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ca. 1840’s - 1850’s BRITISH TRANSITIONAL BAR
HAMMER PERCUSSION REVOLVER – VERY NICE ENGRAVED SPECIMEN
IN VERY GOOD CONDITION AND MECHANICALLY SOUND:
Believed to date from the mid-1840’s through the 1850’s,
these British Transitional Bar Hammer Revolvers are a
graceful, yet substantial handgun of the type that would
have been favored by gentlemen and adventurers alike who
needed the comfort and protection such a pistol
provided. Lacking any maker’s stamp - not uncommon with
these pistols - it is generally believed they were
manufactured in England and it was left to the retailers
to apply their company names.
This double-action percussion revolver is in very good
to excellent condition. Measuring 12” in overall length
and chambered in .36 caliber, the revolver features a
six chamber cylinder and a 5 ¾” long octagon barrel.
The iron frame – receiver, frame straps and butt cap -
is nickel plated, and the plating has survived in very
good condition with only a few very minor darkened
spots. The barrel flats at the muzzle, the frame,
hammer, trigger guard, back strap and butt cap are
engraved with a floral motif, with all the panels
providing .
The barrel carries British proof stamps on the bottom
flat, and the cylinder bears the British proof stamps
between each of the chambers.
The revolver’s mechanics are crisp, with very little
play in the timing – nothing that interferes with the
function. The trigger-hammer function performs with a
crisp pull. All of the percussion cones are present,
full form, unbroken, and have not been mushroomed from
dry firing. The rear of the cylinder has safety notches
between each of the percussion cones for resting the
hammer when the revolver was carried with all six
chambers. The bore and all six cylinders are clear with
a minimum of frosting at the rear of the bore, and no
pitting. There is a minor degree of play between the
arbor and the frame, but nothing excessive and nothing
which affects the function of the revolver. The
exterior surfaces show no sign of cleaning, the edges
are sharp, and there is no significant pitting on the
surfaces.
The two piece finely checkered rosewood wood grips are
in excellent condition – full form with no cracks or
signs of abuse, and with only the slightest evidence of
wear from the pistol being carried.
It is interesting to note that the NRA museum has one of
these revolvers in their collection which is documented
as having been seized by the U.S. Navy from a
Confederate blockade runner. While one specimen is in
no way indicative that these pistols were purchased and
imported by the Confederacy for issue to their soldiers,
it does illustrate that this design did enjoy some
degree of the firearms market here in the United
States.
Produced in the mid-19TH Century, these
pistols were certainly present during the Mexican and
American Civil Wars, and as the country expanded, they
likely accompanied the immigrants onto the frontier, and
saw service in the Gold Fields and saloons of the West.
This is a very nice specimen of an original British Bar
Hammer Revolver. (0708) $1250
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