French Mle 1873

GunnyUSMC · Jan 28, 2017

Thursday I stopped in at one of the local pawn shops to drop off something off. While I was there I had a look at the guns. Sitting in the case was this French Mle 1873 priced at $350. I checked it out and it functioned fine. The price was good but I wasn't sure if I wanted it, I'm not a big collector of French weapons. I went home and gave it some thought and decided if it was still there when I went by the next day, I would get it.
Friday morning I took my 12yo son, Isaac, to the Waffle House for breakfast before taking him to his Doctor's apt. Isaac asked what was I going to do for the day. I told I was going to buy an old gun. He told me that he has been to a lot of gun shops with me, but never when I have bought a gun. I asked if he was sure about that and he said yes.
After we were done at the Doctor's office we headed to the pawn shop, it was. The gun was still there.
As always when buying used guns at pawn shops I try to get them to come down on the price no matter how good it is. I asked what was the best price out the door and I was asked to make an offer. I told them $200, They said $300, I said sold.
I don't think I will be shooting this one. I might just make a shadow box for it and hang it in my shop.

GeneS · Jan 28, 2017

Nice revolver. Beautiful photography!

bannockburn · Jan 28, 2017

Well done Gunny! Have always had a hankerin' for one of those and the Mle. 1892.

Zaydok Allen · Jan 29, 2017

Yep, she looks like a nice wall hanger. I've got an 1892 I have laying next to a bottle of Grand Marnie I picked up in Paris. Never have shot mine. I need to remedy that.

Shadow boxes are a nice way to display old guns. I have an old Belgium pinfire displayed that way. Congrats! The 1873 is a cool piece of history.

French Ordinance 1892, 8mm Lebel.

Zaydok Allen
Oct 20, 2016

Built in 1912

AZAndy · Jan 29, 2017

That's very cool indeed. Is there any way to whip up the 11mm ammunition it takes?

Jim Watson · Jan 29, 2017

It is said that you can make it out of .44 Special but one guy I googled said that was undersize and he cut off .44-40. A .451" heel bullet would call for a custom mold.

.455_Hunter · Jan 29, 2017

Very nice!

It looks to have matching numbers, which is a big plus. How is the bore?

This is probably the enlisted version of the M73, which was finished "armory bright" (similar to many Union rifled muskets in the Civil War) and never had any bluing. The officer version was blued.

The 11mm French Revolver round is not a barn burner by any sense of the term, making even the British .442 Webley and .450 Adams look powerful.

Buffalo Arms has brass, bullets and dies.

Thank you for rescuing this fine piece of history from the pawn brokers. You got a good deal.

Zaydok Allen · Jan 29, 2017

Gad's Custom Cartridges may be able to help too. They load a lot of obsolete cartridges from the past. Not sure if they carry 11mm.

Most of the 1873's I see in the market were finished in the white, like the OP's. Blued ones come up too but seem less common.

GunnyUSMC · Jan 29, 2017

.455_Hunter said:
Very nice!

It looks to have matching numbers, which is a big plus. How is the bore?

This is probably the enlisted version of the M73, which was finished "armory bright" (similar to many Union rifled muskets in the Civil War) and never had any bluing. The officer version was blued.

The 11mm French Revolver round is not a barn burner by any sense of the term, making even the British .442 Webley and .450 Adams look powerful.

Buffalo Arms has brass, bullets and dies.

Thank you for rescuing this fine piece of history from the pawn brokers. You got a good deal.

All of the numbers on the outside are matching. I haven't taken of the sideplate to check the rest of the parts.
It has a nice bore too.

Jim Watson · Jan 29, 2017

And we thought a single action revolver was hot stuff in 1873.

Panzerschwein · Jan 30, 2017

Very nice! This thing begs for a FDE cerakote job.

Kleanbore · Jan 30, 2017

Very nice! A shadowbox display would be nice, particularly with an appropriate medal or two.

bannockburn · Jan 30, 2017

Cooldill

Very nice! This thing begs for a FDE cerakote job.

Perish the thought! It has earned all of it's battle scars and deserves to be left in it's present state for just that reason. To me this revolver is in perfect condition...especially for being nearly a century and a half years old!

kBob · Jan 30, 2017

SPiff-eye!

Everybody needs one of these for the next time the Mummy walks! Would have loved to have this pistol to brandish last Saturday night when the family did a mystery room puzzle at a local warehouse with an Aegyption motif.

Neat find and thanks for sharing.

-kBob

Monac · Jan 30, 2017

Stuart Mowbray's book "A Collector's Guide to Military Pistol & Revolver Disassembly and Reassembly" has an excellent section on field stripping and detailed dismantling of the Modele 1873 (and another one on the Modele 1892, as shown in 460Shooter's post). The 1873 is right on the cover, in fact. The book is $40 on Amazon but (IMO) well worth it. Mowbray remarks on how well made the 1873 is, and the excellent mechanism for removing the mainspring.

The Amazon listing for the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Collectors-M...r=1-1&keywords=stuart+mowbray+pistol+revolver

PS1 460Shooter, that is one of the best looking M.1892s I have ever seen. Congratulations!

PS2 - GunnyUSMC's gun has no finish because it never had one; plain steel was the way these guns were issued. Were Colt US Army issue SAAs issued that way too?

GunnyUSMC · Jan 31, 2017

Monac said:
Stuart Mowbray's book "A Collector's Guide to Military Pistol & Revolver Disassembly and Reassembly" has an excellent section on field stripping and detailed dismantling of the Modele 1873 (and another one on the Modele 1892, as shown in 460Shooter's post). The 1873 is right on the cover, in fact. The book is $40 on Amazon but (IMO) well worth it. Mowbray remarks on how well made the 1873 is, and the excellent mechanism for removing the mainspring.

The Amazon listing for the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Collectors-M...r=1-1&keywords=stuart+mowbray+pistol+revolver

PS1 460Shooter, that is one of the best looking M.1892s I have ever seen. Congratulations!

PS2 - GunnyUSMC's gun has no finish because it never had one; plain steel was the way these guns were issued. Were Colt US Army issue SAAs issued that way too?

The Colt SAA was issued with a color case harden finish on the frame and a blued finish on the rest of the gun.
I really like the Mle 1873, it's a cool gun, but the Colt SAA, fits the hand better, points better and has a better balance.

Zaydok Allen · Jan 31, 2017

Monac said:
PS1 460Shooter, that is one of the best looking M.1892s I have ever seen. Congratulations!

Thanks. When I discovered that gun on Gunbroker, I bid, and I paid for the condition to be sure. I had never seen one in that good of shape before, but a few come up now and then.

I'm going to shut up now because I don't want to thread jack. This is about the 1873.

Gunny, have you opened her up yet to see how the internals look?

Arkansas Paul · Jan 31, 2017

Very interesting looking revolver.
I love stuff from that time period.

I think a shadow box for it is a great idea.

Monac · Feb 1, 2017

Thanks for your reply, GunnyUSMC. For some reason, the European's (not including Webley) became obsessed with making the grips on their revolvers resemble cylindrical tool handles. I guess they thought that would be ergonomic, based purely on abstract thinking without real-world testing. Even the Mauser Broomhandle reflects this trend. They only broke out of it by abandoning revolvers altogether.

If the French had been able to scale the 1873 up to handle 44 Russian, they would have had a real world-class revolver, although that level of power would have accentuated the shortcomings of the grip design.

French Mle 1873

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