This Pryse revolver was made sometime prior to 1879. Serial number is 5. Caliber is .450 Adams, which wasn't considered especially good even at the time.

To this day 140 years later, it locks up tightly, and has a pristine bore. I intend to shoot it a little bit, with appropriate loads.

For perspective, the Cylinder is the same diameter (but obviously shorter) than the cylinder from an N-frame S&W.




It was retailed by J. Rigby & Co of 72 St James St London



Sometime before it's original buyer embarked upon a fairly long, and apparently eventful military career, mostly in Colonial Africa, but with apparently at least some time in Europe in WW1.



Update 1-5-19. I've heard back from Rigby, and the information is posted response #20.

Rorke's Drift ? Great hunk of hand held history !

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LEX ET ORDO

That is definitely a conversation starter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please share any additional history you find.

Seriously way cool. Thanks for the share. Please update when info is available.

Just think of the tales that could tell.

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No baby we aint

I've owned this one for a little while, and just recently started again looking for the name of the soldier who must have carried it. I think the Choke points on the numbers are going to be the Anglo-Zulu War, and the Nile expedition. There were only about 3,000 British soldiers involved in the Nile expedition, And while there were more involved in the "Zulu war" there don't seem to be a lot of cross-over officers. Then when you include the Boer war of 1900-1902 it really starts to reduce numbers. After all that, finding an officer who was still alive, and active until 1915 becomes tricky.

So far, I haven't been able to narrow down a single officer who was involved in all 4 conflicts, but my research methods and material are limited. Most historical research groups want to start with a name. That's why I'm hoping Rigby will be able to give me a name.

The revolver is in surprisingly good condition, with evidence of obvious care taken over the life of the gun.

The .450 Adams might not have been very highly regarded prior to 1879 but apparently the original owner either used it with good effect or it offered him some measure of comfort to have it at his side through all of those campaigns and after more effective handguns were widely available.

Fascinating. I hope you can trace the gun to its original owner, and fill in the gaps in its history.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Just beautiful. Reminds of a different gun from a different maker I’d like to have. A Webley Metropolitan. wonderful gun you got there.

Lots of history in that old revolver.

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Life is short,live it fully.

Owner may not have been regular army. A number of units in the Zulu War were Auxillary or Militia volunteers. The long service in Africa lends credence to the idea of him being a settler who lived there, not a regular officer.
Bill S

That's interesting... Any idea where I might do some further research into that?

Some of our more serious and respected members with considerable expertise in military history will be along shortly to provide a more extensive answer, but I would start out with an inquiry to the South African military's historical branches. Even after the fall of Apartheid, I believe that country maintains extensive historical records of it's fierce and extensive ombat history.
Bill S

With its long history of campaigns.Its possibly been passed from father to son.

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Jim McGhee

Very possible. The same names keep popping up in the various wars. Redvers Bulyer(I apologize in advance for any misspelling) was commander of Empire troops in the Zulu War and originally in command at the start of the Second Boer War.

Unfortunately, the Boers fighting skills proved well beyond Bulyers' military talents.
Bill S

Very possible. The same names keep popping up in the various wars. Redvers Bulyer(I apologize in advance for any misspelling) was commander of Empire troops in the Zulu War and originally in command at the start of the Second Boer War.

Unfortunately, the Boers fighting skills proved well beyond Bulyers' military talents.
Bill s

Pretty darn neat! Wish it could talk.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Rigby and Company are researching the gun now. They've warned me that they might have difficulty in finding the information, as when they sold pistols in the era, they were entered in the back of the log books, rather than in serial number order like their long guns.

Very nice folks at Rigby BTW. Everyone there has been pleasant, helpful and accomodating.

In January 1879 Rigby began retailing the Pryse revolvers in question.

In the same month , the Zulu war began in South Africa. A young man of 22 years old named Robert Gordon Wolrige-Gordon was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 94th Foot.

In preparation for deployment to South Africa, the young Lt. went to J. Rigby and Co. in London, and purchased a nickel plated Pryse Double action revolver chambered in .450 Adams along with a holster for the same.

I'm still looking for the finer details, and looking for a copy of the journal he published in 1887 about the Zulu war, and Nile campaign to see if he ever makes mention of the revolver.

In the big picture, he changed his name in 1887 as heir to his uncle's estate and became Robert Gordon Gilmour.

After a long and distinguished military career, he was awarded the honorary title of Brigadier General in 1917.

I'll continue to dig and find more information, but for now, here's an undated portrait:

This is quite interesting. Webley made many, not all, of the Pryse type guns but by the mid 1880's had replaced the Pryse system with the usual lever or stirrup lock, a stronger system. I think the Webley-Kaufman was the first of the new type to see wide use.

And it was soon replaced with the WG series, very finely made guns.

As a side note about the Zulu war and South Africa then, when, "King Solomon's Mines" was first printed in 1883, the author, a veteran of the 1879 war, described how his characters were armed. I won't cite the entire list, but this guy knew his guns a LOT better than did Doyle, who wrote. "The Lost World" and the Sherlock Holmes books.

The sidearms chosen were Colt's Single-Action Army model, "for the heavier pattern of cartridge." E.g., .45 Colt, the .44-40 being then the only other available chambering. Note that the author, Sir Henry Rider Haggard, knew about the .44 version and he had them carry Winchesters as well as heavy British Express rifles. But he selected the .45 Colt as the revolver load despite having .44 Winchesters along! I think that spoke volumes for his regard for the big .45 round!

I've seen stories that the .44 jammed revolvers then. True? Did Haggard know that? Or am I at error in
remembering that the Winchesters were .44's? May have been 1876 models for rounds like the .45-70. I don't have the book handy. Has anyone here got a copy? I THINK they had the .44 M-1873...He did say the American rifles were for fighting men; the big British double rifles were for big game. His heroes expected contact with hostile tribes.

I have seen South African ads of that day for Colt and Winchester arms, and for Bowie knives. And I suspect that Haggard had seen these guns used against the Zulu. I have no way to know which guns he personally used. This was well before the awful British gun laws began, so he'd have had a wide choice. And he seems to have known guns pretty well.

Just thought this might appeal to some here. BTW, of the several times the book was made into a movie, the 1950 version with Stewart Granger as Alan Quatermain was the best. In it, Quartermain had a Colt SA with 5.5 inch barrel, true to the book. A later remake featured his son, played by George Montgomery, in, "Watusi" (SP). Montgomery had the SA, but with 4.75 inch barrel. His rifle was a No. 1 MK III LE, which he'd carried in WW I.

Now, in the book, Quartermain told us that his son was a medical student who'd died in the UK. Hollywood presumes that few moviegoers have read the book, so we had the son alive and well! That aside, "Watusi!" is a really good movie. I wish it was on DVD and I had it. I saw the film in theaters in the 1960's. As a young lad, I lusted for a really nice SMLE like the hero had. Most surplus examples were beaten up.

Movie trailers are on YouTube.