatic
and European sources,
Asiatic for the curved
blade and European for
the clipped point:
Caucasian sabres
do not have
7
07/01/2016 15:56
TURKY SWORD
Fig 4
Fig 4. Another
Penicuik sketch of
a Highlander with
a Turky sword.
Fig 5. Trooper
in the French
Grenadiers
Cheval with a
Turky sword
c.1721
Fig 5
clipped points and Polish/Hungarian

examples never have clipped points
after the 16th century.
Tempering a long thin sword
blade so that it does not bend in the
working is a skilful business and it is
therefore expensive to make. A shorter
but wider blade would be more
within the reach of a poor clansman
or a village blacksmith. But there
are many gaps in the social history
of the clans, so we do not know
whether the Turky sword was a poor
mans weapon, compared with the
Highland basket-hilted broadsword
with its long straight blade, or a gift
from the French. What is less open to
controversy is the suggestion that by
1745 the Turky sword with its short
curved blade was a very out-of-date
weapon in the Highlands.
I already have five modern madebasket-hilted broadswords in racks
and backswords with the broader clan
era blades mounted on Glasgow and
Stirling hilts made for me by different
swordsmiths. With no original Turky
sword to work from I had to work
out the dimensions of a Turky blade
using the portrait of Alastair Grant, the
only picture to feature a whole Turky
sword, and the upper half of the blade
visible on the Penicuik sketch of a
Scotch Hussar as guides. The width of
a clan-era Highland blade is a wellknown dimension and the length
of a claymore hilt is known to be in
the neighbourhood of 6 inches. The
average width of my modern clan-era
claymore blades is 2 inches and a hilt
could reasonably be taken as 6 inches
long. I transferred these measurements
to a copy of the portrait and I arrived
8
6_Duncan.indd 8
at a blade length of 26 inches, rather

less than a basket-hilted broadsword
blade, and I estimated 2 inches as
a reasonable width for the blade. A
17th-century Hungarian/Polish sabre
in my collection has a 27-inch blade.
This is rather short compared with a
basket-hilted broadsword or any more
modern weapon, but theTurky sword
was never intended for European style
face-to-face fencing. In 17th-century
oriental sword-fighting style you
circled your horse to come up on your
opponents left rear and hit him from
behind. So working on the principle
that a longer blade gives a swordsman,
within reason, an advantage I planned
a sword with a 28-inch blade. The
curve of the blade clipped point was
slightly less than a quarter of a circle
and the measurement across the
curved cut-out was 3 inches and I
took 2 inches as a reasonable width
for the blade. The blade in its curve
rises slightly more than the width of
the blade, say 3 to 3 inches, and the
measurement across the curved cutout of the blade comes to twice the
width of the blade. In discussions with
Mr Yeudall he suggested that a 30-inch
blade gave a much more reasonable
sword from the swordsmiths points
of view and I accepted that. To judge

from an early 18th-century portrait
how long a sword blade is a difficult
job. A Penicuik drawing has the tip of
the upright blade of a Turky sword in
line with the riders forehead when
the hilt is held down somewhere out
of sight. A couple of inches more than
my original guess would not make the
blade unreasonably long. When I had
finished these reconstructions I made
a scale drawing of a Turky claymore
that looked just like the one on the
Waitt portrait.
By the time I had worked out the
dimensions of a Turky blade, I felt I
had to have one to fill the gap in this
section in the sword collection. It
has a single edge from the hilt to the
point. Whether the short back edge
behind the point was sharpened we
do not know. It is not vital. So once
more I contacted Mr Yeudall and we
discussed my plans for a Turky sword.
He agreed to make a sword to my
drawing and we agreed a price and a
delivery date.
With a blade 30 inches long, 2
inches wide, and rising 1 inches
from the straight, the Turky sword Mr
Yeudall made is heavy at 4 pounds
and 2 ounces. With those features and
a point of balance 3 inches from
the hilt it is not only massive but
extremely blade heavy.
The Hussars had as colourful and
tragic a history as any of the others
who joined in the Jacobite uprising,
Fig 6
Plate 6. My
reconstruction
by the Claymore
Armoury of a
Turky sword.
07/01/2016 15:56
Fig 7
Fig 8
or any others who took part in an

unsuccessful rebellion against an
established government.
The Scotch Hussars were raised
in Edinburgh by John Murray of
Broughton, a Scottish adventurer and
bankrupt who had come over from
France with the Marquis dEguilles,
the Ambassador of France to Prince
Charles. He was Prince Charles
Secretary of State throughout the
rebellion, one of the several high-class
bankrupts who joined the Jacobites,
trusting that if the Jacobites won,
their debts, caused by a combination
of economic depression and punitive
financial
measures,
particularly
against Catholics, would be wiped
out on the accession of a Stuart to the
throne. After capture he saved his neck
by turning Kings Evidence against his
former comrades, which blackened
his character for ever among the
Jacobites. He remained titular
Commanding Officer of the Hussars
while actual command was taken by
the dashing Edinburgh lawyer, Captain
George Hamilton of Redhouse. The
senior officers of the Hussars were
aristocrats from the east coast of
Scotland and included two baronets.
They earned the regiment a rather
raffish but militarily incompetent
reputation. Redhouse was captured in
the skirmish at Clifton, near Kendal,
and was beheaded on 1 October 1746.
After Redhouse had been taken
prisoner, command of the Regiment,
whose numbers hovered around 70,
was taken by Major Mathew Baggot,
(also spelled Bagot) an Irishman
who was a French subject and held a
commission in the French Regiment
Rooth. The Hussars aristocratic
officers had either been captured
or obtained staff appointments and
Baggot instilled some discipline in the
regiment and trained it as scouts rather
than line cavalry. Thereafter it did very
useful work on various occasions.
Brand achieved steady promotion till
he got his majority, which as the only
6_Duncan.indd 9
other major in the Regiment must

have made him second in command.
The inspiration for this article
was some research that as a military
historian I had been glad to undertake
for a friend who, like me had an
ancestor who had been present in
Bonnie Prince Charlies rebel army
at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April
1746. All she knew about her ancestor
was his name, that he had been a
clockmaker in Edinburgh, and that
he had been beheaded after capture.
I possessed a copy of the muster roll
of the Jacobite army and quickly
discovered that her ancestor was John
Brand, a clockmaker of Edinburgh, and
a major in the Scotch Hussars, one of
the few cavalry units that the Jacobites
had raised. John Brand was beheaded
on 18 October 1746. There exists a
contemporary sketch of a member of
the Hussars as they marched through
the Midlothian village of Penicuik on
their way to England in one of Stuart
Reids excellent Osprey books about
the Jacobites and they carried a most
unusual kind of claymore with a
curved blade of Turkish origin. As my
specialisation as a military historian is
swords, this article is the result of my
research.
As an officer in the Scotch Hussars,
Major Brand sat his horse at Culloden
in the wind and rain, under steady
British army cannon fire, a few yards
behind the Highland Glengarry
Regiment on the extreme left of the
Jacobite line where my ancestor
Duncan Cumming, a farmer from
Glen Urquhart on the shore of Loch
Ness, stood as a volunteer, ankle deep
in water.
After capture, Baggot, as a French
officer, was released but Brand, along
with other senior Jacobite officers
of British nationality, was beheaded.
The 65-year-old Duncan Cumming
was transported to the West Indies
where he no doubt died of fever in
the sugar cane fields. Rebellion is a
desperate venture and there is no
mercy for the losers.
EVIDENCE FOR MY
INTERPRETATION
OF THE SWORD
The portrait of Alastair Grant, the
Champion of the Clan Grant by
Richard Waitt 1714
The hilt is of a type otherwise
unknown. The blade is of constant
width. It is not ground away on the
edge before the point. The cut away
for the clipped point covers slightly
less than a quarter of a circle and
a line along it is twice the width of
the blade. The blade in its curve rises
slightly more than the width of the
blade.The blades length is slightly less
than five times the length of the hilt.
If the hilt is 6 inches that makes the
blade in a straight line about 2 inches
over 24 inches, say 26 inches. The
blade length round the curve is very
much the same
Three Penicuik sketches
1. On plate E2 on and on page 27 of
Stuart Reids The Scottish Jacobite
Army 1745-46, pictures of the
Scotch Hussars.
2. Sketch of a Highlander on foot on
pages 48 and 58 of Stuart Reids
Highland Clansman 1689-1746.
3. Sketch of a Jacobite on foot with a
Turkish sword in page 52 of Stuart
Reids
The Scottish Jacobite Army 1745-46. This
is the same picture as page 58 of
Highland Clansman but a larger and
clearer picture.
Picture on page 11 of Chartrand,
Louis XVs Army (1) Cavalry and
Dragoons, showing a trooper of the
French Grenadiers Cheval c.1721
with a sword with a clipped point to
the blade.
Fig 7. The recreation of a

Turky sword by
the Claymore
Armoury. Many
of the Scotch
Hussars carried
this type of
unusual obsolete
scimitar with a
broad oriental
16th-century
blade on a
Highland
broadsword hilt,
probably of the
Glasgow type.
Fig 8. A modernmade Highland
basket-hilted
broadsword by
Armour Class
with a Glasgow
hilt. Those of the
Scotch Hussars
who did not have
Turky swords
carried this
common kind
of Highland
basket-hilted
broadsword.
Literary Evidence
In 1602 the English Privy Council
ordered that cavalry to be sent for
service in Ireland should be equipped
with Turky swords because they were
of high quality.
Problems to be checked.
1.0 How long is the blade? Is it shorter
than a broadsword one?
2.0 How long is the clipped edge? It
differs in the Hussar pictures.
3.0 Which hilt did it have? I chose a
Glasgow claymore hilt.
9
07/01/2016 15:57
NINE RIFLES
Fig 1
The Nine Rifles from
RAS BIRRUS HOUSE
n March 2013, whilst

researching the Battle of
Adowa (1 March 1896
and sometimes spelt Adwa
or Adua) in the capital of
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, I visited the
Addis Ababa Museum (not to be
confused with the much larger and
modern National Museum of Addis
10
10_Robert Wilsey.indd 10
By Robert Wilsey
Ababa) located in the 19th-century

wooden house that originally
belonged to Ras Birru, Emperor
Menelik IIs Minister of Defence. This
is a little-visited two-storey wooden
mansion with faded ochre paint and
a red corrugated iron roof, which
contains a remarkable collection
of original and historical exhibits
displayed in a traditional way. I

found it fascinating and atmospheric
but a far cry from modern welllit museums with themed displays
which the public has now come to
expect. Here there was no electricity
and many of the annotations are on
fading paper curling in the heat. In
a corner of the Adua Room was a
07/01/2016 15:58
locked cabinet containing a stack of

nine dusty rifles chained together at
the muzzles. In the gloom of the old
wooden room it was hard to make
out the details but it was clear that
the collection contained a VetterliVitali, a Remington rolling block and
a couple of Mle 1874 Gras. Our lady
guide informed us that the curator
was away up country for a number
of weeks and thus it was not possible
to look any more closely at the rifles.
Elsewhere in Addis Ababa I could
find no rifles dating from the Battle
of Adowa. I saw some examples
of Vetterli
mod.1870/87/15s,
sometimes erroneously labelled from
Adowa, but these were all 6.5mm
conversions used in the second

Italian campaign of 1935-36 along
with the Carcano mod.1891.
Since the Ras Birru House collection
featured the only collection of
military rifles that I had seen in
Ethiopia directly relating to the
Adowa era, on my return to the UK
I began to yearn for the opportunity
to inspect them. Thanks to the help of
my friendly and efficient contact in
Addis, Mr Yayehiyrad Emeru, I wrote
to the curator of the museum, Mr
Eshetu Taye, and to my surprise and
delight he readily gave permission
for me to inspect and record each
rifle in detail.
I wasted no time, and in early May
2014 I flew out once again to Addis
Ababa with my camera, bore-light,
turn-screws and gauges to open up
this fascinating time capsule. After
professional advice I determined
to clean the rifles lightly, using the
minimum non-corrosive materials
and no abrasives or chemicals. I also
took a large bundle of clean cotton
rags with me but rifle cleaning oil and
raw linseed oil could not be packed
in my hold baggage and I planned to
purchase them on arrival. However, it
proved to be remarkably difficult to
find oil and wood treatment materials
in Addis Ababa. On the first morning
75 minutes of visiting various
hardware shops, garages and stalls
with a helpful driver brought home
to me the fact that light household
lubricating oil was unknown in
Addis. Instead every hardware outlet
sold aerosol cans of light penetrating
oil manufactured in the USA; it was
effective in freeing rusted components
but it evaporated in the heat within
minutes. I required an additional oil
to give a protective coating on the
metal parts. I therefore purchased a
litre of Egyptian-produced 20W-50
light engine oil with which to coat
the rifles working surfaces after
cleaning, and just succeeded in
preventing the helpful garage
assistant from pouring it into
the engine of my taxi whilst
I was otherwise occupied
paying for it. Likewise
I soon discovered that
linseed oil was difficult
to find in the capital and
so elected to use Italian
extra virgin olive oil
from a local food market
for wood treatment.
The wooden Ras Birru House was

built in the late 1880s as an arms
warehouse just half a mile down
the hill from the Gibbe, or Royal
Palace, where Emperor Menelik II and
Empress Taitu resided. At that time
Addis Ababa (New Flower) had only
just been founded and the Emperor
and his retinue had moved down
from the hills of Entoto. Following
the Battle of Adowa in 1896 Menelik
had given the house to Aleqa Birru
Wolde Gabriel, his trusted friend
and emissary and possibly his
illegitimate son, who became his
Minister of War. Ras Birru continued
in this post until the time of Haile
Selassies reign. Following Ras Birrus
death and the overthrow of the Derg
regime (the Provisional Military
Government of Socialist Ethiopia
under Colonel Mengistu), the house
became a museum in 1986 and the
nine rifles were transferred from the
Old Emperors Palace (now the Prime
Ministers Residence) to the Ras Birru
House. The present curator, Mr Eshetu
Taye, believes that the case had not
been opened for 20 years and the
rifles neither inspected nor cleaned
for over 40 years.
The only facilities that I had
requested in advance were a table and
good light. At the appointed time I
arrived to find everything waiting
and a table laid out in the natural light
from the old glass fronted passageway.
It was an exciting moment to open
the case, undo the old padlock and
chain binding the muzzles together
and lift out the rifles one by one. After
checking the breech, my first task was
to photograph the uncleaned rifle on
my ex-Russian military blanket using
a tripod and digital camera mounted
Fig 1:
Contemporary
illustration of
the last stand
of General
Dabormidas 2nd
Africa Infantry
Brigade at the
Battle of Adowa
as depicted six
weeks afterwards
in The Graphic
dated 11 April
1896. Note the
Vetterli-Vitali
rifles being used
by both sides and
the empty cases
and chargers on
the ground.
Mary Evans
Picture Library.
Fig 2: The
battlefield of
Adowa today.
The pile of
stones behind
the children
is the remains
of an Italian
cairn and cross
erected by Lt
Col Arimondis
burial party four
months after the
battle. Author.
Fig 2
11
07/01/2016 15:58
NINE RIFLES
Fig 3
on the table. Then I removed the bolt

and started to clean years of dirt and
dust using the large supply of cotton
rags that I had brought with me. I
used just a little olive oil on the wood
and penetrating oil on the metal
surfaces, continuing to rub until the
cloth showed little dirt. This process
took about 60 minutes for each
rifle, although it could have usefully
continued for days. The growing pile
of dirty rags on the floor was removed
to be hand-washed in a country where
nothing goes to waste. After stripping
and oiling the bolts, the rifles were
re-assembled and the actions checked.
In the two cases where remains of an
old sling remained I carefully applied
leather restoring balsam containing
lanolin and beeswax, which I had
brought out with me and which the
dry leather absorbed greedily. The next
day I repeated the process on each
rifle and then applied a coating of
the 20W-50 engine oil, the viscosity
of which had thinned in the heat and
which provided a surprisingly good
protective covering over the working
parts.
A short description of each of
the rifles found in the glass-fronted
cabinet follows.
1. Mle 1874 M.80 Gras (Amharic
name Wujigra)
An 11x59Rmm two-band French
infantry rifle. The receiver was
engraved Mle 1874 St Etienne M80.
The left nocksform was marked TG
31262, the right marked S1881.
The right side of the barrel was
marked MA and the bolt head was
marked No 62811. M80 indicates
that the carbine was modified with
12
Fig 4
Fig 3:
The Ras Birru
House which today
houses the Addis
Ababa Museum.
Author.
Fig 4:
The Nine Rifles as
originally found
and displayed
in the museum.
Author.
Fig 5: Mle 1874
M.80 11x59R mm
Gras rifle with
remnants of an
original sling.
This example was
built at Sainttienne as a Mle
1866 Chassepot
and converted
to Gras in 1881
together with an
additional Modifi
1880 (M.80)
modification.
Author.
Fig 6: Swedish
Remington
M1867/89 in
8x58R mm calibre
converted to a
short hunting rifle.
The backsight is
missing. Author.
an annular channel and groove in

case of a defective cartridge in 1881.
A boxwood plug or Holy Water plug
inlet into the right side of the butt,
surrounded a central identification
stamp ME (Manufacturie tienne)
in olive wood or apple wood, which
identified the rifle as an official French
military weapon which civilians
were not permitted to own. The plug
was discontinued in 1886 with the
introduction of the Mle1886 Lebel.
The right side of the barrel had been
engraved with the Amharic word
Negade translating as Merchant.
Attached were the remnants of an
original brown leather sling. This rifle,
together with Gras Musketoons and
carbines, was a favourite weapon of
the Ethiopians, having been imported
as ex-military rifles into the French
port of Djibouti. From there they
would have travelled inland by camel
train 400 miles to Addis Ababa via
Harrar. Inventory number 0069.
2. Swedish Remington Short
Hunting Rifle (converted from
M1867/89) (Amharic name Senadir)
This was a surprise as I had expected
to find either an M.1868 Egyptian
Remington carbine in .43in calibre
or a Remington Pontificio Mod.1868
Italian rifle in 12.17mm both of
which were captured from Egyptian
and Italian forces respectively. Instead
this was a Swedish built 8x58Rmm
centre-fire conversion of an original
M1867 12.7x44R mm Swedish
military rim-fire Remington rifle.
The conversion to 8x58Rmm would
have taken place in 1889 or soon
after. When it eventually left Swedish
military service it was converted to
a civilian short sporting rifle. The
right side of the barrel was marked

16135 and the right side of the
receiver engraved with a Crown over
C (Carl Gustafs Stads Gevrsfaktori
at Eskilstuna) with the date 1875.
The left side of the receiver was
equipped with the Remington button
locking-screw arrangement rather
than the previous Swedish moonscrew locking arrangement, with
the two large axis screws marked S
for slutstycke or breech-block and
H for hane or hammer. Smaller
inspector marks HH and TN were
engraved below.
The top of the nocksform was
marked with a Crown over C and
inspectors initials JB and JC. The
top of butt plate tang was marked
16135. The breech-block and
hammer were both marked 16135.
The rifle was fitted with a firing pin
regulator which controlled the travel
of the firing pin and also retracted
it whenever the breech-block was
opened, thus eliminating the chance of
an accidental discharge if the breechblock was closed on a live round with
the firing pin protruding. Sometime
after the Mauser M.1894 and M.1896
were introduced to the Swedish Army
it was probably sold on the surplus
market and was sporterised with a
shortened barrel, a stylish schnabel
end to the cut-down forepiece and
a ramped hunting foresight. The
backsight on this example was missing
with a mark showing where the sight
bed had been. Chequering had been
applied to the wrist of the butt. No
Remington patent mark was visible
on the upper tang. The right side of
the butt had a neat circular wooden
plug inserted over the former Swedish
regimental brass disc. This type of rifle
was known in Amharic as Rush i.e.
used for hunting and, in view of the
date of the Mauser introduction to
Sweden, would have been unlikely to
have been in civilian hands at the time
of Adowa. Inventory number 0072.
3. Mle 1874 M.80 Gras Musketoon
(Amharic name Wujigra)
French military short rifle with two
steel bands in 11x59R mmcalibre
and equipped with a turned down
bolt. The receiver was engraved Mle
1874 M80. Tulle. The right of the
barrel was engraved 1893 and MA.
The bolt was marked 56803. Bolt
head marked 23958. The boxwood
central identification stamp, or Holy
Water plug, inlet into the right side of
07/01/2016 15:58
the butt had been removed by drilling

a hole right through the butt. The
carbine was missing a foresight, the
rear sling swivel loop and the cleaning
rod. Inventory number 0073.
4. Mle 1866/74 Gras Carbine
(Amharic name Nahas Maser)
French carbine in 11x59Rmm calibre
fitted with two brass bands, a brass
nosecap, brass butt plate and triggerguard, known in Amharic as Nahas
Maser or Bronze tied together. The
left side of the receiver was engraved
St Etienne Mle 1866-74. M80, the
left barrel with F 67198 and the
right side S.1871 S. 1877. The bolt
had mismatched numbers with the
body stamped R3307 and the head
G48881. The top of the barrel had
Amharic engraving Mulabachew,
literally Fill to them which is
idiomatic for Let them have it. The
right nocksform was marked with
the Amharic numerals 8750. There
were no indications of a holy water
plug on the right side of the butt,
indicating that this was a commercial
export rifle. Although it appeared
initially in poor state it cleaned up
very nicely after two hours of work.
Inventory number 0067.
5. M1867 Werndl Infanterie-und
Jgergewehr M.1867 (Amharic
name Sasew Ena Boqet)
Austro-Hungarian infantry rifle in
original 11.15x42R mm calibre with
the unique Werndl drum breech
(Wellblockverschluss mit Lademulde). The lock
was engraved Gasser 868 (1868).
It was sighted to 1,200 schritt. The
top of the receiver was marked OP
above Werndl, showing that it was in
original calibre and unusually had not
been converted to 11.15x58Rmm. The
barrel was engraved St70 (Steyr 1870
acceptance mark). The components
inside the lock were all numbered
99. The steel nipple for the original
leather breech cover was still intact
which is rare, as usually they were
ground off on upgrading to 11.15x58.
The top of the butt tang was corroded
but after much cleaning it appeared
to be engraved with 61.7 over 2.96
probably translating as 61st Infantry
Regiment, 7th Battalion, 2nd Company,
weapon number 96. The 61st Infantry
Regiment was a Hungarian unit which
had its regimental centre based at
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
Fig 8
Fig 9
Pola (now Pula, Croatia). The barrel

appeared to be in the white with much
surface rust but, after cleaning, the
lock, drum action and extraction all
worked and appeared sound. Inventory
number 0075.
6.
Vetterli-Vitali
Fucile
Mod.1870/87 (Amharic name
Wechefo)
The nocksform was marked from the
left Torre Annunziata, 1889, PP and
YV 7743. The right foot of the butt
was engraved with a faint YV 7743
and the TA cartouche above. The sights
had been modified for the M.90
smokeless jacketed balistite round.
The woodwork was nicked, dinged
and completely dried out and the
cleaning rod was missing. Two copper
wire stitch repairs to the stock were
apparent below the left receiver and
in the area around the Vitali catch. The
desiccated remnants of an original
black leather sling were treated with

leather balsam which was rapidly
absorbed by the dried-out leather.
However, after a couple of hours
work the rifle cleaned up well and
after many applications of olive oil
the wood began to shine. Inventory
number 0070.
7. Mle 1886/93 Lebel (Amharic
name Leben)
French infantry rifle in 8x50Rmm
calibre and the first smokeless
modern magazine rifle to enter
service. The left side of the receiver
was engraved M1886/93 St Etienne,
the left nocksform cc 78652 and
the right side MA S 1892. The top
of the butt was scorched. The top of
the nocksform was engraved with
the Amharic words Haile Selassie
the First, Meshesha. This is believed
to refer to the name of the rifles
owner, Meshesha, at the time of
Fig 7: Mle 1874

M.80 Gras
Musketoon.
Note where the
identification
disk (holy
water plug) has
been drilled
out from the
butt.Author.
Fig 8: Mle
1866/74 Gras
commercial
carbine dated
1871. Author.
Fig 9: Close up
of the Amharic
inscription
Mulabachew
(or Let them
have it!) on the
Gras carbine.
Author.
Fig 10: M1867
Werndl
Infanterie-und
Jgergewehr
M.1867 rifle as
found. Author.
Fig 10
13
07/01/2016 15:58
NINE RIFLES
Fig 11
Fig 15
Emperor Haile Selassies reign. This

was known to have been a favourite
rifle of Emperor Menelik II. The rifle
was equipped with a stacking bar.
The action was seized but gradually
loosened with penetrating oil
and, after two hours work, the
movement of the action and cut-off
mechanisms were smooth. Inventory
number 0071.
8. Mod. 1891 Carcano (Amharic
name Albin)
Italian military rifle of 6.5x32mm
calibre with gain-twist, or parabolic,
rifling and found with the bolt
missing. However, Mr Eshetu Taye
produced a bolt from the back of a
little used drawer in his office which
turned out to be a mod.91 bolt! The
left nocksform was marked KG 3111
which equates to production year
1901, the upper face Terni and the
right face 01. The letters REC were
engraved in large letters in an oval on
the right side of the butt with faint
traces of KG 3111 at the foot of the
butt. Investigations in Italy have failed to
explain the REC engraving, although
it has been noted on a small number of
other Mod.1891s. Experts in Terni do
not believe
that this is
an
official
Italian military
stamp. This rifle was
produced too late to have
14
Fig 22
Fig 11: Close up

of the Werndl
receiver showing
the OP engraving
which indicates
the initial, as
issued, 11.15x42R
mm calibre. Note
also the rare
original steel
nipple behind
the breech for
attaching the
leather breech
cover at the
bottom of the
image. Author.
Fig 12:VetterliVitali Fucile
mod.1870/87
dated Torre
Annunziata 1889
as found.This is
the only Vetterli
the author has
found that might
have been present
at the field of
Adowa. Author.
Fig 13: Mle 1886
M.93 Lebel rifle
after cleaning.
Calibre 8x50R
mm manufactured in 1892
at Saint-tienne
and converted to
the M.93 model
with a modified,
strengthened bolt
and a stacking rod.
Author.
Fig 14: Mod.1891
Carcano rifle
dated Terni 1901
after cleaning.The
bolt was missing
but a suitable
Mod.1891
bolt with
non-matching
numbers was
found in an old
draw in the Ras
Birru House. Note
the mystery REC
stamp on the butt.
Author.
Fig 15: Mystery
REC stamp on the
butt of Mod.1891
Carcano. Author.
Fig 22: Museum
Curator Mr
Eshetu Taye with
mod.1870/87
Vetterli-Vitali.
Author.
Fig 12
Fig 13
Fig 14
seen action at Adowa, even if the 1o

Alpini dAfrica battalion had been
equipped with the Mod.1891 on 1
March 1896. Inventory number 0068.
9. Repetiergewehr M95 Mannlicher
(Amharic name Minishir)
Austro-Hungarian
straight-pull
infantry rifle in 8 x 50mm R calibre
manufactured at Steyr. The left side
of the receiver marked 6066A and
the nocksform left 2351B. No
regimental marks were found on
the top of the butt tang. AOI was
engraved on the right of the butt
together with two Ethiopian crossed
scissors. This rifle would have been
captured or transferred during, or
after, WWI to the Italians and the
AOI stamp (Africa Orientale Italiana)
proves that it was taken into service
as an official Italian rifle in East Africa.
It had been fitted with a barrel from
another Mannlicher which was a
common occurrence in the inter-war
years in order to produce a single
serviceable weapon. At some stage
after the 1935-36 second Italian
campaign it was probably captured by
the Ethiopians and the crossed swords
were engraved by the new owner
on the butt. The bolt was found
completely jammed in the fully open
position and was released with a few
sharp blows with the handle of a toilet
brush which was the only suitable
soft wooden tool readily available!

The bolt had a worn extractor tail lug
which failed to hold the bolt open.
After extensive cleaning, a British 5p
coin, instead of the usual dime, was
used to hold the extractor head open
whilst the bolt was simultaneously
pushed smartly through the receiver
bridge. The coin flew across the room
and, with a satisfying click, the bolt
was home and the action worked
smoothly. Inventory number 0074.
Towards the end of my short stay
I asked whether I could help to
improve the display. To prevent the
rifles from falling over in the cabinet
I purchased a number of brass hooks
from a hardware shack in Ghana
Street. Screwed into the display board
on either side of the upper barrels
and connected with doubled rubber
bands, this arrangement ensured that
the rifles were displayed securely
upright. We also colour-coded the
rubber bands to the various nations of
manufacture. Labels were attached to
the trigger-guards with descriptions
of each weapon, together with the
appropriate Amharic nickname and
museum inventory number.
During conversation with the
curator and guides I learned some
interesting Ethiopian folklore on
weapons. When I was told that Komeh
Tebekegn or Stand up and wait
for me to re-load is a well-known
Fig 24: Coffee break. Author.
07/01/2016 15:58
Amharic comic expression rooted

from experience with early breechloaders, I did a double-take, as this
is very similar to a Cretan expression
concerning the Mle 1874 Gras rifle.
During the German invasion of Crete
in 1941, some Gras rifles were still
being used by the Cretan Resistance
Andartes: Old men unflinching under
fire, fiddled with their ancient gra
(sic) muskets in the tradition of the
Cretan joke Stand still, Turk, while I
reload (Beevor 1991: 258).
Of the nine rifles at Ras Birru
House, two, the mod.1891 Carcano
and the M.95 Mannlicher, could not
have been present at Adowa because
of their year of manufacture and dates
of issue. The Swedish short hunting
rifle was also likely to have been
imported into Ethiopia well after
1896. The other six rifles, however,
could have been used at Adowa. The
Vetterli-Vitali was of the correct date
and appropriate condition possibly to
have been captured from the Italian
forces on the field of Amba Alagi or
Adowa and was the only example
that I have so far seen that might have
been witness to the battle. The trip
had been a marvellous opportunity
to open a small time capsule. Mr
Eshetu Taye and his helpful Museum
staff are enthusiastic about their
historic collection and will now
maintain the rifles annually.
NOTE:
This article was first published in Man
at Arms Magazine volume 37, No 5, in
October 2015.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The author would particularly
like to thank the following for
their assistance in the research and
preparation of this article:
Mr Bernard Dickens, Mr Lance Jones,
Mr Yayehiyrad Emeru and Mag Reinolf
Reisinger. A very special thanks to
Mr Eshetu Taye and his helpful staff at
the Addis Ababa Museum.
REFERENCES:
Beevor, Antony 1991 Crete The Battle
and the Resistance John Murray,
London
Fig 16
Fig 17
Fig 18
Fig 21
Fig 21: The author

describing the types
to museum guide,
Mr Amdermariem.
Author.
Fig 19
Fig 20
Fig 23: The Nine Rifles after cleaning. Author.
Fig 16:
Mannlicher
Repetiergewehr
M.1895 Infantry
rifle, calibre
8x50R mm
manufactured
at Steyr. This
rifle was almost
certainly
captured from
the AustroHungarians by
the Italians in
WW1 and taken
into service
by the Italian
army in Eritrea.
Probably then
captured by
Ethiopians
in 1935-36.
Shown with
the straightpull bolt in
the jammed
position as
found. Note
the AOI stamp
on the butt.
Author.
Fig 17: Close up
of AOI stamp
with engraving
of two crossed
swords on butt
of M.1895.
Author.
Fig 18: The
Nine Rifles
after cleaning.
Author.
Fig 19: The
museum curator,
Mr Eshetu Taye,
in the workshop
inspecting the
Mle 1874 Gras.
Author.
Fig 20:
View of
workshop with
Mle 1886 Lebel
about to be
photographed.
Author.
15
07/01/2016 15:59
UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES
Bill Harrimans
UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES
he pundits predicted that

World War I would be over
by Christmas 1914. However,
as the opposing armies dug
in during 1914, it was clear
that their predictions were over optimistic.
The trenches would eventually stretch
from the North Sea to Switzerland and
the long-anticipated breakthrough by
the cavalry never came. Once it was clear
that the war was going to consist largely
of trench warfare that would last for
years, enterprising manufacturers sought
to exploit the stalemate. Their products
were mostly designed to improve the lot
of officers who had traditionally bought
their own equipment anyway. The most
obvious product developed to cope with
this static form of warfare was the trench
coat. It was originally designed before the
war as an alternative to the heavy woollen
greatcoat. These were warm but became
unwearable when waterlogged. Both
Burberry and Aquascutum claimed that
they had invented the trench coat but there
is no evidence to confirm either of their
claims. The trench coat eventually evolved
into a heavy gabardine raincoat with a
reinforced shoulder for firing a rifle, D
rings from which to hang equipment and
a belt to gather it at the waist in order to
conserve heat. It is still with us as a fashion
garment today.
Other specialised products including
weapons were also soon developed.
One of the least pleasant aspects of trench
warfare was that there was often a great deal
of close-quarter fighting, both from formal
attacks and also from clandestine raids
which were normally mounted to secure a
prisoner for intelligence gathering. Whilst
there were many home made weapons
clubs, improvised knives, sharpened
entrenching tools etc. there were also
purpose-manufactured, private-purchase
weapons as firms sought to capitalise on
ways of killing the enemy.
Robbins of Dudley made grates and
fenders. They were based in Fountain
Street from about 1880 to the 1920s
and from 1906 they started to made
decorative metalwork items. They were
very experienced in metalwork and looked
to expand their production by producing
trench daggers. Eventually, they produced
some ten different models of fighting knife
16
16_tifles.indd 16
including one with

a flamboyant wavy-edged
blade. Most of their designs incorporated a
knuckleduster in the hilt.
The most commonly encountered one
today is a punch dagger style with an
aluminium grip and knuckleduster guard.
It is very well designed and the grip fits the
hand perfectly. The three lower fingers are
below the blade which protrudes between
index and forefinger. The thumb exerts
downwards pressure on the top to stabilise
it. The simple iron guard cast into the
grip protects the lower three fingers
as well as acting as a knuckleduster to
enhance any blow. The blade itself is 12cm
long, double-edged and again cast directly
into the grip. It has two narrow grooves on
each side. The knife is contained in a small
brown leather sheath with a loop which
would slide onto a Sam Browne belt. The
underside of the grip is stamped ROBBINS
DUDLEY. Bad strikes are not uncommon.
The whole thing is a very effective weapon
and armed with one and a revolver, any
trench raider would fear nobody. One
really practical aspect of any knuckleduster
knife is that it is hard to drop.
Fakes often made in the US are known.
One way of detecting them is to look at the
makers name. Most fakes have it machined
into the grip with a constant depth: the
real thing is stamped, and then often badly.
Examination with a strong magnifying glass
will soon expose a wrong un.
As the
Robbins
knife
is both a knuckle duster and a
push dagger, it is at first blush doubly illegal
for a person to manufacture, sell or hire,
offer for sale or hire, expose or have in his
possession for the purpose of sale or hire of
or lending or giving to any other person
because both these weapons are caught by
the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive
Weapons) Order 1988:
a) A knuckleduster, that is, a band of metal
or other hard material worn on one or more
fingers, and designed to cause injury, and
any weapon incorporating a knuckleduster;
e) The weapon sometimes known as a push
dagger, being a knife, the handle of which
fits within a clenched fist and the blade of
which protrudes from between two fingers.
However, there is a derogation in
the Order; it does not apply to antique
weapons defined as being manufactured
more than 100 years from any alleged
offence. The problem is when were these
items actually made? I have not seen any
original advertising for them and so a date
is problematic. It is probably safest to wait
until the end of 2018 before offering one
for sale. You would be bombproof then.
That said, I have regularly seen these items
in auctioneers catalogues since 1988.
However, I have never known anybody to
be prosecuted for selling one.
The Robbins push-dagger, knuckleduster
knife is an iconic piece of World War
I militaria, made at a time where a
commercial company sought to capitalise
on the war by exploiting one aspect of
mans inhumanity to man.
07/01/2016 16:00
est. 1995
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Tel: +44 (0) 207 491 2221, Mobile: +44 (0) 798 964 9972, Email: leon@leonsmilitaria.com, Web: www.leonsmilitaria.com
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17
07/01/2016 14:23
THE EARLY ROCKET MEN
The early Rocket men:
TIPU SULTAN,
CONGREVE AND HALE
By George Prescott
British depredations. Two years

later, in 1794, still discontented
with British rule, he began to
conspire with the French, now
represented by their Republican
officials, to throw the British out
of, first, Mysore and eventually,
the whole of India. Unfortunately
for both Tipu Sultan and Napoleon
Bonaparte, Nelson crushed the
French Navy at the Battle of the
Nile in 1798, and the British,
having learned of the Sultans
diplomatic efforts, were then able
to send three columns of British
and Indian infantry to lay siege to
his capital of Srirangapatna, where
he was killed on 4 May 1799.
Fig. 1
hina was the first

country to introduce
rockets for military
purposes; the weapon
was adopted in turn
by the Mongols under Genghis
Khan around 1250, when he
conquered northern China and
found Chinese rocket experts there,
who were subsequently persuaded
to work for him. Progress in this
sort of technology was relatively
slow, but by the middle of the 16th
century the rocket was well known
in Europe, described first in the
works of Conrad Hess, although
the British had to wait until 1767
and the First Anglo-Mysore War
for their first experience of the
weapons effectiveness.
TIPU SULTAN AND THE ANGLOMYSORE WARS
Hyder Ali was responsible for the
wholesale introduction of rockets
into Mysorean military organisation
when he came to power in 1761,
and there were approximately
1,200 specialist rocket troops in the
18
18_geoff puddefoot.indd 18
Army of Mysore when an attack by

his troops on an outpost manned
by the British East India Company
precipitated the First Anglo-Mysore
War (1767-69). Rockets did not
figure prominently in that conflict,
but in the Second Anglo-Mysore
War (1779-84), troops of the
British East India Company were
defeated in 1780 at the Battle of
Pollilur, because a rocket is thought
to have destroyed most of the
British ammunition train. Hyder
Ali died in 1782 and his eldest
son, Tipu Sultan, succeeded to his
fathers throne and increased the
numbers of rocket specialists in
his army, as well as i m p r o v i n g
their
strategic
use. The Third
Anglo-Mysore
War
began in 1789, over the
disputed ownership of two forts
in Cochin, but luck as well as the
British were against Tipu Sultan and
he was forced to sign a humiliating
treaty and turn over two of his sons
as hostages in 1792, in order to
end the war and prevent further
Fig. 1 Wood-cut of
Chinese rocketeer
preparing to
fire his weapon,
showing the two
bamboo supports
used instead of
a more stable
trough.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 2 Original
casing from a
Congreve rocket.
(Public Domain)
MYSOREAN ROCKET
TECHNOLOGY
Mysorean rockets were certainly
much
better
than
similar,
contemporary European weapons.
Hyder Alis rocket scientists
developed a projectile which
used an iron cylinder to hold the
firing charge, instead of the paper
component installed in European
rockets, thus allowing a much
greater quantity of propellant to
be used and greatly increasing the
weapons range. Although these
rockets were claimed to be able to
travel over 1,500 metres, accuracy
was still a problem. However,
the Sultans scientists seem to
have quickly discovered that the
problem of the inaccuracy of single
rockets could easily be rendered
insignificant by firing them in large
numbers simultaneously as rocket
batteries. Hyder Ali also increased
his rockets effectiveness
by mounting them
on
small,
Fig. 2
07/01/2016 16:01
highly mobile carts and

training a special corps
of rocket men to operate
the weapons. Tipu Sultan
was an even greater
advocate of rockets than his
father and he greatly expanded
the Mysorean rocket corps
to over 5,000 trained men
after he assumed command
of the army in 1782. By this
period, his Rocket Corps operatives
were highly experienced in the
idiosyncrasies of their weapons and
were able to aim them effectively
by setting the launcher at an angle
calculated from the diameter of the
rocket cylinder and the distance
from the launcher to the target. To
make them even more gruesomely
effective and add to their
psychological impact, blades were
mounted on the sticks, making
their flight extremely erratic as
their speed dropped, causing the
blades to rotate, and resulting in
terrible injuries to anyone caught
in their path. Some of the rockets
also had pierced cylinders, turning
them into effective incendiaries.
CONGREVES ROCKET
Tipu Sultans death had a number
of repercussions for British India,
but there were also unexpected
benefits in the field of armament
technology. After the fall of
Srirangapatna, 600 launchers,
700 serviceable rockets and 9,000
empty rocket cases were found
there and British experience of the
effectiveness of the Sultans rockets
led to much of that Mysorean
rocket equipment being transferred
to the Woolwich Arsenal, where it
came to the attention of the son
of the Comptroller, one William
Congreve. Congreve began his own
experiments in rocket technology
in 1804, buying and modifying
European rockets with his own
funds, before examining the
Mysorean weapons and eventually
producing his first successful
rocket design, a missile with a
6lb iron warhead and an effective
range of 1,500 yards.
Congreve had begun by building
rockets with cardboard ignition
chambers, much like a modern
firework, but by 1806 he had
perfected a design using sheet iron
for the case as well as discovering
Fig. 3
Fig. 5
how the composition of the

gunpowder used as propellant
needed to be adjusted to suit the
size of the rocket, an innovation
he was quick to introduce when
making his subsequent weapons.
By 1806 he was able to produce
a 32lb rocket capable of travelling
over 3,000 yards and records for
1813 show Congreve rockets as a
regular feature of the two troops
of the Rocket Battery, RHA, and
available in three distinct classes,
categorised by weight, like artillery
cannon:
Heavy: These were explosive
rockets, the largest weighing 300
pounds, with a warhead between
5 and 6 feet in length and a stick
of approximately 25 feet; larger
warheads required a longer stick.
Rockets of this size were
little used, because of their
expense and the difficulties
inherent in transporting
them.
Medium:
These
had
warheads between 2 and 4
feet in length, of between
24 and 42lbs in weight
and were constructed
as shot, case shot or
explosive
ordnance
(shell). Stick
length
varied
from 15 to 20 feet,
depending
upon
the
size of the warhead.
Larger warheads, not
unexpectedly, requiring
a longer stabilising stick.
Usually a naval weapon, it
was rockets of this type which
were used against Baltimore in
1814.
Light: These weapons had warheads
between 16 and 25 inches in
length which weighed between 6
and 18lbs and, like the medium
rockets, were constructed as shot,
case shot or explosive ordnance.
The length of the stabilising stick
varied from 8 to 14 feet, as before
depending upon the weight of the
warhead in use.
Light rockets appear to have
been the most common weapon
of this type in use with the British
Army during the Napoleonic Wars,
although the Royal Navy found
both of the medium and light
types significantly more useful,
commissioning two purpose-built
Fig. 3 War-head
from a larger
Congreve rocket,
possibly a
32-pounder.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 4 Original
drawing of
rocket ships,
showing details
of storage and
the firing points.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 5 Shoulder
flash of an officer
in the Rocket
Brigade.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 6
Reproduction
of a painting
showing
the effect of
Mysorean rocket
artillery on
British troops.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 6
Fig. 4
19
07/01/2016 16:01

ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Galgo,
to utilise the weapon. Galgo had
originally been a merchantman
before being converted first to
a warship, and then to a rocket
ship, by having 21 angled tubes or
rocket scuttles, each firing a 32lb
rocket, installed in place of her
broadside. These scuttles were fitted
with iron shutters to prevent the
rockets exhaust from entering the
vessel and setting it on fire. Erebus
was similarly equipped, although
to an improved design, and she also
had the more interesting career:
she participated in the attack on
Baltimore in 1814 and inspired
Americas national anthem, The
Star-Spangled Banner.
In December 1815, Congreve
demonstrated a new design, in
which the stabilising stick was
screwed into the centre of the base
of the rocket case, and this design
was accepted by the Army in 1817
and used in service until 1867,
when it was replaced by Hales
rocket. Although the range of
Congreves rockets was similar to
that which was possible with a sixpounder smooth-bore cannon, the
rate of fire was significantly higher.
More importantly, the overall
saving in weight meant that fewer
horses were needed to transport
the equipment, approximately 105
horses for a full rocket troop, while
an artillery troop with the same
potential firepower needed more
than double that number, at around
220. This was important, especially
during the Peninsular Campaign,
where horses were hard to come
by and even harder to feed well
enough to keep them in reasonable
condition.
Fig. 8
20
Fig. 7 Hale rocket

launcher from left
side, showing the
supporting bipod
and sighting
apparatus.
Courtesy of
James D. Julia
Auctioneers,
Fairfield, Maine.
www.jamesdjulia.
com.
Fig. 8 Hale rocket
launcher, showing
the muzzle and
the securing rivets
for the bipod.
Moving the feet of
the bipod forward
decreased the
angle of the tube
and so shortened
the range.
Courtesy of
James D. Julia
Auctioneers,
Fairfield, Maine.
www.jamesdjulia.
com.
Fig. 7
Rockets, however, were not

without disadvantages, particularly
when considering their medium- to
long-range accuracy and reliability,
an example of which was described
by Captain Mercer, commanding G
Troop, RHA, during the retreat from
Quatre Bras in June 1815:
The rocketeers had placed a little
iron triangle in the road with a
rocket lying on it. The order to fire is
given port-fire applied the fidgety
missile begins to sputter out sparks
and wriggle its tail for a second or
so, and then darts forth straight up
the chausse. A gun stands right in
its way, between the wheels of which
the shell in the head of the rocket
bursts, the gunners fall right and left
our rocketeers kept shooting off
rockets, none of which ever followed
the course of the first; most of them,
on arriving about the middle of
the ascent, took a vertical direction,
whilst some actually turned back
upon ourselves and one of these,
following me like a squib until its
shell exploded, actually put me in
more danger than all the fire of the
enemy throughout the day.
NAVAL SERVICE
The Royal Navy adopted Congreves
rocket into service in 1805 and its first
operational use was in an attack on
Boulogne in the autumn of that year.
The attack was not very successful
but the Navy persisted with the new
invention and achieved a number of
significant successes with the rockets
during the Napoleonic War. Most
notable of these were: the attack on
Boulogne in 1806, the burning of
Copenhagen in 1807, Cochranes
attack on the French fleet in the Aix/
Basque roads in 1809 and the attack
on Flushing by the rocket ship HMS

Galgo in 1809. In 1812, the United
States declared war on Britain and
Congreves rockets figured quite
prominently during this war, being
deployed with the Royal Marines
at Fort Oswego, Lundys Lane and
during the Chesapeake Campaign,
while the Royal Navy used them
during their unsuccessful attack on
Baltimore.
ARMY SERVICE
Rockets were not accepted into
service with the British Army until
1813, when the newly formed
Rocket Brigade joined Crown Prince
Bernadottes Army of the North,
where they fought successfully in
the battles of Gohdre and Leipzig.
In January 1814, the unit was
renamed the 2nd Rocket Troop,
RHA, and was sent to Holland to
serve under Sir Thomas Graham,
but returned in time to fight at
Waterloo under the command
of Captain Whinyates. Previously,
in September 1813, Wellington
had also reluctantly accepted
the services of another rocket
unit, initially called the Rocket
Company but later renamed the 1st
Rocket Troop, RHA, which fought
at the Crossing of the Ardour and
the Battle of Toulouse, before being
sent to America to participate in the
expedition against New Orleans.
Congreve rockets remained in
service until the Crimean War,
where they were used at the Battle
of Inkerman. They were superseded
in 1867 by the Hale rocket.
MEMORABILIA AND MILITARIA
The nature of Congreves rockets
mean that they usually deteriorated
07/01/2016 16:01
Fig. 9 Sighting apparus for the Hale launcher. The vertical bar was hinged and
could be folded flat for transport.
Courtesy of James D. Julia Auctioneers, Fairfield, Maine. www.jamesdjulia.com.
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13 Upper deck of USS LSM(R) 188, showing

the missile tubes of this Landing Ship (Rocket),
loaded and ready to fire.
(Public Domain)
Fig. 10
very quickly. Consequently, few

examples have survived and these
are mostly museum specimens.
The best collection is housed in
the Royal Artillerys FIREPOWER
Museum, which is located within
the old Woolwich Arsenal site.
Occasionally, objects associated
with the two Rocket Troops, RHA,
may also be found at auction, such
as shoulder flashes or items of a
similar nature.
THE HALE ROCKET
Congreve was not the only inventor
interested in military rockets during
the 19th century. In 1844, William
Hale patented a new type of rocket,
based on Congreves final design,
but incorporating angled exhaust
holes instead of a stabilising stick.
Exhaust gases expelled through
these holes caused the rocket to
spin, in a manner analagous to
a rifle bullet, giving far greater
stability in flight than the Congreve.
WILLIAM HALE
Born in Colchester in 1797, Hale
is thought to have been without
a formal education, being taught
initially by his grandfather before
finishing his training in science
and engineering largely through
his own efforts. His first British
Patent was granted in 1827 for
what was effectively an early
form of jet propulsion, utilising
an Archimedean screw to supply
propulsive power by driving a
stream of water through the stern
of a vessel.
In 1839, he moved to Woolwich,
where he began a series of
trials intended to improve the
Fig. 10 End piece

of firing trough.
The base of the
rocket was rested
against this
component prior
to ignition.
Courtesy of
James D. Julia
Auctioneers,
Fairfield,
Maine. www.
jamesdjulia.com.
Fig. 11 Hale
rocket in
excavated
condition, the
earlier pattern
with the steering
vents in the base.
Courtesy of
James D. Julia
Auctioneers,
Fairfield,
Maine. www.
jamesdjulia.com.
Fig. 12 Hale
rocket in
non-excavated
condition (the
only known
example).
This is a later
Pattern, with the
rotation vents
at the base of
the head, rather
than in the base
and so may have
either a Federal
or Confederate
States
provenance.
Courtesy of
James D. Julia
Auctioneers,
Fairfield,
Maine. www.
jamesdjulia.com.
21
07/01/2016 16:01

performance of the Congreve
rocket, principally by replacing the
stick with a system which created
spin-stabilisation, in a manner
analogous to a bullet from a rifled
firearm. His first rocket patent was
granted in January 1844 and in
1846 he sold the manufacturing
rights for his rocket to the US
government for $20,000. The US
Army subsequently used them in
the Mexican War (1846-48). Some
of Hales rockets saw service in
the Crimea (1854-56), but it was
not until 1867 that the weapon
was accepted into service with
British forces, replacing the earlier
Congreve and Boxer rockets. Hale
rockets were used in action by
the British Army in Abyssinia and
a number of colonial wars. Their
last use on active service was in
Sierra Leone in 1899, although the
weapon was not finally declared
obsolete until after WWI, in 1919.
As well as seeing service with the
British Army, the Hale rocket also
played a relatively minor role in
the US Civil War, only one Federal
rocket unit having been recruited
as a rocket battalion in the 24th
New York Battery. Unfortunately,
no record for Confederate units
equipped with Hale rockets appears
to be still in existence, although
it is known that they were in use
by southern troops and a number
of unexploded rockets have been
excavated in recognisable condition
from Civil War battlefields.
HALES ROCKET
The rocket itself was an elongated
cylinder, made initially of rolled
sheet iron, although later a mild
steel case was introduced. The
nose or warhead was rounded to
improve the missiles aerodynamics
and filled with the type of
ordnance required: shot, case shot
or an explosive shell. A wooden
plug was then inserted, followed
by the black-powder propellant;
the plug was intended to separate
propellant and charge and thus
prevent premature ignition of the
warhead. The rear end was threaded
to screw into the body of the
rocket, securing charge, plug and
propellant firmly into position. On
its outer, lower surface the plug was
fitted with three angled fins which
directed the propellant exhaust
22
Fig. 14 A postWW II Katyusha

multiple-rocket
launcher mounted
on a military
pattern ZiL-157
lorry.
(Free Licence)
Fig. 14
gases and caused the rocket to spin

in flight, thus assuming a more stable
trajectory. In a later development,
Hale moved the steering vents
forward so that they exited from the
base of the head, which resulted in
greater stability in flight.
Hale rockets ranged in size from
3lbs up to 100lbs, although the
9 and 24lb rockets were the size
most commonly used by the British.
Launchers were similar to the device
used for the Congreve, in the form
of a fairly simple trough for landbased rockets and a tube screwed
to a convenient vertical surface
when used on ship-board. Hale
rockets had an effective range of
approximately 2,000 yards.
MUSEUMS AND MILITARIA
Although it might seem hard to
believe, Hale rockets and even
complete launchers not infrequently
find their way into auction sales in
the US, although they are very rarely
seen in Britain. Hale rockets and
their associated equipment found
in the US almost invariably have a
Civil War provenance and this factor,
together with their rare appearance,
means that prices at auction tend to
be alarmingly high.
VALUES
Launchers:
NRA Fine: $10,000-$12,000
NRA Fine: $28,000-$31,000
Rockets:
Excavated grade: $2,000-$2,500
Mint or Museum grade: $7,500$10,000
ROCKETRY DEVELOPMENTS IN
THE 20TH CENTURY
Until the turn of the century,
rockets had always used gunpowder
or a similar explosive as their
propellant but in 1926 Robert
Goddard launched the first liquidfuelled rocket at a site in Auburn,
Massachusetts. Rockets began to
be given serious consideration as
a weapon by the British in 1936,
when work began on a series of
unguided, solid-fuelled rockets
which might be used as anti-aircraft
weapons, although these weapons
never appear to have reached the
production stage.
In the period before WWII,
rocketry began to develop along two,
largely separate paths: unguided
rockets, effectively rocket artillery
much like the original Congreve
and Hale rockets, and what came to
be referred to as the guided missile,
a rocket which could be directed
to its target either by radiocontrol or after programming an
auto-pilot with a
pre-selected
destination. Rocket artillery in use
during WWII included designs
such as the German Nebelwerfer
(smoke mortar), the Russian truckmounted Katyusha series and the
ship-mounted rocket batteries of
the US Navy. Guided missiles were
almost exclusively produced in Nazi
Germany during this period and it
was the work of Werner Von Braun
on the V-2 which really established
the guided missile as a weapon
capable of conducting warfare at an
inter-continental level.
07/01/2016 16:01
Digi23.indd 1
13/01/2016 15:29
CARCANO
THE EPHEMERAL FUCILI DA

FANTERIA A RETROCARICA
CARCANO PART 2
By Guy and Leonard A-R-West FHBSA
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 a) M/67
paper case
cartridge for rifles
and carbines. Note
the serrated base
cover.
b) Cross section.
The culot with
primer is seated
below in the
bullets base.
Arrow indicates
location of
lubricated cloth
cup.
c) Base: ghosted
concentric
cross-cut for
ease of needle
to pass through
(arrowed).
d) Card case
cartridge for rifles
and carbines.
Fig. 2 Left, shot
cartridge for
carbines. The
smaller culot
was specifically
designed to spread
the shot on leaving
the muzzle. Right,
blank. It featured
the same culot
as the standard
cartridge, but with
a reduced powder
charge and card
disc replacing the
bullet.
Fig. 2
wo
types
of
cartridge
cases
were made, either
from paper (carta)
or
thin
card
(cartoncino) for both rifle
and carbine. The latter does
not feature a serrated base. A
similar muzzle-loading bullet
profile with a single cannelure
was retained. However, the base
cavity was modified from the
1860 triangular cavity (Nessler
Palottola a cavit triangolare)1,
to the form of the Nessler
24
24_guy_r_west.indd 24
Fig. 3
(Palottola adottata nel 1867,

also previously used for the
muzzle-loader),
featuring
a square cavity (a cavit
quadrangolare), comparable
in design to the Mini, but
without the base-plug.2 Velocity
and range remained the same as
the muzzle-loader.
The culot (Disco dinnesco
da cartucce): a rolled and pressformed paper disc located at the
base of the bullet; it retained
a 6mm diameter primer. The
needle had to penetrate the
Fig. 3 A baseobturating
cartridge for the
Russian M/56/65
six-line, 15.24 mm
needle-ignition
system after a
design by Johannes
Friedrich Cristian
Carle.
base and pass through an 18mm

powder column to reach the primer.
On ignition, the culot was designed
to be forced into the bullets base/
skirt, expanding it sufficiently to seal it
into the rifling grooves. The culot was
discarded on leaving the muzzle.
The cartridge base contained a wax
impregnated cloth or felt cup (with a
thin layer of India rubber between wax
and powder) to lubricate the needle
and seal the breech (base-obturating),
as there was no form of obturating
system. A concentric cross-cut in the
cup allowed the needle to pass through
with reduced resistance. At the top of
the bullets ogive, a ligature secured
the complete cartridge together. On
discharge, the cup remained in the
chamber and forced to the origin of the
rifling by chambering the following
cartridge. The cup was pushed through
the bore by the following bullet,
lubricating and scouring the bore.
The cartridge ogive was lubricated by
dipping it into a heated wax bath up to
the single cannelure.
On firing, with bullet expansion
and upset; its length was reduced
from 24.5 to 20.73mm, resulting in a
reduction of 3.8mm.
SHOT CARTRIDGE (Cartuccia a
metraglia)
The culot was specifically designed to
spread the shot on leaving the muzzle.
The 8mm shot was contained within
a card tube (tubicino) with cuts at
the top for ease of folding over and
sealing. Length 53mm.
BLANK (Cartuccia da salve)
For training purposes, a blank was
issued. It retained the same culot as
the standard cartridge but with a
reduced powder charge and card disc
replacing the bullet. Length 28mm.
In parallel, and significantly, Russia
converted new rifled muzzle-loaders
into a M/56/65 six-line, 15.24mm
needle-ignition system, after a design
by Johannes Friedrich Cristian Carle
07/01/2016 16:06
Fig. 4
(another orthograph Karle), a Suhl

gunsmith in Thuringia. The bullet
used was the Mini, with a metallic
base expanding plug. As with the
Caracano cartridge, the base of the
cartridge provided breech obturation.
His bolt featured two diametrically
opposite locking lugs approximately
in the middle of the bolt body, which
was an advancement of the bolt
handle that abuts on the right side
of the receiver. Two years later the
Carle system was superseded by the
Sylvester Krnka metallic cartridge
breech-loader.
AMMUNITION POUCH (Giberna)
Black leather with single belt loop,
worn at the back of the belt when
marching and slid round to the right
side in action. A small under-flap
pouch contained maintenance tools.
CARTRIDGE CONTROL
Three gauges for determining
cartridge control diameters:
Riscontro di Cilindri-Calibratoi da
Cartucce: Pass: 18.8mm and no pass:
18.5mm.
Cilindro-Calibratoio Cartucce: Pass:
18.9mm.
Calibratoio da Cartucce: No pass:
18.5mm.
PACKAGING (Pacco di Cartucce a

Pallottola)
Eight cartridges per packet in two
layers, secured with fine string and
weighing 358g. Packet: buff paper
marked with arsenal.3 Dimensions:
height 38, length 93 and 57mm wide.
BAYONET AND SCABBARD (Baionett
e Sciabole)
There were two socket bayonets
associated with the Fucili di Fantaria:
the Modello 1822 and 1847. The
bayonet featured in this article is
the Modello 1822. The socket has
a conventional Z slot with screw
fastening locking ring. It fixes in a
horizontal plane on an under muzzle
stud. The triangular blade is fullered
up to the ricasso. The black leather
scabbard has brass mounts with the
bottom terminating with a finial. Both
bayonet and brass-hilted side-arm
share the same white frog.
OPERATING THE BOLT
This
overly
complicated
bolt
manipulation required training for
soldiers used to muzzle-loaders. To
understand the method of loading
a cartridge does require a detailed
explanation. Holding the stock
securely with the left hand just in
front of the rearsight where the rifle

balances (without fixed bayonet), pull
the cocking piece fully back as far as
it will go with the right hand; two
clicks are audible. Tuck the butt under
the right arm, and with the thumb of
the left hand push the bolt locking stud
down.4 Simultaneously with the right
hand, lift the bolt and retract. Insert the
cartridge. Push the bolt forward and
lock the bolt down. The bolt will seat
the cartridge. The rifle could be carried
in complete safety with the half-cock
applied. This is achieved by grasping
the cocking-piece and releasing the
trigger, at the same time easing the
cocking-piece until it locates on the
half-cock lip and the trigger cannot
be pulled. To regain full-cock, pull the
cocking-piece back. Furthermore, the
thumb-piece can be rotated to release
mainspring tension, thus rendering the
action safe. This is activated by pushing
the thumb-piece forward and to the
left and easing it back. To re-apply, the
reverse is required.
Fig. 4 a) Rolled
and pressformed paper
culot.
b) Nessler bullet
seated in culot.
Note meplat on
ogive.
c) Base of culot
with seated
bullet showing
primer.
d) Base of a spent
cartridge left
in the chamber
having been
removed with
loop-handled
extractor.
Fig. 5
Reproduction
packet marked
Bologna, dated
1967 and eight
paper case
cartridges.
SHOOTING
The first pull takes up the slack before
sear engagement,5 followed by a
very heavy trigger release as the sear
pushes the button out of engagement,
releasing the striker.
In the prone position at 600m,
the maximum sight setting cannot
be used effectively due to the high
muzzle elevation.6 The wax lubricated
cloth does in effect provide sufficient
breech obturation. However, in very
cold weather it is not as effective, as
a small amount of gas does escape
due to hardening of the wax in the
lubricating cup, but does not reach the
Fig. 5
25
07/01/2016 16:06
CARCANO
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
a custom-made Nessler bullet mould,

culot and lubricating cup-forming
press to recreate a facsimile, as a result
can be considered an arcane subject.
shooters eyes due to the large cockingpiece. To reiterate, the lubricating cup
and surrounding part of the case of
the spent cartridge does not combust
leaving it in the chamber until forced
through the bore by the following
round.7 If a successive cartridge is
not chambered the lubricating cup
is extricated using a loop-handled
extractor. The Carcano bolt was found
to be the most awkward to manipulate
that we have ever evaluated, requiring
familiarisation. Accuracy at 100 yards
was pleasing as all shots printed at the
point of aim, and with fixed bayonet
had no noticeable adverse effect.
CONCLUSION
Shooting the Fucile Modello 1860/68
with its facsimile cartridge forms a
type of time travel that is possible and
enjoyable. However, for the collector,
it is a desirable piece of Italian military
history, albeit a transitional system
which, in a limited way, was part of
Italys unification. Furthermore, the
Carcano systems military span was so
short that it failed to evince any serious
interest during its service life. Finally
and appreciably, it prepared for the
introduction of the modern bolt-action
breech-loader system to Italian troops.
To remain authentic, or in the spirit
of the original, the cartridge requires
26
Fig. 6 Base of
spent cartridge
remaining in
chamber (bolt
removed). Note
hole left by the
needle (arrowed).
Fig. 7 Author
appraising a Fucile
Modello 1860/68
at 100 yards. The
cartridge base
is obturating
perfectly as there
is no apparent leak
at the bolt/breech
juncture.
DATA
Review Fucile Modello 1860/68
Nominal calibre:
17.2mm.
Bore:
17.65mm (measured).
Groove:
18.54mm (measured).
Depth:
0.89mm (measured).
Rifling:
4 groove right-hand, 1
turn in 947mm.
Rifling width:
7.22mm.
Manufacturer:
Royal Factory of
Arms, Turin.
Conversion date:
1868.
Barrel length:
935mm (muzzle
to bolt face).
Overall length:
1,400mm.
Length with bayonet:
1 860m.
Weight:
3884g (with sling).
Trigger pull:
8kg.
Foresight:
unprotected barleycorn.
Rearsight: standing and folding leaf.
Sight radius (standing):
850mm.
Stock:
one-piece walnut.
Velocity:
315m/ps.
Paper case cartridge
Cartridge weight:
Cartridge length:
Case diameter:
Base diameter:
Primer diameter:
Primer depth:
Paper thickness:
Powder charge:
Cloth/felt wad thickness:
43.8g.
53mm.
18.7mm.
20.5mm.
6mm.
2.5mm.
0.3mm.
4.50g.
1.83mm.
Culot
Diameter:
Height:
Primer pocket diameter:
18.3mm.
6.8mm.
6mm.
Nessler bullet
Length:
Diameter major:
Diameter minor:
Meplat diameter:
Hollow base depth:
Weight:
24.5mm.
17.80mm.
17.20mm.
7mm.
10.19mm.
36 g.
Bayonet Mowdello 1822

Type:
Socket with locking ring.
Socket diameter:
25mm.
Socket internal diameter:
215mm.
Blade width at base:
22.8mm.
Blade length:
440mm.
Blade thickness at base:
11.1mm.
Length of socket:
67.1mm.
Overall length:
525mm.
Weight:
283g.
Scabbard length:
477mm.
Scabbard weight:
97g.
Notes:
1
The Nessler bullet (invented by a French
Captain of that name) was initially
designed to increase accuracy and range
of smooth-bore muskets.
2
For proof, a cartridge with the same
powder charge, but with a longer 38mm
Nessler bullet.
3
Authors reproduction packet marked
Bologna, dated 1967.
4
The bolt locking stud prevents the bolt
from opening. Additionally, when applied
it releases the bolt from the receiver
5
The sear does not rest against the button
on cocking.
6
The prone position is a range
prerequisite at Bisley unless bench rested.
7
This is the identical method of base
obturation as the Dreyse M/72 Patrone.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express
their gratitude to Judy Edwards, Celia
Zanini, Alistair and Jeff Hayes.
07/01/2016 16:07
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01646 680391
27
11/01/2016 10:42
BAYONET BYTES
BAYONET BYTES No.17

Bayonet manufacture by Graham Priest
Fig.1
Fig.1. An
unfinished
Bayonet, Rifle,
Breech-Loading,
Martini-Henry,
Pattern 1876
above the
completed form
(Priest)
Fig.2. The United
States of America
area of the Great
Exhibition
1851 (Dickinsons
Comprehensive Pictures
of the Great Exhibition
of 1851, from the
originals painted for...,
London, 1854)
Fig.2
s an inveterate collector
an occasional diversion
takes place from my
mainstream acquisition
of particular models
of bayonet. Rather ugly and often
battered,
unfinished
examples
sometimes lurk among the dealers
offerings. So it is that a range of
incomplete blades dating from the
1840s to 1990s has been obtained
over the decades (Fig.1). In our
digital age, when technology is more
likely to be experienced as a virtual
process, these artefacts provide a
great insight into the thoughts and
skills of our predecessors. Even
my generation was likely to have
attended metalwork at secondary
school. Prior to GCE O Level option
day my hands learned how to file,
polish, drill and forge iron, weld
or braze steel and even use an oxyacetylene torch. The set-square, tap
and die set and wrought iron garden
line so manufactured long survived
in the family tool box.
In Britain by the mid-1850s
the Board of Ordnance (BO)
28
28_Graham_priest.indd 28
was conscious that the tried

and tested outwork process by
which commercial organisations,
under contract, manufactured
weapons through multiple craft
skills was being bested in the
USA. On 10 March 1854 the
Houses of Parliament set up a
Select Committee on Small Arms
to consider the Cheapest, most
Expeditious, and most Efficient
Mode of Providing Small Arms for
Her Majestys Service (House of
Commons:12/5/1854). Some of
the impetus came from The Great
Exhibition at the Crystal Palace,
from 1 May to 15 October 1851,
where
some
13,000-14,000
stands had attracted the foremost
exponents of technological and
artistic
practice
(Blackmore:
1961:275). Among the exhibitors
was American Colonel Samuel
Colt whose revolvers gained the
attention of the BO (Chamberss
Edinburgh Journal: 10/12/1853)
(Fig.2). Shortly afterwards his
premises at Bessborough Place
near Vauxhall Bridge in London
Fig.3. The
Colt factory at
Bessborough Place,
London in 1853.
The paddle steamer
took visitors to
the site (Hare, Guns
Review, July 1977)
had about 150 machines, mostly

linked by steam-driven leather
drive belts on pulleys. These
completed the forging, slicing,
tapping, slotting, drilling, planing,
boring, rifling and engraving of the
revolvers. Completed by polishing,
fitting and finishing, each firearm
needed approximately 10% skilled
labour and 10% more of semiskilled supervision (provided by
women and children) but the rest
came from the almost automatic
machines.
Interchangeable
components reduced the need to
file and adjust to a minimum (Guns
Review: 7/7/1977:378) (Fig.3).
Then followed a BO Mission
to America in 1854 (WO
44/435:1854). Examination of the
facilities at Springfield and Harpers
Ferry stimulated a move towards
greater
mechanisation,
firstly
proposed for Woolwich but blocked
by political considerations (House
of Commons: 12/5/1854:31-79).
It was decided that the contract
system was to be retained but a trial
mechanical arrangement was set up
at the Royal Small Arms Manufactory
Enfield Lock (House of Commons:
12/5/1854:412). This had been in
use for 50 years but bayonet work
was normally contracted out. An
additional 315,000 was invested
in buildings, land and machinery,
some from the USA, and American
technical support (Fig.4).
Fig.3
07/01/2016 16:08
Fig.4
Fig.5
Fig.6
Fig.7
When a correspondent from

Chamberss Journal visited Enfield
Lock in 1859 production was well
under way (Chambers 16.4.1859).
A guide listed the various branches
of the works as barrel, bayonet,
furniture, lock, ramrod and
stock. There were 56 components
to each rifle. The barrel needed
66, bayonet 48, lock 220, ramrod
30 and stock 24 constructional
processes respectively.
In the barrel shop a 10.75lbs
(4.7kg) slab of iron was drawn
Fig.8
and welded into a tube around a

core. A steam hammer attached the
breech and the bore was drilled.
Before the view a lathe shaped the
exterior. The setter examined the
barrel against a gaslight and tapped
it until perfectly true. Rifling was
then cut before removal to the
proof house. Seven and a half
drams (13.3g) of gunpowder and
a round was fitted into each of the
serried barrels arranged in racks
for the first test. External triggers
exploded the charges. The second
proof on undamaged tubes was 4
drams (7.01 g). Browning took
place at 60 Celsius in yet another
room. Moisture levels were critical
as excess water slowed down the
process. Rejected barrels were
chalked and the guilty mechanic
fined 2d (1p) from his wages.
The bayonet began life as a 4-ins
(102mm) long cylinder of Sheffield
iron. Heat and the hammer forged
a steel blade to the correct volume
as assessed by a water gauge. An
American drop next shaped it. This
was then gauged and viewed before
the socket was welded on.
A 200-feet (61.29m) square
finishing room adjacent to the
smithy had rows of machines and
a set of offices at one end. Powered
by leather belts over pulleys each
machine had a specialist role.
Bayonets, locks and ramrods passed
from one end to the other. When
finally viewed the item had been
transformed from the rough to a
Fig.4. Ordnance
Factory Enfield
1st June 1858
(Tuff, J., Historical,
topographical
and statistical
notices of Enfield
...,Enfield,1858)
Fig.5. Blanchards
gunstock lathe of
1822 (Museum,
U.S. Armory,
Springfield.
Mass., USA)
Fig.6. Royal
Small Arms
Factory Enfields
rolling mill with
the gun barrel
bending mill
and stand with
kiln (Illustrated
London News, 21st
September 1861,
p.208)
Fig.7. The
grindery. The
large stones were
belt-driven by
water and then
steam power
(Illustrated London
News, 21st
September 1861,
p.208)
Fig.8. A bayonet
machine c.1863.
Notice the T
shaped bayonet
(Greenwood &
Batley)
29
07/01/2016 16:08
BAYONET BYTES
Fig.11
Fig.12
finished product. A drop hammer

stamped the lockplate and other
engines filed furniture components
such as the brass trigger-guard.
Blanchard lathes copied numerous
parts so that the lock could be made
from the interchangeable pieces
(Fig.5). The floor was organised
so they all came together for
assembly. Three copying machines
from Ames Massachusetts turned
out the wooden stocks from
roughed-out walnut blanks. Locks
were inlet and butts shaped in a
matter of minutes. Most of the
1,400 employees used the local
public houses for an hours lunch
break signalled by a bell. Alcohol
consumption was prodigious!
G.C.
Holden,
Assistant
Superintendent of Stores, made a
more detailed account of bayonet
construction in the mid-1860s
as part of a five-volume survey of
several ordnance establishments
(Roads: Pers. Comm.: 3/3/2007).
It was made from four components:
blade and socket, stop pin, locking
ring and locking ring screw. The
first of these was cast steel and iron
connected by a neck. At the bottom
of the socket was the bridge to
span the frontsight on the barrel.
A ring or rim at the centre was the
bed for locking ring. The three
Fig.9
Fig.9. The
T socket of a
Bayonet, Rifle,
Breech-Loading,
Martini-Henry,
Pattern 1876
at the same
production stage
(Priest)
Fig.10. A crudely
finished Pattern
1853 socket.
Without a
stop pin as this
was a separate
component
(Priest)
Fig.11. A partially
finished Pattern
1853 bayonet with
the locking ring
assembled (Derek
Complin)
Fig.12. The
Birmingham
Small Arms Trade
viewers mark
used from 1854
onwards (Priest)
mortise openings were the

long, middle and bridge
slots. The small stud let into
the socket to keep the locking
ring in place was the stop pin.
Each of the 48 stages of
construction
was
numbered.
The document
began with, 1st
Cutting iron
for
Socket:
The socket is
made of the
best bar iron,
and this is cut
into lengths of about
4 inches by a shearing
machine.
Subsequent
steps
followed. The steel was measured
by a water gauge. This was filled to
a known level and the bar inserted
until it overflowed. A certain bulk
displaced a given volume of water.
The marked billet was then clipped
off to make two blades. Thirty-four
ounces (963.9g) was sufficient
before subdivision. A heated
half was swaged under a Ryders
hammer prior to welding on the
socket. A flat surface was gained by
use of a swaged vice and manual
hammer. Both iron and steel were
raised to welding heat before borax
flux aided the hand forging of the
pair at 90 to each other. An angle
was cut on the socket tip to form
the bridge. More heat softened this
area so the bridge could be shaped
by use of a hammer and die. This
was termed bridging the socket.
A Ryders machine drew out the
heated blade to a 12-ins (306.4mm)
long taper. Then it passed through
four pairs of counter rotated rollers
(the higher ones convex and the
lower concave) to create the three
fullers and the correct length of
taper (Fig.6). The
grooves
were
described
on
radii of 1.25ins
(32mm)
and
0.5in
(12.8mm).
The outside of the
socket was formed
into shape by blows
from a steam drop
hammer into a die. Excess metal

was removed in the activity
termed clipping (the) fin off
socket. Then the blade was cut to
its final length. A triple grooved
auger bit, similar to the type used
to bore barrels, drilled out the
socket. This hole was enlarged or
rimered(reamed). Both ends of
the tube were then milled straight.
The fin was filed from the neck
and the blade straightened by hand
and eye. The preliminary grinding
roughed out the blade. At this stage
a revolved wheel was applied to
the heated neck so that the socket
was bent around to be parallel
with the blade. Flaws in the weld
were detected when the shank was
struck on an anvil by use of the
blade as a handle. The tiny mark
from the concussion on the neck
was an unofficial proof mark. The
bayonet was hardened in a bath
of molten lead and then cooled in
another of oil. Water was not used
as it was found to distort the steel
unevenly. When still hot the blade
was shaped with an outward curve
from socket to point. Temper was
measured on a testing board. This
was also used for the ramrod. The
0.625in (16mm) high bridge was
8ins (204mm) from the shoe. With
the socket downward the blade was
sprung 1.5ins (38.3mm). The final
formation sequence then arrived
with the second blade grind, two
reams of the socket to taper the
bore from front to rear and the lathe
turn of the socket for the locking
ring guide and the outside of the
bridge. The mortise was created by
milling the outsides of the socket,
followed by the middle, long and
bridge slots. Flash was reamed
away and the corner of the middle
mortise squared off. The bridge
was turned and
the junction of
neck to socket
cut
to
the
correct profile.
Filing and polishing
concluded
the
major
processes
(Figs.7, 8 and 9).
A stop pin was
Fig.10
30
07/01/2016 16:08
Fig.13
made from square iron wire

(Fig.10). A hole was drilled in the
socket at 90 to the shank near the
locking ring bed. A tap cut an
internal thread in the orifice. The
stop pin was inserted. Flash was
removed and the pin height and
width turned on a lathe. Squareness
to the bore axis was verified before
the top was filed flat. Finally the
socket was browned and the blade
polished.
In the meantime elsewhere a
solid iron locking ring had been
forged by a drop hammer. The fin
was removed and a central aperture
drilled. This was reamed to the
final diameter and the outside face
milled. The frontsight opening was
slotted in order to connect with the
bore. A miller produced the screwbolt extension and rounded it off.
The remainder of the ring and
the shoulder was cut to shape. A
screw hole was bored and tapped.
The solid ring was sawn through at
right angles to the bolt hole. One
side of the clasp was milled at an
angle and filed to the gauge. The
complete locking ring was polished
and blued. This was assembled on
the bayonet socket and secured
with an appropriate locking ring
bolt, very similar to those used to
construct the rifle lock (Fig.11).
Before entry to store the bayonet
was, viewed for accuracy of
size of hole in the socket, also
for correct position of stop pin to
allow free action of locking ring. It
is marked with the usual view mark
on the broad side of the blade.
There is no separate mark for the
socket.
As the Select Committee of
1854 had hoped, the production
of government smallarms soon

began to be partly diverted from
the private market. The leading
gunmakers
in
Birmingham
decided they had to improve
their techniques or close down
through lack of orders (Timmins:
1863:113). To this end master
gun and barrel makers formed the
Birmingham Gun Trade (BGT) in
1854 (Bailey and Nie: 1978:30).
This and the 1854 Birmingham
Small Arms Trade (BSAT) based
in Steelhouse Lane, brought 20
contractors of the BO together
to share orders (Fig.12). Separate
workshops were maintained, but
sections of each military contract
could be quickly fulfilled to speed
up output. Real progress occurred
on 7 June 1861 when the BSAT
developed into Birmingham Small
Arms Company Limited (Ward:
1946:12). A 25-26 acre site at
Small Heath was fully mechanised
to match Enfield Lock. Unlike the
latter not all the components of
the firearms were made at

BSA. Timmins reported,
advantage has been taken of
having the source of supply so
near at hand, to obtain certain
parts in an unfinished state from
the manufacturers of the town.
By this means great saving has
been effected in the outlay for
machinery which would otherwise
Fig.16
Figs.13. A range
of unfinished
Bayonets,
Pattern 1853.
The top one
has been
stamped out
but the others
have received
some milling
processes
(Jeff Hayes)
Fig.14. The
sockets of
the partially
finished
bayonets
(Jeff Hayes)
Fig.15. Rear
socket views.
Notice the
bridge openings
on the left pair
(Jeff Hayes)
Fig.16. A partial
mortise cut on
an unfinished
Pattern 1853
bayonet
(Jeff Hayes)
Fig.15
Fig.14
31
07/01/2016 16:08
BAYONET BYTES
have been required, without
prejudice to the quality of the work,
as it all passes through the finishing
processes in the factory (Timmins:
1863:102). Bayonets were an aspect
of production that was still bought
in so continued to be handcrafted.
Gunmakers in the metropolis
realised more quickly than those
of Birmingham that improved
government competition would
displace their business. On 9th
February 1856 the London Armoury
Company (LAC) was founded
at Railway Arches, Henry Street,
Fig.17
Fig.17. Milling
work on the upper
socket of a Pattern
1853 bayonet.
Notice the flash
on the other
(Priest)
Bermondsey (Gooding and ScottEdeson: 2001:16). The firm was

equipped to make interchangeable
rifle-muskets with stock making
machines from Ames and other
equipment from Greenwood and
Batley, but their bayonets were
largely made in Birmingham.

The crude relics that survived,
brought home as souvenirs, lunch
box acquisitions, workshop clearance
etc., are poignant reminders of these
momentous days (Figs.13-17).
Further reading
Bailey, D.W. and Nie, D.A., English Gunmakers, Arms &Armour Press,
London, England, 1978.
Blackmore, H.L., British Military Firearms 1650-1850, Herbert
Jenkins Ltd., London, 1961.
Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, What is a revolver?, No.519, 10th
December 1853. Chamberss Journal of Literature, Science and Arts, The Enfield
Rifle, W. and R. Chambers, Edinburgh, Scotland, 16th April 1859.
House of Commons, Report from the Select Committee on Small Arms
together with the proceedings of the committee, minutes of evidence, and
appendix, London, 12th May 1854.
Guns Review, Rosa, J.G., In Memorium: Colts London Armoury, Vol.17 No.7, July
1977, pp. 378-79.
Gooding, J.E. and Scott-Edeson, P.A., The London Gun Trade 1850-1920,
Historical Arms Series No.41, Museum Restoration Service, Bloomfield,
Canada, 2001.
Timmins, S. (Editor), The Resources, Products and Industrial
History of Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District, London, 1866,
p. 100.
Ward, D.M., The Other Battle, BSA, Birmingham, England, 1946.
WO 44/435, Board of Ordnance Mission to America, Correspondence,
National Archives, Kew, 1854.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jeff Hayes, Derek Complin and Adrian Roads for their assistance.
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32
07/01/2016 16:09
12/01/2016 10:29
07/01/2016 14:33
07/01/2016 14:33
TURNER RIFLE
TURNER RIFLE
By Bill Harriman
Turner military
match rifle from
right hand side.
n the middle of the 19th

century Britains relationship
with its old enemy, France,
was variable to say the
least. Some years there
was an entente cordiale whilst in
others there were scares that the
French were poised to invade.
These scares led to the foundation
of the Volunteer Movement in
1859 which was a force of citizen
riflemen who were available to
assist the Regular Army in repelling
any invaders. In reality, many units
of the Volunteers tended to be
social gatherings whose interest
lay in holding jolly camps based
around elaborate rifle shooting
matches. There is any number of
photographs showing well-to-do
Victorian gentlemen in elaborate
military uniforms entertaining
elegantly
dressed
ladies
in
opulently furnished tents. It was an
early version of glamping.
The Volunteer Movement was
only part of the national Francophobia. The government, fearing
that Englands great naval dockyard
at Portsmouth would fall prey to
French invasion, started to build
the series of Portsdown forts.
These were based inland from
Portsmouth and were to deny the
invading French the chance to
establish a beachhead. The most
famous was Fort Nelson which
today houses the Royal Armouries
artillery collection.
On 2 July 1860, HM Queen
Victoria pulled a silken cord which
fired a Whitworth rifle clamped in
a heavy machine rest, to start the
rifle meeting held by the Volunteers
on Wimbledon Common. (You can
see the very rest that was used at
36
36_Bill.indd 36
the National Rifle Association at

Bisley Camp in Surrey.)
Gunmakers were quick to
capitalise on this demand for
rifles and produced arms of better
quality and which were much more
accurate than the governments
Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musket.
The Enfield was an excellent rifle
that was capable of much better
accuracy than established infantry
tactics were able to exploit. It is
instructive to note that the average
range of engagement during the
American Civil War (1861-65) was
less than 100 yard despite the fact
that the rifled muskets carried by
both sides were capable of hitting
a man with a carefully aimed shot
at ranges of 300 yards or more.
It is no wonder that the conflict
produced so many casualties as
heavy .577 calibre bullets mangled
tissue.
Volunteer arms were of military
style but made of better materials
to higher standards of finish. Locks
often had half cock-safety bolts and
detented sears to speed up their
ignition times. Rear sights had
platinum lined sliders. Fore-ends
and wrists were chequered. Polish
and bluing was invariably carried out
to a higher standard than military
arms. A rifle specially known as a
Detail of lock
Turner military
match rifle
military match rifle was developed.

This looked like an Enfield rifle
musket but was invariably small
bore (.45), was not designed to
take a bayonet and was stocked to
the muzzle. Its sole function was to
deliver high performance in rifle
shooting matches.
Sir Joseph Whitworths rifle, with
its small-bore .451-inch projectile
and hexagonal rifling, enjoyed
huge success. It was capable of
phenomenal accuracy at long
ranges. It was used albeit in
small numbers by Confederate
sharpshooters in the American Civil
War. Union general John Sedgwick
was shot and killed at long range
during the Battle of Spotsylvania
Court House on 9 May 1864.
Just before he was shot he said
to an artillery man, Why are you
dodging like this? They couldnt hit
an elephant at this distance. The
very next moment he fell with a
bullet in his head. It may have been
fired from a Whitworth.
Whitworth had his competitors
and one of the most famous was
Birmingham gunmaker, Thomas
Turner (1805-90). Turner first set
up in business in a court at 5 Aston
Road in 1834. (A court was a subdivision of a numbered building and
normally referred to development at
the rear.) He clearly prospered, as
the firm moved to 8 Fisher Street
four years later, and stayed there
until its closure in 1911.
As well as being a practical
gunmaker, Turner was something
of an inventor. He started in 1853
when he was jointly granted
Registered Design No. 3508 for a
breech-plug with J.F. Swinburn.
On 16 April 1860 he was granted
British Patent No. 958 which
covered non-fouling rifling. The
Abridgment read as follows:
Barrels. Fouling is prevented by
gradually decreasing the depth of a
07/01/2016 16:10
portion of the rifling towards the

muzzle. The bottoms of the grooves
are circular arcs connected with
the lands by sides inclined to one
another at about 60.
This was Turners most significant
patent and it reflects the fact that
target rifle shooters understood
how accuracy was adversely affected
by a fouled barrel. Interestingly, he
was granted another Patent in 1876
that related to preventing fouling in
sporting rife barrels. All told, Turner
had eight Patents granted over 17
years. One proposed making material
for Damascus barrels by casting
steel over pre-positioned iron rods
to make a ready-to-use ingot from
which the barrels could be forged.
His last Patent of 1887 (when he was
82) related to a vernier ventometer
for target rifle sights.
Turner was also a founding
member and then sometime
Chairman of the Birmingham
Smallarms Trade Ltd. This was an
association of the most important
Birmingham gun makers set up in
1861 to secure orders for smallarms
with fully interchangeable parts.
It had a share capital of 50,000,
divided into 2,000 shares of 25
each. Turner had 95 shares, which
illustrates his personal wealth.
He was only exceeded in this by
J.F. Swinburn who had 110. The
company survived the disastrous
slump in the gun trade from the
autumn of 1863 as American
contracts were cancelled and went
on to produce Sniders, P1859 short
rifles and Martini-Henry rifles.
In Capt Heatons 1864 book Notes
on Rifle Shooting the following
information
appears
regarding
Turner rifling (Turner had probably
provided the data):
Dia. of bore - .452 Number of
Groves 5 Width of grooves at the
nose end of the barrel: at bottom
.175, at top .190 Width of grooves
at the breech: at bottom .175,
at top .225 Depth of grooves at
breech From .020 to .026; this depth
diminishes on a curved line for about
20 to .006 and continues this depth
to the nose. Spiral one turn in 20
Projectile Made of soft lead, 530
gr., .441 diameter. Charge of powder
to be used: with greased bullets is 70
gr of Lawrence & Sons No. 4; with
ungreased bullets and a greased wad
is 85 gr of same powder.
36_Bill.indd 37
The peculiar excellence of the rifle

consists in its not fouling 2500
rounds having been fired out of one
barrel by Dr. Goodwin during some
months without once wiping out
and without affecting the accuracy of
the shooting.
It was recently my privilege to
restore a Turner percussion military
match rifle which is the property
of the Spalding Gentlemens Society.
This is a learned society whose
collections are diverse and varied. Sir
Isaac Newton was a founder member
in 1710. It has open days and a
trip to its premises in Broad Street,
Spalding, is very well worthwhile
as there is something which will
interest everyone. It has an eclectic
collection of firearms. The current
Chairman of its Council the
excellent and diligent Nick Casswell
is an old school friend, hence my
involvement.
The Turner is .452 calibre with a
35-inch barrel, with Turners antifouling rifling. The decreasing groove
depth becomes apparent when a bore
light is dropped down the barrel. The
foresight is a delicate blade which
is mounted in a dovetail, making it
adjustable for windage. The rearsight
is a conventional Enfield P53 type.
Only the bed is graduated; from
1-4, indicating hundreds of yards.
The folding part is plain, indicating
the use of a vernier ventometer. This
was used to provide an accurate
adjustment for sights whereas a
graduated slide would be nominal at
best. The rearsight has platinum lines
for accuracy in aiming.
As I cleaned the dirt and rust from
the barrel a tiny marking, Turners
Patent, in letters about 2mm high,
emerged about 12cm from the
breech.
The lock was very ordinary
without a detented tumbler or any
other refinement. The lock-plate
was marked THOMAS TURNER 8,
FISHER ST BIRMINGHAM. Both
the stock wrist and fore-end had
the coarse diamond chequering that
sometimes characterises Volunteer
arms. The furniture was iron,
comprising fore-end cap, screw
retained barrel bands, side-nail cups,
trigger-guard and butt plate. There
were two sling eyes, a hinged one on
the top band and a fixed one at the
end of the guard tang. The ramrod
had a brass tip to protect the rifling.
ABOVE: Muzzle of
Turner military
match rifle. Note
sling eye and brass
tipped ram rod
CENTRE: Rearsight
and chequered
forend
BELOW: Platinum
lines on rearsight
All things considered this is a

plain, workmanlike rifle built for
accuracy rather than show. It is
good, but not exceptional, quality.
It would have been bought by a
reasonably well-to-do man, such as
a lawyers clerk who enjoyed his rifle
shooting. For parades he probably
had a privately purchased Pattern
1853 Enfield. Given the enthusiasm
with which gun retailers engaged
in self-promotion, it is likely that
this rifle was actually bought from
Turner, as no other retailers name
appears on it. How it finished up in
the Gentlemens Societys collection
is anyones guess. When I first saw it
in the Societys leaky annex, it had
clearly been rained on in the past
as rust was evident. To aggravate
matters, schoolchildren had been
allowed to snap the hammer and the
nipple was broken. It took an EzeOut to shift it. I am all for youngsters
being exposed to guns from an early
age but to allow such an important
and valuable historic artefact to
suffer such abuse is not good. The
Chairman assures me it will not
continue.
In 1878, the National Rifle
Association specified that breechloading rifles were to be used in
matches and the muzzle loader was
dropped. However, it had reigned
supreme for some two decades
previously and during that period
had achieved superlative accuracy.
37
07/01/2016 16:10
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Henry Nock, 1741-1804 .62 Flintlock Holster Pistol with octagonal barrel..... 1295.00
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39
07/01/2016 14:36
WENDER WONDERS
WENDER WONDERS
Turnover pistols over the years
he most basic idea for

increasing
firepower
was to use two barrels
mounted on the same
stock. It is a principle still
in use today for most shotguns. In the
age of flintlocks the most common
form for a double-barrelled pistol was
to have the barrels mounted side by
side and have two locks, one on each
side. In principal that was fine, but in
practice it made for quite a wide setup at the locks (Fig.1). Also, as both
the locks had to be inlet into the stock
at the same place, it left it rather weak
with little wood left to support the
barrels. Of course, with good design
this could be overcome, but other
solutions were also developed. One
such option that has always appealed
to me is the Wender.
The word wender comes from the
German verb wenden, meaning to
turn or turnover.The English equivalent
is indeed turnover. It is an appropriate
term as the two barrels are mounted
in the over-and-under format. The top
barrel is fired first and then the barrels
are rotated or turned over to bring the
second barrel into the firing position.
The lock is, in effect, split into two
parts. The cock, together with the
mainspring and sear mechanism, is
mounted on the stock behind the
barrels whilst the pan and frizzen are
mounted on the barrels. Obviously
two pans etc. are required, although
there is a saving as only one cock etc.
is needed. The sequence of firing is to
first load and prime the barrels with
the cock at the half-cock
position. When ready the
cock is pulled back to
Figure 3
40
40_richard_garrett.indd 40
By Richard Garrett
Figure 1
Figure 1 The top
view of a sideby side pistol
showing the width
required at the
locks.
Figure 2 The
design for
a Wender
mechanism
illustrated in
Marcous pattern
book.
Figure 2
Figure 3 Pair of
Wender pistols by
B. Coste.
Figure 4 Detail of
the lock of one of
the Coste pistols.
Figure 5 Detail of
the sideplate of
one of the Coste
pistols
the full-cock and the top barrel is fired.

The cock is then put back into the halfcock position, the barrels rotated, the
full-cock position set and the second
barrel fired. The delay between the two
shots would have been quite short.
The idea, despite its name, seems
to have originated in France about the
middle of the 17th century. A design
is included in Franois Marcous
pattern book which is believed to
have been published in 1657 (Fig.2).
J.F. Hayward, in The Art of the Gunmaker
Vol. I 1500-1660, notes that they
were popular in France at this time.
The pair described below date from
this period (Fig.3).
The pair of pistols are signed B.Coste

A Marseille on the lockplates. Coste
does not appear to have been recorded,
although judging from these pistols he
must have been a leading maker. The
pistols measure 484mm overall but the
barrels have been shortened at some
time in their working life. We can be
sure of this as an interesting feature is
the ramrod which is in three sections
and folds up so that it is housed within
the butt. When inserted into the bore it
protrudes by about 5cm. Shortening of
the barrels of pistols from this period is
not uncommon as the fashion changed
in their favour quite early when they
would still have been in use.
The lockplates, as described above,
are in two parts with the rear portion
held with two sidenails and the front
portions held together by a third
sidenail (Fig.4). They are engraved
with a satyr riding on the back of a sea
monster, which has a ribbon coming
from its mouth and which is signed
B.Coste A Marseille. The front portions
have floral engraving. The cocks are
pierced and engraved with a winged
07/01/2016 16:16
serpent and flowers. There are faceted

pans and frizzens, which do not have
a bridle. The side plates are in the form
of coiling dragons (Fig.5).
The over-and-under three stage
barrels are octagonal at the breech,
changing to eight-sided and to Figure 4
circular with moulded rings and a
ring of gilt decoration at the transition.
The breeches are damascened with
grotesque figures and the top flat A
Marseille. The tang is also damascened
with flowers and a bird (Fig.6). The
breech plate has border engraving. The
figured walnut stocks are decorated
with ebony and ivory inlay in the form
of a heart pierced with arrows behind
the barrel tangs. The butt caps of ebony Figure 5
are set with oval iron plates decorated
with gilt scrolls (Fig.7). They house
the triple folded ramrods. The flat iron
sideplates are shaped and engraved as a
coiling dragon. The iron trigger-guards
have gilt scrolling decoration on the
bows. The trigger-guard is depressed
to free the barrels to allow them to be
moulded rings at the
turned over.
The Wender pistol spread across transition. One barrel has
Europe and early Dutch and Italian seven-groove rifling but the other is
examples are also known. It must have smooth bored. The calibre is 14.5mm.
also spread to Germany but I have been The rectangular tang and breech plate
unable to trace an early example. The are also border engraved. There are
later example from Germany shown brass foresights, but no rearsights.
The walnut stock has carving around
here dates from about 1765 (Figs.8 and
9). By this time the style had changed, the barrel tang and other fittings. The
although the French still led in design. brass mounts include a spurred butt
The form is common to single-barrel cap, flat sideplate of the same shape
pistols of the period and they were as the lockplate, foreend cap, ramrod
made throughout Europe with scarcely pipes and washers to their retaining
any variation. This pistol was obviously screws, and trigger-guard. All mounts
intended for serious use and is fairly
plain with minimal decoration.
The maker is identified on the barrels;
one is engraved IOHANN BAYER and
the other WIRTZBVRG (Fig.10). The
flat lockplate has bevelled edges; the
rear portion held with a single sidenail
Figure 8
and the front portions held together
by a second sidenail. The cock is swannecked and it and the lockplates have
simple border engraving. The pans are
faceted and the frizzens are coffinshaped with no bridle.
The overall length is 469mm. The
289mm two-stage barrels are octagonal
at the breech changing to circular with
Figure 6 Detail
of the decoration
on the top of
the barrel and
breech.
Figure 7 The butt
cap of one of the
Coste pistols.
Figure 8 A
Wender pistol by
Johann Bayer.
Figure 9 The left
hand side of the
Bayer pistol.
Figure 10 Top
view of the Bayer
pistol showing
the name.
are plain except for simple shaping

and engraved lines around the border.
The trigger-guard bow acts to release
the catch holding the barrels to allow
them to turn over. There is a horntipped wooden ramrod.
The idea of the turnover barrels
persisted into the percussion era,
albeit usually on pocket pistols. The
main champion seems to have been
Joseph Lang but there are examples
Figure 6
Figure 9
Figure 7
Figure 10
41
07/01/2016 16:16
WENDER WONDERS
by other makers. A highly decorated
pistol by him dates from his time at
7 Haymarket, where he traded from
1825-52 (Fig.11). As can be seen, the
action is very compact and there are
virtually no protuberances to catch in
the pocket. It is only 162mm overall
with 38mm turn-off barrels.
The walnut stock is inlaid with silver
wire and plaques forming a design of
scrolling foliage with flower heads. The
slightly domed base is fitted with an
iron cap, which has a trap to a small
compartment, all engraved with a
flower and scrolls. There is a silver oval
escutcheon. The flat-sided boxlock is
engraved overall with foliate scrolls
and signed J. LANG. HAY-MARKET,
LONDON in a banner (Fig.12). The
dolphin hammer is centrally mounted
with a sliding safety-catch behind it
(Fig.13).There is a flat spring mounted
on the right-hand side to index the
turnover barrels which are just turned
against the pressure of the spring with
no catch. The underside is engraved
around the folding trigger.
A much plainer pair, also by Lang, is
slightly later (Fig.14). They are signed
J LANG 22 COCKSPUR ST. LONDON
(Fig.15). Lang traded from there from
1853 until his death in 1869. Despite
the much-reduced decoration, they are
still of the highest quality.
Clearly the turnover principle had
its proponents over a long period of
time. They seem to have been practical,
but examples are relatively rare.
Judging from this we must conclude
that they were not to everyones taste.
Nevertheless they have an appeal not
only for their rarity but also for the
ingenuity of their mechanism.
Richard Garrett is a long-time
collector of antique pistols and has
written many articles about them.
He is the author of Irish Gunmakers, a
listing of Irish makers. Copies can be
obtained from him by emailing
rjgarrett20@yahoo.com.
Figure 11 Highly
decorated turnover
pistol by Joseph
Lang.
Figure 11
Figure 12 The
left hand side
of the Lang
pistol showing
the Haymarket
address.
Figure 13 A top
view of the Lang
pistol.
Figure 14 A pair of
turnover pistols by
Joseph Lang.
Figure 15 The left
hand side of one
of the Lang pistols
showing the
Cockspur Street
address.
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
42
07/01/2016 16:17
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07/01/2016 14:38
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Bill Harriman guides you through a range of the latest historical literature
European Hand Firearms of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and

Eighteenth Centuries by Herbert J. Jackson, with a Treatise on
Scottish Hand Firearms by Charles Whitelaw.
Jackson and Whitelaw were not the first authors to write about
collecting antique firearms in a scientific way but they were
amongst the earliest. They are the direct ancestors of all the many
illustrated books on firearms that have followed. Their work
concentrates on the artistic aspect of the firearms from this period
from a collectors point of view. One has to bear in mind that this
book was written during a time of major economic recession and
that the Great War had been over for only four years. Most people
had had enough of guns, even antique ones. The work predates the
first volume of J.N. Georges seminal text on English firearms by
some 15 years. George is widely regarded as the founding father
of English firearms history, but that accolade should go to Jackson
and Whitelaw.
The book is split into chapters which deal with wheellocks and
matchlocks, snaphaunce and transition locks, flintlocks and the
transition between the flintlock and the percussion cap lock. There
are also chapters of examples of early 17th-century firearms and
those of the latter part of the 18th century. This section of the book
closes with some hints on the cleaning and keeping of firearms.
The section on Scottish firearms is written by Charles Whitelaw,
a Scottish antiquarian who made the first detailed study of Scottish
arms. Much of his extensive collection is in the museum at
Kelvingrove in Glasgow. Whitelaws contribution to this work goes
further than simply describing extant Scottish guns and pistols. He
started to produce a typography and his untimely death in 1939
left a mountain of unpublished material that was painstakingly
edited by Sarah Barter of the Tower and eventually published in

1977 as Scottish Arms Makers. His part in the Jackson book is of the
greatest importance.
As befits the impressive record of D P & G, this is a handsome
volume bound in green balachorome cloth, with silver leaf text on
the spine, green marbled endpapers and a green ribbon bookmark.
This facsimile makes this important book available to a wider
audience. Highly recommended.
Hardbound, 108 pages, 70 plates showing numerous
monochrome photographs of guns and lock mechanisms.
D P & G. 50.00 plus p&p. www.military-naval-history.co.uk
This is a deluxe facsimile of the original 1923 book which, as it
is limited to 550 copies, is now scarce and sought after.
Osprey Publishing
Osprey Publishing has established itself as a publishing house
with an incredibly diverse base of titles ranging from the earliest
times to the present day. It offers books on weapons campaigns and
uniforms, each within its own series. This time we review four of
many new titles on offer. They are all very readable, good sources
of information, illustrated in colour and inexpensive, making them
widely accessible to re-enact ors, historians and collectors. Any
serious student of military history can never have too many Osprey
books.
From the Weapons; series: The Flintlock Musket by Stuart Reid.
This describes the Brown Bess and the Charleville from 1715-1865.
The flintlock musket is an iconic weapon and no serious collection
of firearms is complete without one. The author complements his
excellent text with thoughtful illustrations. This book has a wide
compass, covering the period from Marlboroughs wars through
Waterloo and ending with the battle of Shiloh in 1862, fought
during the American Civil War, which was noteworthy because
significant numbers of combatants on both sides used flintlock
muskets. An excellent study. RRP 12.99.
44
44_Books.indd 44
From the New Vanguard Series series: Imperial Roman

Warships 27BC-193AD by Raffaele DAmato. This is the
companion volume to the Republican warships book we reviewed
in the last issue. Romes military might owed a great deal to its
navy as well as its legions. In this period, as they had no serious
rivals, Roman warships became smaller and faster than those which
had helped to crush the Carthaginian Navy during the Republic.
Much of their work was as border forces on rivers like the Danube
and Rhine. They also helped many Imperial conquests in the north.
Recommended. RRP 9.99.
07/01/2016 16:22
Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450 by Dr Tobias Capwell

Dr Tobias Capwell is the Wallace Collections enthusiastic and
knowledgeable curator of arms and armour. He is also a prolific
author on the subject and a practitioner of the knightly arts. He
draws upon this extensive personal experience to recreate armour
as a functional, practical and everyday part of life in the Middle
Ages. This has given him a unique insight into armour and he is
probably the only academic historian who has it.
This luxuriant, large format book covers a short but very specific
timescale in the history of armour that of the reign of Henry V.
This is the armour that was worn at Agincourt in 1415 and it is
entirely appropriate that the books publication should coincide
with the 600th anniversary of that great battle.
The book is split into two sections, 1400-30 and 1430-50.
Each section deals with every component of the armour of the
period; helmets, cuirasses, vambraces, gauntlets, leg armour and
sabatons. The more obscure pieces are also covered spaudliers,
besagews and pauldrons. A variety of sources is used to illustrate
this development from medieval manuscripts, church effigies,
monumental brasses, stained glass and surviving pieces of
original armour.
The last section is the re-creation

of a suit of English armour c.144050. This is fascinating as it shows
individual pieces emerging black from
the smiths hammer and being fitted to
the wearer before being completed in
a lustrous black finish. This project was
undertaken for Dr Capwells PhD and
the armour was built by that peerless
craftsman, Robert MacPherson. The
book is worth having for that part
alone. It gives a detailed understanding
into the problems of wearing armour
and how armourers overcame them.
This book is remarkable value for money and I cannot recommend
it enough.
Hardbound. 308 pages with numerous colour illustrations.
Thomas Del Mar Ltd. 54.00 in UK 64.00 rest of world
including p & p. www.thomasdelmar.com
Dawn of the Horse Warriors Chariot and Cavalry

Warfare 3000-600 BC by Duncan Noble
Duncan Noble will be well known to Classic Arms & Militaria readers as
an authoritative author whose articles about swords have combined
academic learning with a great deal of practical knowledge about
their use. This is unsurprising as he is a reconstructive archaeologist
who has actually tried out the weapons he describes. He is also an
accomplished horseman and this book discusses horsemanship,
horse management and the significant development of saddles and
harness in considerable detail.
The domestication of the horse revolutionised warfare, granting
unprecedented strategic and tactical mobility, allowing armies to
strike with terrifying speed. The horse was first used as the motive
force for chariots and then, in a second revolution, as mounts for the
first true cavalry. The period covered encompasses the development
of the first clumsy ass-drawn chariots in Sumer. The author built and
tested a working replica for the BBC; it was nothing short of fantastic
to see the battle wagon from the so-called Standard of Ur come to life.
The book takes in the golden age

of chariot warfare resulting from the
arrival of the domesticated horse and the
spoked wheel, then continues through
the development of the first regular
cavalry force by the Assyrians and on to
their eventual overthrow by an alliance
of Medes and the Scythians, wild seminomadic horsemen from the Eurasian
steppe.
This is a book for anyone interested in the cavalry arm because
it explains its earliest origins and helps to put later troops (and
much of their equipment) into context.
Hard bound. 190 pages. 14 b&w plates. Pen & Sword. 15.99
on website www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Glock the Worlds Handgun by Chris McNab

The Glock series of handguns represents one of the greatest steps
forward in pistol design since the introduction of the Colt M1911.
Inspired by the Austrian Armys 1980 request for a new pistol, the
Glock Ges.m.b.H. company set to work designing and developing a
revolutionary new weapon which combined reliability, fire-power
and the latest in material technology. Within two years it had been
adopted by the Austrian Army, but such were its qualities that within a
decade the handgun was a dominant presence in global military, law
enforcement and civilian markets. More than 2.5 million have been
sold to date, in use with more than 50 nations. In the United States
alone, the gun has taken 65% of the law enforcement market.
This excellent study follows the evolution of the Glock handgun
from concept to market leader, and explains each of the many variants
and calibres, starting with the original Glock 17 and working through
to the latest fourth-generation models. Looking at the Glocks practical
44_Books.indd 45
use, the story is both dramatic and,

at times, controversial. Glocks have
been fired in earnest in the most
varied of contexts; users include
the Bangladesh Army, French naval
commandos, German GSG 9
police, Malaysian customs officials,
Singaporean prison guards, the FBI
and dozens of US state police forces.
Add its pervasive appeal in civilian
markets, and the Glock currently stands as one of the most influential
sidearms of the last 50 years.
Casebound. 224 pages. 200 colour and b&w photographs.
Amber Books. 19.99. www.amberbooks.co.uk
45
07/01/2016 16:22
BOOK REVIEWS
The Wars of the Roses by John Ashdown-Hill

The author is a distinguished academic historian, best known for the
part he played in helping to discover the remains of Richard III in a
Leicester car park.
He gives a meticulous and engaging insight into the conflict that
has become known as the Wars of the Roses. In reality this was simply
a long-running struggle for the throne of England by two powerful
noble factions. The author dispels all of the myths that have arisen
about this conflict and brings admirable clarity to a period of history
that is shrouded in confusion. He goes on to explain that the name
Wars of the Roses is a comparatively modern term and that noble
families used rose badges long before the accepted dates of the
conflict. He points out that there were

often long gaps between battles and that
it is nonsense to term it the The First
English Civil War as there was no real
sense of nationhood at the time. This is
vigorous historic research and analysis
at its best.
Hardback. 336 pages, 30 b&w
illustrations, 20.00, Amberley
publishing. www.amberley-books.com
NEWS AND VIEWS

Dr Impey of the Royal Armouries Made Honorary Member of
The Arms and Armour Society
At its meeting of the 2nd December 2015, the President of the
Arms and Armour Society, David Penn, welcomed Dr Edward Impey
FSA FRHistS in to the Society as an Honorary Member. Dr Impey is
Director General of the Royal Armouries and Master of the Armouries.
A spirited discussion on the practicalities of fortification then followed
an entertaining, instructive and expert talk by Dr Impey on The White
Tower and its Ancestors.
The Society programme for the next six months includes talks by
Keith Dowen, An Early Medieval Sword in the Wallace Collection (4th
February); Brian Godwin, The English Lock (5th May); and David
Williams, Henry Nock and The Duke of Richmonds Muskets (2nd
June). When he gives his talk, Brian Godwin will be awarded the
Research Medal of the Society for his sustained and significant work on
early English Firearms. On the 7th July we are having a Social Evening,
these are usually made up of short and off-the-cuff presentations by
members. The meeting on the 7th April is the Society AGM and is
closed to non-members. Further details will be available on the other
meetings later in the year.
The Arms and Armour Society was formed to further the study,
collection and preservation of arms and armour. It provides a relaxed
and friendly forum for collectors and students of arms and armour,
amateur and professional, young and old, to share their interests
and learn more about their passion. Members have a broad range of
interests including armour, edged weapons, firearms and other arms
from all over the world. The Society meets in the Education Centre of
the Tower of London from 7pm on the first Thursday of the month
with talks beginning at 7.30pm. Meetings close by 9pm but discussions
Dr Edward Impey (left), Director General of the Royal Armouries and Master
of the Armouries, being welcomed as a Honorary Member of the Arms and
Armour Society by David Penn (right), its President
often continue in a local hostelry. The Society also publishes a quarterly

newsletter and an internationally respected journal twice a year.
The Society has Full or Corresponding membership. Corresponding
members are entitled to receive the journal and newsletter and to attend
three of the twelve meetings at the Tower. Corresponding membership
may suit those who live outside London and who cannot get to the
Tower regularly.
If you are interested in corresponding (30) or full membership
(40) or in attending one of the meetings please be in touch with
the Secretary of the Society at armsandarmoursociety2014honsec@
outlook.com . Access to the meetings at the Tower for non-members
must be pre-arranged via the Secretary.
TARGET PISTOLS
Target Pistols
THE ROAD TO OLYM

PIC
RECOGNITION
Dear Editor
I enjoyed the interesting article about target pistols in the October/November issue, but would like to make
another point. If a pistol shooter is to shoot consistently it is vital that the hand holds the pistol in exactly
the same place every time it is fired. If instead of holding the grip in the middle say, the hand on the grip is
a little lower or higher or to the right or left the point of impact will vary. The reason modern target pistols
have a palm shelf and thumb rest is not just to provide support but also to ensure that the hand is in exactly
the same place, longitudinally and laterally every time it is fired. With this in mind the hockey stick grip
on early dueling pistols must have been something of a nightmare. It surprises me that the saw handle style
was not more popular, I suppose the smooth bore meant that no-one ever noticed.
Richard G Large ( Nantwich, Cheshire)
Fig. 1
By Richard Garrett
Fig. 1 Cased pair of

duellers by John
Manton & Son
style cocks are also engraved

with
scrolling foliage, and
there is a
sliding safety bolt behind
the cock.
The frizzens are engraved
with a
border and a sunburst
on the side.
The waterproof pans match
with a
V-shaped underside to
the frizzens.
There are rollers on
the frizzen
springs and inside there
is a detented
sear mechanism. Single
set triggers
ensure a light trigger pull.
Another advantage adopted
by
makers was to fit the grip
so that the
pistol came up naturally
and aimed
directly where the shooter
aimed.
Just as shotguns were fitted
to a user
so was the grip of a pistol.
Andrew
Steinmetz in his The Romance
of Duelling
(published 1868) wrote:
For firing rapidly and with accuracy,
much
depends on the stock of the pistol
fitting the
hand comfortably and the whole
balancing
justly. Some hands require a large
thick stock;
others a shorter and thinner one.
I have recently
fallen in with a pair of Joseph Manton
duelling
pistols which had evidently
done service in
their time. The feel when held
in position was
exquisite, so admirably balanced.
In presenting
the pistol, it positively felt as part
and parcel of
the system, connected with the nerves,
responsive
to the will.
The makers also experimented
with individual styles of
chequering
for the grip. Each, of course,
claimed
that theirs was the best,
although it
is difficult to see how it
made much
difference.
Other means were introduced
to
ensure that the user gripped
the pistol
correctly each time. A spur
was added
to the trigger guard for
the second
finger to grip, thus bracing
the hand
in the correct position.
Mortimer is
credited with introducing
the sawhandled grip, which again
helped to
position the hand as well
as helping
in sighting by extending
the line
of sight along the top of
the barrel.
The pair by him shown
in Fig.3
has been converted to
percussion
although they would originally
have
Fig. 2
istols are generally quite

end of the 18th century
a specialist
inaccurate and in combat
duelling pistol emerged.
The various
are only expected to be
aspects of it were all
designed to
used at close range. How,
improve accuracy. Many
apparently
then, did there arise such
minor improvements were
a desire for accuracy that
made to
the sport of the lock so
that it gave fast ignition
pistol shooting became a
reality?
with a minimal trigger
The answer emerges
pull. This
from was necessary as
a heavy pull would
circumstances in the 18th
century. tend to pull
the pistol off target
Then, the still relatively
new and any delay would
invention of firearms had
have a similar
developed effect. The
premier makers of the
so that pistols started
to replace time all contributed
to providing an
the sword as the weapon
of choice exceptional
product.
for duellers. Superficially
the pistol
The pair of duellers
evened things out so that
by John
the hours Manton &
Son (Figs.1 and 2) is a
of practice needed to make
an expert late flintlock
example. Dating from
swordsman were no longer
needed 1826, they were
made just as the
and hence the playing field
was much percussion
system was becoming
more level. Of course,
everyone popular. The
locks incorporate all the
looked around to find an
edge that latest improvements.
would tilt the field to their
The lockplates
advantage. are signed
JOHN MANTON &
The obvious first step
was to SON PATENT
and have an engraved
make a better pistol. Towards
the border and foliate
scrolls. The French
www.classic-arms-and-mili
44_Books.indd 46
Fig. 5
Fig. 2 Lockplate
of John Manton
pistol
32
46
Fig. 3
taria.com
Fig. 6
been flintlocks. The locks

are signed
Whilst all these improvements
H W MORTIMER & Co.
This was a made for
greater accuracy, they
partnership with his brother
Thomas didnt necessarily
make you a great
and son H.W. junior that
was formed shot. Like
any skill it had to be
in 1799 and dissolved
in 1806, developed through
practice. But how
hence we can fairly accurately
date do you practise for
a duel? Unlike a
them to about 1800.
game
hunter you cant learn in
Marginally later is the
the
pair by field and you
dont want to go into
Tatham & Egg shown in
Fig.4. The a duel with
no
shooting
partnership of Henry
experience.
Tatham and Obviously
there was a need to
Joseph Egg lasted from
1801 to fill and gunmakers
were quick to
1814 so again we can date
them with satisfy it. Major
makers had their
some accuracy. These pistols
have a own ranges. They
had for some time
unique form of stock, not
used by had shooting
fields
other makers. Whilst
including a where clients
could
shortish, saw-handled extension
the be fitted for new
stock also includes shoulders
to fit guns and could
try out
over the hand. This can
be seen as potential
purchases.
the forerunner of the
orthopaedic For a pistol
a smaller
grip used on modern target
pistols. facility was all
that
All this made the pistol an
extension was needed
and
of the arm that naturally
pointed at some
established
the target.
ranges next to their shops.
One such
www.classic-arms-and-mili
taria.com
07/01/2016 16:22
was
Joe
beca
social gatherin
would go just
shooting at targ
One of the
was Captain R
who recorded
Recollections:
Byron used to go
at a wafer. Wedderb
when the poet, intens
skill, boasted to Joe M
himself the best shot
replied Manton,not t
today was respectable.
wroth and left the sho
Lords Byron,
Mountjoy, Blandford,
Bouverie and myself
several years afterwa
consistent frequenters
shooting gallery and
considerable sums of
allowed to enter the bett
backed me. On one occa
times out of 20.
The size of the
target is not stated
about the size of a
indeed sometimes c
targets. The range w
about 16 yards so
was indeed a great s
Thus target shooti
begun, but what ab
target pistol?
In England it seem
were quite content to
duelling pistols and
arms seem to h
However, on the Co
of pistol dev
was int
Fig. 7
Meetings at the Tower of London at 7pm

February to July 2016
4th February
4th March
7th April
5th May
2nd June
7th July
Keith Dowen:
An Early Medieval Sword
in the Wallace Collection
To be confirmed
Annual General Meeting
(Closed)
Brian Godwin:
The English Lock
David Williams:
Henry Nock and the
Duke of Richmonds
Musket
Social Evening
We further the study, collection and preservation of arms and armour.

For details of membership and meeting attendance contact
armsandarmoursociety2014honsec@outlook.com For non-members access to
the meetings at the Tower must be pre-arranged via this email address.
Images Courtesy of Tom Del Mar Ltd
C.S. Arms, Inc.

Cliff Sophia
Proprietor
Collectors Arms 1700-1945 Militaria

Civil War Thru World War Two a Specialty
9150 John S. Mosby Hwy. (Rt. 50)
Upperville, Virginia 20185
PO BOX 602 for US Mail
(540) 592-7273
SophiaCSArms@aol.com
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For no obligation advice please call or
email us at our Dorking shop or see our
website for details.
We have a long established, excellent
reputation and have been selling items
on commission for over 20 years, from
single items to entire collections.
A collection of Colt Revolvers
CSArms.com
63 West Street Dorking Surrey UK RH4 1BS

Tel: +44(0)1306 883487
Email: weststant@aol.com
www.antiquearmsandarmour.com
47
07/01/2016 14:42
THE INTERNATIONAL BIRMINGHAM ARMS FAIR

The UKs most popular ANTIQUE ARMS & MILITARIA FAIR
held in the luxurious & prestigious suites of the
NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM
Superbly located on Junction 6 off the M42 Motorway

Come and see the best selection on offer in the UK,with over 100 dealers lling the 184 tables.
Its the biggest & the best!
SUNDAY 21st February 2016 10.00am to 3.00pm
(dealer & keen collector preview 8.45am to 10.00am Adm. 8.00, thereafter 5.00)
Scenes from a recent fair, just a small selection of what is usually on offer!
Future dates: 19th June, 18th September, 20th November 2016
For further details or to register on our waiting list

(all tables usually rebooked by existing exhibitors) Write to :-
ANTIQUE ARMS & MILITARIA EXHIBITIONS P.O.BOX 194, WARWICK CV34 5ZG
TEL. 07710-274452 www.birminghamarmsfair.com
MJR SUPPLIES
LISHES.COM
TAPESANDPO
Providing Antique Restoration Supplies

to professionals & collectors alike
Specialist suppliers of repair and restoration
materials for antiques, coins, medals, books,
ephemera & all types of collectables
Fast reliable worldwide mail order service
www.care4antiques.com
Email: martin@tapesandpolishes.com Tel:
01782 822986
Paul M. Ambrose Antiques

929 White Plains Rd., Ste. 183, Trumbull, CT 06611
Tel/Fax: (203) 452-9035

www.ambroseantiques.com
NEXT AUCTION
12TH MARCH 2016
Paul Ambrose.indd 1
48
07/10/2015 16:35
12/01/2016 09:41
07/01/2016 14:54
AUCTION REPORTS
AUCTION REPORTS
BOSLEYS
lients of Bosleys, the military

auctioneers of Marlow, will
be pleased to learn that
the first weeks of January
have seen a steady flow of
consignments for auction and along with
the large amount of items described in the
last edition of The Armourer, consigned just
before Christmas, the 2 March sale will
prove a great start to Bosleys 22nd year of
auctioneering.
The medal section has been increased
with the arrival of twelve Waterloo medals.
Regiments represented include a scarce
examples to the Life Guards and North
British Dragoons, the Royal Scots Greys, a
defender of Hougoumont Farm, a Private
of the Scots Guards and medals to both the
2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Grenadier
Guards. Another consignment is a scarce
WWII Royal Navy Distinguished Service
Medal for gallantry on the unforgiving
Convoy PQ18 to North Russia. This convoy
left home waters with 41 merchant ships
and before reaching North Russia, 13
were sunk and many others were seriously
damaged. Great War medals will include
a Military Medal to the 5th Bn Dorset
Regiment and a Distinguished Conduct
Medal to the Kings Own for outstanding
gallantry in rushing a German machine
gun post. Those collectors interested in
the Great War Pals Battalions will find
a rare Salford Pals Military Cross, the
same action seeing the Pals wining two
Victoria Crosses. This sale will also be
offer Aviation collectors a good selection,
including a local discovery of a very good
example of a mid-war Irvin flying jacket
and from a separate source a RAF logbook
and photograph album. Other items
include East of Malta Flying helmet and a
rare Prestige white RAF issue flying suit.
The March sale will see the second
part of the Field Marshal Montgomery of
Alameins personal archive, which will
include a number of signed photographs,
including one signed example of Monty
watchingGeneral Kienzl, Chief of Staff to
Field Marshal Busch, sign the document of
surrender of the German land, sea and air
forces in Northern Germany, Holland and
Denmark, on 4 May 1945. There are also a
number of printed Monty messages to his
troops, each personally signed by Monty,
and a number have theoriginal typed draft.
50
50_Auctions.indd 50
As one would expect from Bosleys,

military badges will feature very strongly
and the sale will include a number
of lots containing small, specially
selected groupings of original cap badges,
ideal for the new collector and the military
trade. The more specialist Indian Army
collectors will have a field day and may be
spoilt for choice as this sale will include
someoutstanding examples of both pre- and
post-IndianMutinyitems, including shako
plates, pouch belt badges and cap badges.
A good selection of British Army helmet
plates will be found and also an interesting
offering of military cloth formation badges.
Also included is a bravely won Military
Cross for action in Afghanistan, together
with the recipients other campaign medals
and miniatures
A selection of specially selected
guaranteed original German items will
include a German war flag and a selection
of war booty, a German Iron Cross and
war badges, a WWI Prussian Officers
Picklehaube retaining original cotton field
service cover, WWII gorgets of the Army
Feldgendarmerie and a scarce example
of the RAD, a WWII Infantry Officers
sword, WWI Kriegsmarine Naval Officers
dagger, and an example of a German
Artillery Officers peaked cap. A good pair
of 10x80 Flakfernrohr binoculars has
been consigned, the vendor having been
given them by a Royal Navy MTB Flotilla
Commander who liberated them from the

Channel Islands in 1945.
Sword collectors have not been forgotten:
consignments to date include a 1796 Light
Cavalry Officers blue and gilt bladed sword
by Osborn, Royal Horse Guards Edward VII
attributed Officers state pattern sword by
Wilkinson and carried by Captain Michael
John Wemyss, who served throughout the
Great War, and a 1912 Officers Cavalry
Sword, another rare Wilkinson sword,
the blade etched with the badge and title
of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. A
small collection of naval boarding cutlasses
will include a scarce American Civil War
Period US Navy 1860 Pattern example.
We cannot close this review without
a quick mention of the uniforms and
accoutrement sections that will see the
scarlet tunics of the Scots Guards, Duke
of Cornwalls Light Infantry and an
outstanding example of the Royal Horse
Artillery with fur busby, to name but a
few. The drab khaki of the battlefield will
see an Officers 1902 pattern cuff rank
tunic of the Essex Regiment and a scarce
1942 dated British Army full battle jerkin,
this being the earliest date issue stamp of
the pattern.
Bosleys are continuing to take
consignments for the March auction and
further up-to-date information can be
obtained by visiting Bosleys auctions
website at www.bosleys.co.uk
11/01/2016 16:11
MARLOWS 11th February
he next Marlows sale will be

held on Thursday 11 February
2016 at Ravon Court, Stafford.
Please note that all sales will
now commence at 10.30 a.m.
and live internet bidding is now available.
Viewing will commence at 8 a.m. and
continue throughout the sale. The new fullcolour catalogue, containing over 650 lots,
is now available. There will be the usual
variety of categories including badges,
medals, curios, equipment, uniforms and
weapons.
There will be a good selection in the Gun
category which will include an unusual
wheellock training pistol with steel lock,
while the remainder of the pistol is made
entirely from wood; a 19th-century Allens
patent boot pistol; an early 19th-century
Belgian flintlock Sea Service pistol; a Tranter
solid frame percussion revolver in need
of some restoration; a scarce 1873 dated
Martini MK1 rifle; an 1859 dated Snider
pattern 1 rifle converted from a 3 band
Enfield; a German M1871/84 Mauser rifle
by Danzig 1887; a fine pair of H. Nock
pocket percussion pistols now contained in
a contemporary mahogany case complete
with accessories; a mid-19th century Baker
percussion greatcoat pistol; a mid 19thcentury D. Egg double-barrelled percussion
pistol; a scarce Remington New Model
Navy .38 rim-fire converted revolver; a
Model 1849 Colt pocket pistol contained
in its polished mahogany case; a late 18thcentury flintlock holster pistol by Clarkson;
an early 19th-century 1807 dated East India
Company Brown Bess musket, complete
with bayonet, and a late 18th-century
doglock flint sporting musket.
The Edged Weapon section will comprise
a late-18th century horsemans basket
hilt sword; a 1796 pattern Heavy Cavalry
Troopers sword complete in its scabbard;
a fine quality 1796 pattern Light Cavalry
Officers sword with etched blade; a
Crimea period 1853 pattern 3rd Hussars
50_Auctions.indd 51
marked Troopers sword; an 1821 pattern

Heavy Cavalry Troopers sword; a 1908
pattern Cavalry Troopers sword; a Victorian
Hull Artillery Officers sword and a small
selection of various Infantry hangers. There
will also be a quantity of bayonets including
an 1848 pattern Brunswick sword bayonet;
an 1837 pattern Brunswick sword bayonet;
a 2nd Model Baker bayonet; a Napoleonic
period Brown Bess socket bayonet with
unusual long securing slot; an American
Model 1873 Springfield trowel bayonet; a
WW1 dated Canadian Ross MK2 bayonet,
complete in scabbard, a Norwegian Krag
Jorgensen Model 1914 bayonet and various
modern bayonets.
The Curios category will consist of a
good selection of Zulu war items which
will include a large Zulu war shield; various
Zulu assegai spears; an early 19th-century
Cavalry breastplate; a small Somali leather
buckler shield; an African thick hide buckler
shield and an unusual chainmail shirt
with flattened horn interlocking plates; an
impressive bronze armoured knight desk
statue; a 19th-century native American
Indian tomahawk pipe; a good set of WWI
magic lantern glass slides and a post-1953
Staffordshire Yeomanry bass drum.
The Headdress category will include a
WWII period Special Air Service beret;
a Wolseley pattern white blancoed pith
helmet complete with gilt top spike; an
inter-war Gordon Highlanders glengarry;
an inter-war Indian made Royal Engineers
badged solar topee; a Victorian Militia
Artillery Officers field service cap; a 1943
issued Chelsea Pensioners tricorn hat; a
Royal Artillery Officers Victorian home
service helmet complete in its transit tin and
a good selection of British and Continental
Police helmets and hats and various WWII
and dress caps.
The Uniform section will comprise a
WWI French horizon blue greatcoat; a
WWI French horizon blue Medical Officers
tunic; a WWII pattern Airborne denison
smock; a scarce Victorian Naval Able

Seamans pullover shirt; a 98th (2nd Batt
North Staffordshire Regiment) Victorian
1856 pattern Officers tunic; a 1945 dated
REME battledress jacket; a good complete
Queens Royal Hussars Pipers uniform
and accessories; a complete pre-WWII
Cameron Highlanders uniform set; a 1902
pattern Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
militia battalion Lieutenant Colonels cuff
rank khaki doublet and various Victorian
and post-1901 scarlet tailcoats.
All auctions are held at Marlows venue
at Ravon Court, Drummond Road, Stafford,
Staffordshire ST16 3HJ.There are facilities for
disabled parking onsite and for collection of
items during the sale. General free parking
is a short walk away from the venue. Full
details can be found on our website at www.
marlowsauctions.co.uk. Kevin King can
be contacted on 01785 214100 or 07789
628030 to help with any of your questions.
51
11/01/2016 16:11
AUCTION REPORTS
ROCK ISLAND AUCTION COMPANY
f anyone ever wondered whether Rock

Island Auction Company knows how to
end the year with a flair for the dramatic,
the 2015 December Premiere Firearms
Auction left no doubt. Before the sale
began, it had the makings for a successful
event: items tied to well-known names from
history, top condition guns, rarities and
prototypes, 7 exceptional collections, and
over 3,000 collector firearms. Though, even
with all these pieces in place, few could have
anticipated how strong the results would be.
Led by the $2.3 million dollar sale of a 15th
century Egyptian shirt of chain and plate, the
auction achieved a realized total of nearly
$15 million and pushed the annual sales of
the auction house to over $51 million dollars.
That figure is an industry record that bodes
well for firearms collectors and the hobby as
a whole.
Day One of the sale started strong with a
host of Winchesters flying off the block such
as the deluxe Winchester 1873 in lot 8 with
vivid casehardening that sold for $86,250,
far surpassing its estimate of $65,000. Other
popular genres enjoyed success as well. Lot
281 contained a stately cased and engraved
John Rigby side lever, double barrel rifle that
exceeded its $12,000 estimate en route to a
sale price of $27,500. A Kentucky rifle from
the illustrious Piedmont Collection provided
a highlight when the Jacob Dickert Lancaster
Flintlock rifle with its distinct rattlesnakeshaped patchbox in lot 129 rang the bell at
$25,000, ignoring its estimate of $16,000.
Day Ones sales were certainly impressive
and it started out strong, but the second day
of auction would prove to be the one that no
one in attendance will forget. Surprising bids
began to come in for every type of item. A
finely carved powder horn with engravings

themed around the French-Indian War in lot
1132 spurred the second biggest bidding
battle of the day, shattering its humble $1,800
estimate by bringing $22,500. The biggest
battle that occurred that day, that weekend,
and arguably in the history of Rock Island
Auction Company was for the contents of
lot 1262, a 15th century shirt of chain and
mail identified to military powerhouse and
architectural patron Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt.
The armor possessed the highest estimate
in the auction, $200,000 - $500,000, but
murmurs were exchanged among staff and
collector alike wondering just how much the
armor would sell for, as if those in attendance
had their own inklings that they were on the
precipice of witnessing something special.
They would not be let disappointed
Bidding began well into the six figures, but
it wouldnt take long for those large bidding
increments to push the bids into the seven
figures. By that time, the competition was
already down to two buyers bidding live via
telephone, and the auction hall began to fill
again with people from adjacent rooms who
couldnt believe the bids they were hearing.
Eyes got wider and wider and the numbers
continued upward and Auctioneer Kevin
Hogan came down from the podium to take
the momentous bids. A pause between each
bid was interrupted by gasps, cheers, and
disbelieving laughter as the two rival bidder
cards flew up again and again. It couldve
only taken a few minutes, but to those in
attendance waiting on the edge of their seats
for each new bid, time stopped. Hogan even
broke the ice at $1.5 million dollars when he
turned to the crowd to ask, Does anyone else
want in on the lot? Cheers erupted when the
Lot 129
bidding struck the

$2 million mark,
but the second
prospective buyer
could not make
the
required
$2.1
million
dollar bid. Two
point one million
dollars going once!
Two point one
million dollars going
lot 1262
twice! SOLD! For TWO
MILLION DOLLARS! With the whoops and
hollers that were heard all throughout the
hall, one would have thought everybody
had won the armor! It was a tremendously
exciting moment and it set the tone for the
rest of the day.
Day Three managed in its own special way
via a number of remarkable antiques and
historic items that some bidders had been
waiting for all weekend. Their patience was
short-lived, however, once the bidding started.
Lot 3083 was a cased presentation sword that
was surrendered after a pivotal naval battle
in the War of 1812, and formerly displayed
at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. It struck
true with a collector who paid no attention
to its $45,000 estimate and gave $74,750 to
place it in his collection.
It was a wonderful auction that helped
make an absolutely sensational year. Its years
like this that reflect very positively on firearms
collecting in terms of participation and gun
values. It was also a good sign for Rock Island
Auction Company, which has now cemented
its place as the worlds No.1 firearms auction
house for 12 consecutive years, and shows no
signs of stopping.
Lot 3083
Advertisers Index
Alexandria Arms...................................27
Antique Arm & Militaria Exhibition.....48
Arms & Armour Society.......................47
Bolk Antiques.......................................53
C&T Auctioneers & Valuers...................39
CMR International................................53
Cowans................................................23
Csarms.com.........................................47
Garth Vincent Antiques Arms................49
James D Julia Inc......................... 34 & 35
JC Militaria...........................................39
Jeremy Tenniswood..............................53
52
50_Auctions.indd 52
Laidlaw Auctioneers & Valuers..............47

Leons Militaria....................................17
Magazin Royal Scrl...............................17
Marlows Military Auctions...................56
Martin Giles Antiques...........................43
Michael J Noble...................................53
MJR Supplies........................................48
Park Lane Arms Fair..............................33
Paul M Ambrose...................................48
Pembroke Fine Arms............................27
Pete Holder..........................................55
Preston Arms Fair.................................48
Q & C Militaria.....................................53
ROA Antique Arms...............................48
Rock Island Auction Company...............2
Smiths of Newent Auction Rooms........53
Stauffer Auktionnen OHG....................48
The Lanes Armoury..............................53
The London Medal Company...............27
Treasure Bunker...................................53
Warwick & Warwick...............................5
West Street Antiques.............................47
11/01/2016 16:12
ANTIQUES AND COLLECTABLES SALE

Friday 26th February at 10am
With Medals & Militaria Section
Catalogue on-line from 19th February
or available by post on request
Viewing 25th February 10am-7pm and morning of sale
Live on-line bidding
www.smithsnewentauctions.co.uk
MARK AND DAVID HAWKINS
OF
THE LANES ARMOURY
26 MEETINGHOUSE LANE, THE LANES, BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX, BN1 1HB, UK
TEL: 01273 321357 EMAIL: mail@thelanesarmoury.co.uk

(INTERNATIONAL TEL: 00 44 1273 321357)
INVITE TO OUR AMAZING WEBSTORE
www.TheLanesArmoury.co.uk
Probably the best source for original Samurai Swords, worldwide Antique
Swords, Guns, Militaria & Armour in Europe
Family dealers since the Reign of King George V.
Also, military book specialists
To GOOGLE us worldwide, just enter LANES ARMOURY
The Treasure Bunker Militaria Shop

21 King Street, Glasgow G1 5QZ, Scotland, UK.
Tel. 0141 552 8164
www.treasurebunker.com
Q & C
MILITARIA
22 Suffolk Road, Cheltenham GL50 2AQ
RFD Glos D167
Telephone: 01242 519815
Mobile Telephone: 07778 613977
qcmilitaria@btconnect.com
www.qcmilitaria.com
We Wish to Buy for Cash
All items of Uniform, Helmets & Headwear,

Swords & Bayonets, Medals, Orders &
Decorations, Badges & Uniform Furniture,
Military Memorabilia, Trench Art
Top Prices Paid
Absolute Discretion Assured
Medals mounted for wearing
Cased for Display & Refurbished
Miniature Medals and Mess Dress
Accoutrements Supplied
Send S.A.E. for free list
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for your PC, Android,
iPad & iPhone at
www.pocketmags.com/classic
53
Pocketmags.indd 1
14/07/2014 11:00
07/01/2016 15:12
&EVENTS
AUCTIONS
AUCTIONS
11th February, 2016
Marlows Military Auctions
Specialist Militaria Auction
To be held at
NEW VENUE Ravon Court,
Drummond Road,
Stafford, ST16 3HJ
For further details contact Kevin King
T: 07789 628030, 01785 214100
E: info@marlowsauctions.co.uk
W: www.marlowsauctions.co.uk
FAIRS
21st February
The International Birmingham Arms Fair
National Motorcycle Museum
Superbly located on Junction 6
off the M42 Motorway
T: 07710-274452
www.birminghamarmsfair.com
26th February, 2016
Smiths of Newent
Antiques and Collectables Sale
The Old Chapel, Culver Street
Newent, GL18 1DB
T: 01531 821776
W: www.smihsnewentauctions.co.uk
28th February, 2016
The London Park Lane Arms Fair
The Marriott Hotel Duke Street, off
Grosvenor Square, London W1
Enquiries to David Oliver.
T: 01669 620618
E: pennystane@btinternet.com.
W: www.londonarmsfair.com
2nd March, 2016
C&T Auctions
Unit 4, High House Business Park
Warners Group Publications Ltd,

The Maltings, West Street, Bourne,
England PE10 9PH
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391000
Fax: +44 (0) 1778 392422
Publisher: Rob McDonnell
Editorial email:
caam@warnersgroup.co.uk
Production Editor/
Editorial Design: Lynn Wright
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391139
Kenardington, nr Ashford,
Kent TN26 2LF
T: @ +44 (0) 1233 510050
E: matthew.tredwen@candtauctions.co.uk
W: www.candtauctions.co.uk
6th March, 2016
Preston Arms & Militaria Fair
Park Hall Hotel, Cannock Richard, via
Channock Richard Services , Chorley, Nr
Preston, Lancs PR7 6LP
W: www.prestonarmsfairs.co.uk
T: 01254 263260
M: 07884 284390
E: ifo@prestonarmsfair.co.uk
6th March, 2016
Tricorn Fairs Presents:
The Bristol Fine Antique Arms Fair
Holiday Inn Bristol-Filton, BS16 1QX
T: 07717 742191 or 07860 782286
W: www.tricornfairs.co.uk
E: info@tricornfairs.co.uk
MEETINGS & TALKS

February to July 2016
The Arms and Armour Society
meetings at the tower of london at 7pm
4th February
Keith Dowen: an early medieval sword in
the wallace collection
7th April annual general meeting
(closed)
5th may Brian Godwin:the english lock
2nd June David Williams: Henry Nock
and the Duke of Richmonds Muskeet
7th July social evening
For non-members access to the
meetings at the tower must be prearranged via this email address:
armsandarmoursociety2014honsec@
outlook.com.
Sub Editor: Susan Hibbins

ADVERTISING
Group Key Account Manager:
Claire Morris
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391179
Email: clairem@warnersgroup.co.uk
Group Telesales Executive
Emma Czajka
Tel: +44 (0)1778 391129
emma.czajka@warnersgroup.co.uk
Advertising Production:
Danielle Tempest
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 392420
Email: danielle.tempest@
warnersgroup.co.uk
Advert Design: Cathy Herron
EUROPE AND ABROAD

3rd March
Cowans Auctions
Firearms And Accoutrements
Live Salesroom Auction
Bid in person or by phone
catalogs@cowans.com
contact jack lewis firearms@cowans.com
6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45232
T: 513-871-1670
E: info@cowans.com
12th March, 2016
Stauffer Auktionen oHG
International Auctioneers
Stauffer Auktionen oHG,
Karlstrasse
43 D-72525, Munsingenm,
Germany
T: 0049-(0)7381-501-007
F: 0049-(0)7381-501-009
E: schloss-auingen@t-online.de
14th, 15th & 16th March
James D JULIA
Fairfield, Maine
Email: firearms@jamesdjulia.com
T +1 207 453-7125
F: (207) 453-2502
April 26th-27th
Cowans Auctions
Live Salesroom Auction
Bid in person or by phone
catalogs@cowans.com
Contact Jack Lewis
firearms@cowans.com
6270 Este Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45232
T: 513-871-1670
E: info@cowans.com
MARKETING
Marketing Manager:
Sarah Stephens
Sarahs@warnersgroup.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 395007
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 392476
DISTRIBUTION
Andy Perry
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391152
ACCOUNTS
Helen McNamee
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391025
Andy Thorpe
Tel: +44 (0) 1778 391142
All material published remains the copyright of Warners Group Publications Plc, no part of this magazine may be published without the prior permission of the publisher. Views expressed
by contributors are not necessarily the views of the editor or publisher and the greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy, but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for omissions
or errors. While we take every care, we cannot accept liability for loss or damage to contributed copy/material and the large volume of enquiries means not all correspondence can be
replied to personally. Competition winners details are available from the editorial address; please enclose SAE with your enquiry.
While every care is taken when accepting advertisements, we cannot accept responsibility for unsatisfactory transactions. We will however investigate any complaints.
Data Protection - Warners Group Publications Plc may lend reputable companies the names & addresses of readers who have responded to offers, services and competitions organised by
Classic Arms & Militaria magazine. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please write to us at the above address or phone us.
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54_Contacts/Events_new.indd 54
11/01/2016 15:54
07/01/2016 15:13
Pete Holder P.O. Box 1199, Guildford, Surrey GU1 9JR

Tel: 01483 277788 Mobile: 07778 008008 WEBSITE: www.peteholder.com Email: info@peteholder.com
Smith & Wesson Model 1881 Double Action Target revolver serial number 408 in obsolete .44 Russian calibre with four inch barrel. Blue finish with case
coloured hammer and trigger and furnished with two-piece mother of pearl grips.
BUYS * SELLS * TRADES * INVESTMENT ANTIQUE * AMERICAN FIREARMS
ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS
Pete Holder
11th Feb 2016 10.30am
SPECIALIST MILITARIA AUCTION
to be held at - NEW VENUE - Ravon Court, Drummond Road, Stafford ST16 3HJ
For further details, contact Kevin King 07789 628030, 01785 214100
or email info@marlowsauctions.co.uk www.marlowsauctions.co.uk
07/01/2016 15:13

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Volume XXIII Issue 1

For the military historian, private

That rarest of Highland weapons

Turnover pistols over the years

THE NINE RIFLES FROM RAS BIRRUS HOUSE

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Magnificent John Ulrich Masterpiece

Important Middle Eastern Treasure: 15th Century Shirt of

SOLD $2.3 MILLION

The Royal Hunt

Highly Ornate Chiseled and Gold Highlighted European Wheelock

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Regional Firearms Auction - Feb. 25 28

elcome to the February March

BILL HARRIMANS UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES 16

THE EPHEMERAL FUCILI DA FANTERIA

BAYONET BYTES NO.17

Tipu Sultan, Congreve and Hale. By George Prescott

Part 2 By Guy and Leonard A-R-West FHBSA

Bayonet manufacture by Graham Priest

ASK THE EXPERT

Bill Harriman, a professional member of the Forensic Science Society and

THE TURKY SWORD

THE NINE RIFLES FROM RAS BIRRUS HOUSE 10

Turnover pistols over the years. By Richard Garrett

ASK THE EXPERT

Here in Albany, West Australia,

The vent or touch-hole

the Royal Armouries at Fort

I have a Kerr revolver c.1864.

hardened putty will come out

I have a collection of Colt

I think that some of

Bill Harriman is a professional

not equate to just a whimsical

Selling Your Militaria?

We will provide a free,

We can arrange insured transportation of your collection to our

Visits by our valuers are possible anywhere in the country or abroad,

We are staging a series of advisory days and will be visiting

Because of the strength of our customer base we

Telephone or email Richard Beale today

Warwick & Warwick Ltd.

cottish Highland swords

of high rainfall, steep hills and bogs

adopting the new Eastern European

it was worn about 1721 by the

flourishes one of those

clipped point. Two Penicuik sketches

clipped points and Polish/Hungarian

at a blade length of 26 inches, rather

of view and I accepted that. To judge

or any others who took part in an

other major in the Regiment must

Fig 7. The recreation of a

The Nine Rifles from

RAS BIRRUS HOUSE

n March 2013, whilst

Classic Arms & Militaria - February-March 2016

Classic Arms & Militaria - February-March 2016