Americans are quick to praise the ingenuity of Vermont designer Rollin White for his 1855 patent of a bored-through revolver system that supposedly revolutionized firearm design. White’s early efforts were beset with mechanical and legal problems, resulting initially in a rather anemic .22 Short-caliber tip-up revolver, the Smith & Wesson No. 1. The tiny seven-shooter was followed by a slightly larger .32 rimfire upgrade. However, despite the novelty, neither piece could be considered effective defensive or offensive repeaters.
On the other side of the Atlantic, a full year before White’s U.S. patent was granted, French inventor Eugene Lefaucheux patented a revolver with a bored-through cylinder that utilized a modified version of the successful pinfire cartridge developed by his late father, Casimir, in 1835. At the same time, other Gallic designers were developing their own systems, which were not only innovative but often had considerably greater power than the .22 and .32 Yankee rimfires.
Beginning in the mid-1850s, and continuing at a rapid pace for at least several decades, numerous Frenchmen produced a wealth of practical service-grade revolvers. These arms enjoyed success in Europe, and were also used by soldiers during the U.S. Civil War, providing some of the most sophisticated pistols of the conflict.
Though there were many worthy candidates for inclusion in this article, we’ll limit the field to a selection of examples offering innovative and varied designs to give the reader a feel for the vibrant, influential French cartridge revolver development of the mid-19th century.
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Lefaucheux
When Eugene Lefaucheux premiered his revolver in 1854, the idea of a self-contained cartridge was really nothing new. It made its first important appearance as early as 1814 with an ingenious brass-cased round designed by Swiss arms-maker Samuel Johannes Pauly. His formative concept worked reasonably well but was somewhat fragile. It was soon eclipsed by other designs, notably the pinfire round contrived by Pauly’s assistant, Casimir Lefaucheux.
Initially employed in shotguns, the pinfire was ingenious and relatively robust. It consisted of a paper or copper/brass round containing powder, bullet and an internal percussion cap, which was set off when a firearm’s hammer struck a pin protruding at a slight angle from the top-rear of the case. In 1854, Lefaucheux took his design to a new level by mating it to a revolver with a bored-through cylinder.
His revolver was initially accepted by the French military and was tested by several other nations, including the United States. In addition to military models, pinfires were produced for decades — well into the centerfire era — in civilian versions with calibers ranging from 5mm to 15mm.
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Service revolvers were normally 12mm (.44) and followed a basic design: Single-action with no-topstrap. The hammers, which dropped downward to strike the cartridge pins, often had generous spurs to allow for ease of cocking. Loading was achieved through a frame-mounted side gate with the cartridge pins projecting through small slots at the top of the chambers. Ejection of spent cases was performed one-at-a-time by means of a simple push rod mounted on the front right side of the frame.
Due to the projecting pin, it’s obvious that the risk of accidental discharge with the pinfire was greater than that with the contemporary centerfire and rimfire rounds. However, studying period pinfire military evaluations indicate that this was a consideration but did not deter many thousands of these handguns from seeing military service on both sides of the Atlantic.
At the beginning of the Civil War, the United States Ordnance Department ordered some 12,649 Lefaucheaux 12mm pinfire revolvers and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. It is not uncommon to see photographs, primarily of Yankee troopers, proudly displaying these revolvers.
Confederate soldiers also availed themselves of pinfires when they could. For instance, Thomas Jonathon “Stonewall” Jackson carried one. However, purchasing and supply issues — along with difficulty obtaining ammunition — considerably limited Rebel usage.
In addition to France and the United States, Lefaucheaux revolvers saw service with the militaries of Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Egypt, Spain, Russia and Norway.
The French had several variants of the 12mm Mle 1854 Lefaucheaux, generally differing only in minor details. By the time Lefaucheaux patented his revolver, advances in ammunition were already rendering the pinfire obsolete. French ordnance (circa 1870) later “transformed” some of its Model 1858 Naval revolvers from pinfire to centerfire by the simple modification of the revolver’s hammer and slight chamber alteration.
Devisme
About the time Lefaucheaux was debuting the pinfire six-shooter, French gunmaker Louis-Francois Devisme was examining his own line of percussion revolvers with the intention of modernizing them to take advantage of the self-contained centerfire cartridges, which were making initial appearances. As he had no particular proprietary interest in the pinfire, his company was free to develop its own, more efficient system.
The first Devisme revolvers were percussion models. (See the article “The Enigmatic Devisme,” Guns & Ammo, January 2021, for a full treatment of these guns.) Initially appearing around 1854, they have been called by modern enthusiasts “Model 1854” or “Model 1855.” Even though these guns, along with the later Model 1858 hinged-frame cartridge revolver, were not termed as such during the period of production. For convenience, though, we will use those designations.
By the mid-1850s, various self-contained cartridges were already being marketed or were at least in their embryonic state. Later, the works of Hiram Berdan, Stephen Vincent Benet and Edward Boxer would become prominent, but earlier centerfires, though often underpowered and somewhat complicated, were becoming increasingly popular and beginning to threaten the percussion system.
Such was the situation with the Devisme. By 1858, the firm had embraced a practical centerfire round and was confident enough in its efficacy to modify earlier percussion M1854 revolvers to handle it. This proved to be sound judgment, and shortly thereafter, the business introduced a new, hinged-frame revolver that was easier to manipulate. (The converted percussion model had to be disassembled to laboriously load cartridges and eject spent cases.) The caliber was 12mm. Both 1854 and 1858 revolvers exhibited distinctive, ergonomically sound, fluid Gallic styling.
Quality was excellent and, especially with the 1858, mechanisms were clever and serviceable. Though both the 1854 and 1858 were produced alongside the other for a time, the latter arm was more suited to its task with a clever latching system and bottom hinge opening. To load a ’58 piece, a shooter simply pushed a generous underlever situated at the forward part of the frame to the left. This cammed the cylinder arbor 45 degrees, freeing a set of dual lugs from a rectangular hole in the face of the recoil shield. At the same time, the ejector rod rotated upwards to the right, where it was properly positioned to push out spent cases. It was clever, fast and efficient.
Both the Model 1854 and 1858 received considerable attention on the Continent, however, they apparently didn’t catch on all that well in America or Britain. Belt-sized revolvers, as well as pocket models, were manufactured by Devisme and under contract by others, such as Liege, Belgium, and maker Auguste Francotte, in several calibers. These enjoyed good domestic civilian sales.
Curiously, unlike the rivals Raphael and Perrin, they were either unable or unwilling to take proper advantage of the hunger for arms during the U.S. Civil War. As a result, contracts were not sought, or their applications were simply ignored. Probably Devisme’s highest profile during the war was in the guise of a fine sporting rifle, which fired an explosive bullet, taken from Confederate President Jefferson Davis when he was captured by Union forces. Another notable piece was a magnificent presentation sword given to Confederate General Robert E. Lee by “a Marylander” in 1863.
Perrin, Raphael
Despite limited procurement, by process of elimination, two of the most successful French revolvers received on American shores during the Civil War were the Perrin and Raphael.
The Perrin revolver — ultimately made in three types, two with open top frames and one with a topstrap — was designed by Louis Perrin of Paris and patented in 1859. They were spurless and largely differentiated from one another by redesigned loading gates and some internal refinements. These 6-shot revolvers were designed to take an interesting, rather involved thick-rimmed, internally primed cartridge. Calibers included 9mm, 11mm and 12mm, with the latter being most common in military-grade arms.
Due to Perrins having no hammer spurs, a clever arrangement was built into the design whereby when one pulled the trigger slightly to the rear, a safety spring would snap into position and hold the hammer in an abbreviated half-cock to permit cartridge loading and empty case ejection.
The cartridge designed for the guns was similar to — but not exactly the same as — the later Galand round. The Perrin was among the earliest types of self-contained centerfires, leading the way for later improved designs. Generally, they worked just fine. Because of the attenuated length, rather elaborate internal centerfire apparatus and relatively deep seating of the bullet, space within the case for powder was considerably reduced. This resulted in rather mediocre stopping power.
Perrins were well made and reliable. At the beginning of the Civil War, the United States contracted for 1,000 Type I and Type II Perrins along with a quantity of ammunition. However, distribution of the guns was haphazard, so it’s difficult to determine how many, if any, ever saw combat prior to the rescission of hostilities in 1865.
Perrin’s strongest rival was the double-/single-action (DA/SA) 11mm Raphael designed around 1860 by Parisians Martial Pidault and Charles Cordier. It got the name “Raphael” in the U.S. because examples were purchased by the Union War Department from importer George Raphael & Co. The Raphael resembled the Perrin somewhat but did have a hammer spur for thumb-cocking. While Perrins used under-barrel rotating ejector rods, the Raphael featured a separate ejector/lanyard ring housed in the grip. It could be unscrewed and used to separately poke out cases from the rear of the gun’s cylinder through a loading gate. Though the DA/SA mechanism was relatively straightforward, the cylinder was complex, consisting of a main body and a backplate that rotated with the cylinder. When the loading gate was opened, it was unlocked and allowed for ejection.
Neither Perrins nor Raphaels were purchased in large numbers, and their issuance was spotty. After the war, a small number of Perrins were purchased at a U.S. Government auction and were offered by the New York arms dealer Francis Bannerman in early 1900s catalogs for as little as $4.75 each, advertised as “almost new, no cartridges.” A few Raphaels were obtained by Bannerman’s from a New York Arsenal sale in 1900 and sold — also without cartridges — for $3.50 to $4.85, depending on condition. Considerably larger quantities of Lefaucheux 12mm revolvers were concurrently available from Bannerman for $3.95 each, or $1.25 in lots of 5,000 or more. Ammunition was available but not guaranteed.
Galand
Though the revolvers mentioned so far certainly express individuality, they have a couple of things in common. First, though being forerunners in the field of the self-contained cartridge, the rounds were rather underpowered. The guns could be loaded and managed more rapidily than percussion repeaters, but cases had to be ejected one at a time, slowing down the reloading process.
The latter situation was ably addressed in 1868 with the introduction of an ingenious new revolver contrived by Parisian Charles-Francois Galand. Instead of a solid frame or one that opened on a hinge, Galand designed a forward frame/barrel portion of which slid forward when the shooter lowered the gun’s sturdy lever-like triggerguard. During this action, the frontally rebated cylinder also moved forward on its arbor, a rear plate separating from the unit. This plate would grip the thick rims of the Galand cartridges, pulling them free of the chambers and allowing them to be shaken loose. The arm could then be easily reloaded, and the lever and frame/cylinder returned to firing condition.
The Galand revolver featured a robust DA trigger, elements of which would be seen on later revolvers such as the Belgian Nagant. The round accompanying the arm was similar to, but not quite the same as that employed by Perrin; the rim was thicker and the case slightly longer. As in the Perrin, it was internally primed. Calibers were 12mm and 9mm.
Galand revolvers were evaluated by a number of countries and were eventually adopted by the Russian Navy as the Model 1870. In the meantime, civilian sales continued apace and numbers of Galands were made in France and Belgium. Galand also partnered with the firm of Braendlin, Sommerville & Co., which produced versions in Birmingham, England.
Though soon overtaken by more sophisticated designs such as the Smith & Wesson No. 3, Galands were manufactured for a number of years and enjoyed brisk sales. Interestingly, Galand offered his design to the French government for evaluation, but it was passed over by a more conventional, though excellent, solid-frame Chamelot-Delvigne, which was taken into the service of the republique as the revolver Modele 1873. Like its predecessors, the 1873 was somewhat underpowered for a military arm. Still, it enjoyed a long life, seeing military use as late as the mid-20th century.
Despite the practicality and innovation, with the exception of the Lefaucheax, most of the revolvers mentioned here saw only moderate military use. Those that did were likely privately purchased by officers. Still, they enjoyed strong civilian sales. In the manner of many other foreign and domestic civilian and military arms dragooned into service during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Devismes, Lefaucheauxes, Perrins and Galands did see some action during that brief but seminal conflict.
While most of these arms had short production runs, they provided important stops along the way to more powerful and reliable cartridge handguns. During their time they were respected and taken quite seriously, as they should be today.
Build Specifications
- Type: Bolt-Action
- Cartridge: 6mm GT
- Capacity: 4-rd. mag
- Barrel: 24 in.; threaded 5/8-24 TPI; PVA Jetblast Muzzlebrake
- Overall Length: 45.75 in.
- Height: 10 in.
- Width: 1.7 in.
- Weight: 14.1 lbs. (includes optics and mounts)
- Finish: Action, DLC; Barrel, Matte Stainless
- Stock: Bansner & Co. HVT Carbon, painted
- Sights: Integral Picatinny rail, Tract 4-25x Toric Eagleman
- Trigger: Two-Stage; Adjustable 1 lb., 14 oz. to 3 lb. 9 oz. (measured)
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